Jordan Harris to become an unrestricted free agent sooner than expected

Last summer, the Canadiens acquired Patrik Laine from Columbus. The forward, who was acquired with a second-round pick, didn’t cost the Habs much: in fact, only Jordan Harris went the other way.

Harris isn’t a bad defender, but he’s not exactly indispensable either, we agree.

That said, in Columbus, Harris wasn’t exactly able to establish himself as a regular at the blue line. He played just 33 games with the Blue Jackets, collecting one goal (against the Habs, of course) and five points.

Best of all, he didn’t play a single game between February 8 and April 12. That’s saying a lot.

The defenseman didn’t really seem to be in Columbus’ plans… and today we learned that the Jackets won’t even be making him a qualifying offer.

He’ll be free as a bird tomorrow.

Told the Blue Jackets are not extending a qualifying offer to defenseman Jordan Harris, making him an unrestricted free agent on Tuesday.
Harris was acquired from Montreal last August in the trade that sent Patrik Laine to #Canadiens #CBJ

– Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) June 30, 2025

Remember that if the Blue Jackets had submitted a qualifying offer to Harris (which would have been $1.4 million for one year), the club would have made him a restricted free agent. In other words, he could have signed an offer sheet elsewhere, but Columbus could have matched the offer or obtained picks based on the salary he was offered.

But obviously, Columbus didn’t want anything to do with having him under contract for $1.4 million. That doesn’t completely close the door on him returning to the Blue Jackets with a smaller contract, but it would be pretty unlikely.

So, in the end, the Habs got a second-round pick and Laine, who scored 33 points in 2024-25 (i.e., as many points as Harris played this season), in return for a single year of Jordan Harris, who didn’t even play half his team’s games.

It should be pointed out that the Habs took Laine’s contract out of their lot, which is worth a lot. But we all agree that, one year later, even those who want to see the Habs send Laine elsewhere have to admit it was a good move.

Extension

So, tomorrow, Harris will be free to come to terms with any NHL team. No, the Habs, who already have a huge surplus of defensemen, aren’t a logical team for him… although Kent Hughes, who has an excellent relationship with him, could be in the market for a seventh defenseman.

We know that the 24-year-old defenseman is a Massachusetts native, and that he was a big Bruins fan in his youth. I wonder if a return home might not be a possibility in his case.