Jordan Harris and Patrik Laine could finish in the same team
If Gary Bettman continues to deny the existence of an upcoming short-term expansion, most experts expect the National Hockey League to welcome new markets within a few years.
Many believe there will indeed be an expansion of the teams in the coming years.
As rumors fuel many interesting assumptions, the DLC website reported that the people at Sportsnet experimented with a new expansion team for the 2025-2026 season.
They even presented an expansion draft with the list of names from the other 32 NHL teams that could be available at that time.
Remember that this text is merely speculation about the identity of a player who would not be protected by his team and who would be the best choice for this expansion team, whether it is in Houston, Atlanta, Quebec, or even Arizona.
Jordan Harris, the player who would be sacrificed by the Montreal Canadiens in the event of expansion?
According to Sportsnet journalist Ryan Dixon, young defenseman Jordan Harris would indeed be the player sacrificed by the Canadiens and selected by the new franchise in question. For the 2025-2026 season, he would probably be a third-pair defenseman with a limited salary that doesn't have much impact on the team's salary cap. It's a good investment in terms of quality-price ratio.
As we know, the 24-year-old American defenseman could interest several teams due to his play. The Montreal defensive brigade is already well-stocked, and with recent contracts awarded to Kaiden Guhle, Arber Hxekaj, and Justin Barron, Jordan Harris's place in the organization is questionable.
It would therefore be surprising for him to be protected by Kent Hughes because the expansion draft rules allow teams to protect 7 forwards, 3 defensemen, and 1 goaltender, or 8 skaters and 1 goaltender. If the situation remains the same, the most interesting player is likely to be Jordan Harris, according to the exercise.
If we were to do the exercise with the Canadiens, we could expect to see forwards Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Alex Newhook, Kirby Dach, Mike Matheson, Kaiden Guhle, and Samuel Montembeault protected on the protection list.
It should be noted that young prospects of the organization, such as Ivan Demidov, David Reinbacher, Lane Hutson, and Logan Mailloux, cannot be considered due to their limited experience in the NHL or the minors. This means they would be exempt from the expansion draft.
Returning to this new virtual franchise, it could have big names advanced by Sportsnet such as Nikolaj Ehlers (Jets), William Karlsson (Knights), Kaapo Kakko (Rangers), Patrik Laine (Jackets), and a certain Jonathan Drouin. Imagine the lineup! Would this team be more dominant than the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017-2018, who reached the Stanley Cup final in their first season of existence? In 2023, the team did it again, but this time they triumphed.
Credit: DansLesCoulisses
Jordan Harris could be the choice of the 33rd team in the event of an expansion draft
| POLL | ||
Do you think that Jordan Harris would be the selected player by a NHL expansion team in 2025-2026 draft? | ||
| Yes | 171 | 83.4 % |
| No | 34 | 16.6 % |
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