Canadian-Maple Leafs | An ally of Jordan Harris in Toronto

(Toronto) There will be an attentive spectator at ScotiaBank Arena on Wednesday night when Jordan Harris takes to the rink.

Guillaume Lefrancois
The Press

Well, there may be more than one, since we guess that Kent Hughes and the leaders of the Canadian will continue to evaluate the young defender.

But on the bridge, there will also be Tommy Miller among those who will spy on him.

Miller was Harris’ partner with the Northeastern University Huskies last season. Never drafted, he still continues his hockey career since he signed an American League contract with the Toronto Marlies, the Leafs’ school club.

“I texted him yesterday, I was hoping they would arrive yesterday for dinner. I hope to see him after the game tonight,” said Miller, crossed by The Press after the Leafs’ morning practice, in preparation for the game.

Harris and Miller were the Huskies’ top pairing last season. Miller was a newcomer to Boston, having spent four seasons at Michigan State. A modest offensive contributor, he had amassed 9 points in 39 games, while Harris had 20. What did he discover?

“He’s such a gifted skater. Sometimes a player would have two strides on him, I’d look at him and be like, ‘It’s okay, Jordan is going to surrender,” Miller said.

Despite his status as his club’s best attacking defender, Harris did not neglect his territory. He led his team in blocked shots last season, with 69, just ahead of Miller (58).

“He’s such a complete player, who really applied himself to the defensive game. He wanted to defend our territory first, defend quickly, and once that was done he could think about attacking,” Miller summed up.

Comfortable right?

One of the major challenges in this camp for Harris will be to demonstrate his ability to play on the right. This is where there are the most minutes of play available, since David Savard and Chris Wideman are the only two right-handed veterans. The third position could essentially be played between Justin Barron – a natural right-hander – and the left-hander who will be the most able to change sides, without having made a mistake beforehand.

Not all left-handers can play on their opposite side. Last week, player development coach Francis Bouillon rightly argued that Harris and Arber Xhekaj had the qualities to play on the right, but not necessarily Gianni Fairbrother.

Harris has always said he’s comfortable on the right, but last season he played very little on that side, since Miller shoots from the right.

“He played on the right from time to time, when we were missing a guy, or during a particular shift, if we had switched. But with the skills he has, I have no doubt he can play on the right. He has enough talent and his skating is good enough to make an impact on the right. »

His case will be interesting to follow in camp, and the fact that Martin St-Louis is calling on his services for a second game in a row, even though he has 18 healthy defensemen, is interesting.

Murray in goal

Miller will however have to follow everything from a distance, since the Leafs will deploy an experienced defense against the CH.

Indeed, five of the six defenders in uniform have more than 200 games of experience in the NHL, a group in which we find former CH Victor Mete and Jordie Benn. The only exception, Carl Dahlstrom, still played 67.

There will be fewer big names up front, however, as Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner won’t play, while John Tavares is out for three weeks, the team announced on Tuesday. In his absence, Pontus Holmberg, a choice of 6^e tour in 2018, will pilot the trio of William Nylander.

Matt Murray will defend the Toronto net.