The Great Weal
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Player Discussion Does Jordan Harris have top pairing potential?
- Thread starter The Great Weal
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Kudo Shinichi
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- Apr 20, 2012
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tinyzombies
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Skip Bayless
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Vachon23
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I don’t see Harris as a top pairing simply because he doesn’t gave the offensive numbers. He’s not know for his offense but rather defensive and positioning defenceman. He will be in the NHL I think and will be that shutdown last minute coach puts on ice.
a player who I compare Harris to is Andy Greene.
a player who I compare Harris to is Andy Greene.
Mrb1p
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Intangir
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Nope. His shot is slightly better overall. Not that it is a huge benchmark to clear.
Mrb1p
PRICERSTOPDAPUCK
No, its really not, lol. And to top it all off, he literally never shoots.
He's not an offensive D, but he's more creative than Mete.
Intangir
Registered User
I agree with the fact that Harris never shoots, and he should definitely try to do so more often, but I still think he musters a bit more power behind his shot than Mete whenever he decides to actually shoot. His shot is still a muffin though, and way below NHL standards, just not as flagrantly so as Mete.
Supersonic
Registered User
I’m sure an educated guess lies in the Jordan Harris prospect thread where a select handful of posters who have consistently watched him have given some insight.
I personally don’t know, but I don’t think so. I’m open to being wrong.
However this thread smells exactly like “Is Poehling the next Ryan Kesler?” threads from last year after his final game/WJC where posters saw about 15 minutes of him playing and were ready to crown him and look how that’s going so far.
We are a loud, passionate and emotional bunch and this is exactly the type of thread I expect to see on our board lol
I personally don’t know, but I don’t think so. I’m open to being wrong.
However this thread smells exactly like “Is Poehling the next Ryan Kesler?” threads from last year after his final game/WJC where posters saw about 15 minutes of him playing and were ready to crown him and look how that’s going so far.
We are a loud, passionate and emotional bunch and this is exactly the type of thread I expect to see on our board lol
Pompeius Magnus
Registered User
I vote yes, although with the caveat that this is the absolute top of his upside and he might not get there realistically. He has the tools and playing style you want to play top minutes and have the energy to do it for a whole season , which is the key to being on the top pair in my book.
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The Great Weal
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montreal
Go Habs Go
I see him as more of a 3rd pairing D but if he can continue to progress his offensive game as he made big strides there this year by doubling his ppg then I could see it.
I assume the only way he makes the top pairing is something like how Komisarek was on the top pair with Markov. Harris's defensive IQ, poise, skating/mobility are elite imo although we won't know how well he'll adjust at the pro level due to his lack of size/strength. I often comp him to Mete but while I never saw Mete as having top pairing upside, Harris just impresses the hell out of me in that the kid just so rarely makes a mistake in his own end and there is zero panic in his game.
So for me it's more of a case of high IQ, poise, skating/mobility that if he can continue to progress the offense then we really got something here although he'll need to add mass and strength for sure.
Struble is a real wild card as unlike Harris he already has NHL size, strength to go with the skating/mobility. Plus he's got the physical game that Harris couldn't dream to have. That said we'll have to wait and see where the IQ is as he is not close to Harris in terms of defensive play but it's also based off just over half a season of play and half of that was him adjusting although Harris didn't need to adjust as he was on the top pairing at 18 from day 1 and never looked out of place.
I can't wait to see what Struble can do next year though, if he can break out along with Norlinder and Romanov is anything close to what we all think he can be, holy shit are we going to be set up for young D's.
With prospects it's all about how they progress or not. So at this point I think it's more then fair to be concerned with his offensive upside but it's all about how much progress does he continue to make. This year he made huge strides in his offensive game and in fact was neck and neck all season long as the top scoring U-20 blueliners in the NCAA.
Freshman year - .33 ppg
Sophomore year - .64 ppg
At one point he was at the top of the NCAA in U-20 scoring for D's, here's how it ended up,
Elite Prospects - NCAA Stats 2019-2020
He was shooting more this year for sure but I don't think he has a lot of confidence in his shot and for good reason. His points will be mostly from assists. though he's going to have to work on that shot.
Where I like him more then Mete is his IQ and poise, although to be fair I watched most of Harris's games and not a lot of Mete's in the OHL.
montreal
Go Habs Go
34 and 9 but the problem here is how many have watched Harris play at Northeastern vs just about every fan has watched Mete with the Habs.
That said if I'm wrong on Harris then so be it, I've been wrong many times over my 20 years of following the Habs prospects. I don't actually expect Harris to be a top pairing D in the NHL but as I posted in this thread you can read how I could see him getting there vs what is more likely.
I've seen a ton of him and I have to admit I really like what I see but as we all know with prospects it's about how much they continue to progress or not. So far so good for Harris who has made great strides since being drafted. When you need to work on your offensive game and you double your ppg on a weaker team the next year, that's a great sign at 19. For a defensive D to be among the best U-20 scorers is certainly what any Hab fan should want to see.
But don't take it personal, as I have agreed with some and disagreed with other opinions of yours. I just think you could stand to tone it down a bit as everyone's opinions should be respected, it's not asking too much.
The Great Weal
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It's still extremely unanimous that he doesn't have top pairing upside. Not every fan also understood the poll which essentially had 2 identical options. There was even a fan who misread it and thought you said offensive game. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, the Habs sent him down last year for a period because of his poor defensive game. Before you accuse them of hating Mete, he's played on the top pair with Weber(and Weber makes EVERYONE look better than they are) for the majority of his career. Had he been a healthy scratch a ton, and playing with crap players all the time, then I would agree that their opinion may not be right, but that isn't the case.
I don't take it personal, it was my opinion that I don't see any of Struble, Norlinder, nor Harris having top pairing potential as of right now. Struble is more of an athlete than a hockey player, a typical Timmins pick. Norlinder was very impressive at the start of the season, but has gone ice cold since, he's more of a boom or bust, and Harris I just don't see him developing the offensive tools to be that top pairing dman. All of those guys do have top 4 upside(that's pushing it though), but I think Harris ends up being a similar player to Mete, Struble is an unknown, we are banking on him to develop skills which is pretty damn risky if you ask me, Norlinder has been on and off, nobody knows about Romanov. You said I was flat out wrong about that, and I frankly thought that you were being delusional by saying a guy like Jordan Harris has top pairing potential. This poll pretty much shows that I am not "flat out wrong".
How about starting with, "Does harris have NHL potential?" Then, maybe, we can be so bold as projecting him on a top pair...
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montreal
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once again you are just plain wrong as you can't have extremely unanimous when you have votes for both sides since unanimous is when everyone agrees.
But that's not even taking into consideration my point, which is how many people have watched him at Northeastern vs how many people have watched Mete in the NHL?
But even going further, I can understand why people don't think he has top pairing upside because it's not going to be a popular opinion despite him doubling his ppg and being one of the top U-20 blueliners in the NCAA. If he makes it as a solid 3rd pairing D for where he was picked then that's a big win for us and Timmins/Churla/scouts.
As for Mete, yes he was sent down for 7 games, yet the majority of posters in that poll said they didn't feel his defensive game got worse as you pointed out. I made that poll because I didn't have great ground on stand on since I all but stopped watching any Habs games this season other then Primeau's and Evans debuts but it still didn't sound right to me and I think you are wrong there.
For Norlinder he was doing great then he got injured and was out for over 6 weeks. But clearly before that something had changed in his game, he stopped being ultra aggressive and instead was more focused on his defensive play. I thought it was great to see. He very clearly has top pairing upside imo, I got to see a good bit of him with Modo, and while it's really too early to say since he was playing in Allsvenskan so it really should be looked at how he does next year, but he has all the tools to be a top pairing D except maybe there could be an issue with the IQ, I don't know how high it is or even if there's an issue but it's something I saw a little of that I wanted to see more of and then he was injured cam back for a few games and the season was canceled so now I have to wait till next year.
Struble reminds me of Subban so I think it's ok to say he has top pairing upside but is also the biggest wild card of anyone in the system due to just how raw he is, how little we have to go off in terms of games since it's USHS and then 21 NCAA games where he clearly had to figure some things out and earn the coaches trust as he started out on the 3rd pairing but worked his way up to the 2nd pairing and 2nd PP unit. He was really starting to put things together but then got hurt again. Like Norlinder he has the tools but I see much more red flags with the IQ then Norlinder which is why for now I would say Norlinder has the best chance to be a top pairing D, followed by Romanov, then Brook then Struble then Harris.
Mrb1p
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Nope, I agree with you. He's a lot more active offensively, Mete is great at taking the puck and putting it in safe areas in their zone, but aside from that he's strictly defensive, IMO. Harris is creative and knows he can do things with his hands/skating.
montreal
Go Habs Go
and for me it's all about what kind of progress does he continue to make. When posters point our his lack of offensive upside, which I agree to a degree is certainly a valid concern but then I wonder how many have been watching him and or knew he doubled his ppg in his age 19 season and was among the top scoring U-20 D's in a league that's average age is over 21.
The Great Weal
Phil's Pizza
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Good job attacking the vocabulary instead of the point! Really shows how you got absolutely no answer to the fact that the vast majority of the people don't think Harris has top pairing upside. You are also plain wrong, it's not 34 and 9. Are you going to continue being deliberately obtuse or will you finally acknowledge that very few think he has top pairing upside? My guess is the former.
Ask the Habs if they think Harris has top pairing potential, they definitely did think Metes defensive game got worse.
From solid 3rd pairing D to top pairing upside, you can't even keep up with your own story anymore. You also just said in this thread you saw him more as a 3rd pairing D, your refusal to acknowledge you are wrong is getting really embarrassing.
Well then you must think the Habs were wrong to send him down BECAUSE OF HIS POOR DEFENSIVE GAME. I'll take their opinion and what I've seen over what people say here.
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