Guillaume Lefrançois
The press

Well, there may be more than one as we expect Kent Hughes and the Canadian’s leaders to continue to rate the young defender.

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

Miller partnered with Harris in the Northeastern University Huskies last season. Although he was never drafted, he has continued his hockey career since signing an American League contract with the Toronto Marlies, the Leafs’ premier club.

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

Harris and Miller were the Huskies’ best pair last season. Miller was a freshman at Boston, having spent four seasons at Michigan State. A modest offensive player, he had 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 steps behind him, I’d look at him and say, “It’s okay, Jordan is going to resign,” Miller said.

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

“He’s such a complete player who really got into the defensive game. He wanted to defend our territory first, defend quickly, and when that was done he could think about an attack,” Miller summarized.

Comfortable right?

One of the biggest challenges this camp for Harris will be demonstrating his ability to play down the right flank. This is where the most minutes are available as David Savard and Chris Wideman are the only two right-handed veterans. Third position could essentially be played between Justin Barron – a natural right-hander – and the left-hander who will be best able to switch ends without having made a mistake first.

Not all lefties can play on the other side. Last week, player development coach Francis Bouillon correctly 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 flank, but he played very little on that side last season as Miller shoots from the right.

“He played on the right flank now and again when we were missing someone or during a certain shift when we made changes. But with the skills he has I have no doubt he can play on the right flank. He has enough talent and his skating is good enough to impress on the right. »

It will be interesting to follow his case at camp and the fact that Martin St-Louis is enlisting his services for a second game in a row despite having 18 healthy defenders is interesting.

Murray in goal

However, Miller will need to follow everything from afar as the Leafs set up an experienced defense against the CH.

In fact, five of the six uniformed defensemen have more than 200 games 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 will not play while John Tavares is out for three weeks, the team announced on Tuesday. In his absence, Pontus Holmberg, a selection of 6^e Tour in 2018, the trio will be piloted by William Nylander.

Matt Murray will defend Toronto’s net.