Confirmed with Link: Laine, 2nd 2026 to Montreal for Jordan Harris

[Monstershockey]

Glad they didn't have to start the season with him. Didn't want someone that didn't want to be here taking ice time from someone that does. Shame he was almost worthless.

 

[MissADD]

No retention is big, especially if you have an Elvis buyout in your mind, Gives them a lot of room to do something if they want to. 18 million under the cap now.

 

[Viqsi]

Mtl fan coming in peace. Harris is a jack of all trade master of none dman. A good 3rd pairing dman atm (albeit a bit vanilla) and still young enough to maybe grow into a more solid two way 4th dman but probably unlikely. But with Guhle, Hutson, Xhekaj, Struble, Engstrom as kids/prospects on the left side there was simply no place for Harris moving forward.

There wouldn't have been space for him before, but we kind of dumped most of our spare blueliners over the offseason so I guess he fits now. Here's hoping it works out.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

bummed that it didn't work out here for laine. when he was healthy here, he was genuinely fun to watch. just hope they actually use that cap space the next time a big name hits the trade block.

jordan harris is definitely an NHL level defenseman who exists in this weird space where he's not an all-offense guy but he's also not the big burly shutdown guy that this fan base seems to salivate over. he's tiny but cerebral and skates well.

this probably means mateychuk starts in cleveland (which is fine) but i still wouldn't bet against him making the opening night roster given how good he looked in camp last year. seems like a prime "kick the door down and earn that shit" candidate.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

So Harris is the 3LD this year and potential 2LD next year while Mateychuk learns and gets his feet wet. The door for Mateychuk is pretty closed, and the door for Christiansen is shut.

As for Laine. It’s a shame it didn’t work. Seems like a good guy. I’m hoping the perceived locker room issues were limited to him only. I wish him luck. He’s got all the talent in the world.

I do like that we got rid of the full contract but I’m not loving that we dumped a pick to do so.

Z-Severson
Provorov-Jiricek
Harris-Gudbranson
Johnson

 

[cbjthrowaway]

No retention is big, especially if you have an Elvis buyout in your mind, Gives them a lot of room to do something if they want to. 18 million under the cap now.

an elvis buyout next year still isn't that bad imo but trading him at 50% seems a lot more feasible now that they're not going to be using a spot on laine (assuming the plan was always to use one on provorov)

So Harris is the 3LD this year and potential 2LD next year while Mateychuk learns and gets his feet wet. The door for Mateychuk is pretty closed, and the door for Christiansen is shut.

imo mateychuk will pretty easily be able to leap-frog harris at some point, even this year if he has a strong camp (and last year he had a really strong camp)

 

[Fred Glover]

I don't believe we retained. If we retained AND gave up the 2nd I'm calling for Waddell to be fired.

You didn’t like his hire anyway

 

[5th Line Fanatic]

Tied them for what? We had a winger who missed most of last season dealing with mental health and an 8 million + cap hit. I consider it a win to get away from him with no retention.

Just cut the cord and start fresh.

Retention only matters to the owner, we're not near the cap and we're not going to use the money on anyone else this season. Wads would have had a lot better options if we could have retained half Laine's cap hit.

 

[Viqsi]

You didn’t like his hire anyway

I at least try to not let that affect my impressions after the fact. I will also note that his signings, so far, have been pretty good.

 

[Marioesque]

Our owner clearly tied Wads hands.

Considering how he was talking a couple of days ago about Laine might have to start in Columbus, yes that's how it feels like.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

We know ownership doesn’t want to retain on anyone for multiple years. They’ve never done it. And until proven otherwise they won’t do it. Especially on a contract as steep as Laine’s.

I expected us to dump a pick I was just hoping it wasn’t a high one. That someone was going to buy on his potential. Harris is an upgrade on what I expected in return, but I don’t love giving the pick up.

 

[Fred Glover]

I at least try to not let that affect my impressions after the fact. I will also note that his signings, so far, have been pretty good.

That’s fair
I try to let the thing play out before giving a “grade”
My first reaction is that our long nightmare is over and it’s time to turn the page
Good health to Laine and I hope we win this trade

 

[NotWendell]

I hope this doesn't become a Cold Take™
There's a reason PLD and Laine are linked. High draft picks, brilliant first years, unable to live up to the expectations every year thereafter. One has mental health challenges and the other just doesn't know it yet. So it's fitting they were traded for each other.

FInal grade in the WPG-CBJ trade: it's a push.

 

[ViD]

So basically we drafted Jordan Harris with the 3rd overall in 2016

 

[Fred Glover]

Don’t know if this was mentioned if so my apologies
It’s a 2026 second round pick as we don’t have a second this year

 

[ViD]

Let that sink in

We just traded a 26 year old forward who was a PPG player for us 2 seasons out of 4 for a no name defensemen AND we added a 2nd round pick

 

[NotWendell]

A highly-stressful market like Montreal, Toronto or New York sounds like a terrible place for Laine right now. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Viqsi]

Let that sink in

We just traded a 26 year old forward who was a PPG player for us 2 seasons out of 4 for a no name defensemen AND we added a 2nd round pick

I wouldn't characterize Harris as a "no name defenseman". If we still had, say, Bean on the roster I would be more annoyed. He's young depth of the type we kind of freely gave away earlier.

 

[ViD]

I’m absolutely shocked we didn’t get a top 4 d man for our second best forward

And we had to add a 2nd round pick so we don’t retain

Laine is essentially a cap dump

I’m beyond devastated with the return

 

[Xoggz22]

Sucks it didn't work in Columbus. Montreal gets a 2nd and high risk for a serviceable defenseman that can be used in Columbus to allow the young players to develop. Moving the salary in full is very big as others have noted. Opens some doors. Let's see what the system with Evason looks like and how the current players adjust, then decide what's next.

As for GMDW, I know some aren't pleased with his dealings, however, when you look at the edict to change the culture and have players that want to be here... he's done just that without really sacrificing anything of real value. The 2026 2nd could be, could be I said , a pick in the mid to high 50's with any success and steps by this team. That's two years off and if the pundits are correct and the future really is that bright, that's about when this team should be a playoff team. Not to mention it's a future pick that can be recovered and our prior deals netted other future picks (higher rounds), so I'm not overly concerned. Moving Laine was the last major piece that I can see. I get the Elvis contract, but that wasn't moveable and having him for one more year to be a reclamation, could pay dividends as well.

I don't mind this, but won't say I like it.

 

[Aaaarrgghh]

Hugely underwhelming. I would definitely have preferred them retaining 50 % on Laine and getting a better return. They certainly had the cap space to do that. But I guess the owners said no. Oh well, I guess I'm relieved that it's over and hope Harris does well for the Blue Jackets.

EDIT: At least it removes a rival in the Draisaitl sweepstakes next summer.

 

[sbhatt]

No salary retention!!

Harris isn’t bad!

Habs fan here trying to gauge how CBJ fans feel about the trade. I can tell you that I was no fan of Harris; watch him closely and I am betting you will feel underwhelmed by his game too. He loses the majority of puck and position battles in his own end, and his smooth skating doesn't generate nearly enough offense to offset that weakness. He's young enough to improve some, but I was thrilled when I saw that he was the piece heading out.

 

[Cujorulesdtown9]

8 mill off the books, and got a player in return.
This is the return I pretty much expected, 100% fine with it.

 

[ViD]

Sucks it didn't work in Columbus. Montreal gets a 2nd and high risk for a serviceable defenseman that can be used in Columbus to allow the young players to develop. Moving the salary in full is very big as others have noted. Opens some doors. Let's see what the system with Evason looks like and how the current players adjust, then decide what's next.

Laine contract is only for 2 more years and we already had a lot of cap. Harris will likely be another Bean / Boqvist kinda guy. This is horrible for Columbus, let’s be real here

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Let that sink in

We just traded a 26 year old forward who was a PPG player for us 2 seasons out of 4 for a no name defensemen AND we added a 2nd round pick

It’s almost like there’s an incredible amount of variables you’re not including