Jay Harrison

Did You Know?

• Harrison and his wife Jodean have four daughters.
• The family moved to Bowmanville, Ontario after his retirement.
• He earned degrees in psychology and counselling and works for Game Change, a counselling service for athletes.

Playing career

Harrison played in the 1996 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Whitby Wildcats minor ice hockey team. At age 16, he played for the Oshawa Legionnaires of the Ontario Junior Hockey League. He was selected first overall by the Brampton Battalion in the 1998 OHL Priority Selection and spent four seasons with the Battalion. After being drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs, he spent four seasons in the American Hockey League with Toronto's farm team before making his NHL debut on January 27, 2006, against the Montreal Canadiens, recording his first NHL point with an assist. On June 16, 2008, he signed a one-year contract with EV Zug of the Swiss National League A, but returned to the Maple Leafs on March 27, 2009, signing a pro-rated deal at $475,000 for the remainder of the 2008–09 season. On July 9, 2009, he signed a two-way contract with the Carolina Hurricanes worth $500,000 in the NHL and $125,000 in the AHL. He scored his first NHL goal on October 9, 2009, in a 7–2 victory over the Florida Panthers. During the 2014–15 season, the Hurricanes traded him to the Winnipeg Jets on December 18, 2014, for a sixth-round pick in the 2015 NHL entry draft. On October 6, 2015, he cleared waivers and was reassigned to the Manitoba Moose of the AHL, his first AHL action since 2010. After 18 games with the Moose, he was traded by the Jets along with Andrew Ladd and Matt Fraser to the Chicago Blackhawks on February 25, 2016, in exchange for Marko Daňo and a first-round pick in the 2016 NHL entry draft. He was then assigned to the Blackhawks' AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs.