In hockey-mad Montreal, fans fall in love fast and hard with their favourites. When Marc Bergevin signed undrafted defenceman Arber Xhekaj to an entry-level contract in October 2021, hardly anyone had heard about the hard-hitting defenceman. Three years later, a large part of the Canadiens’ fandom has become enamoured with the 23-year-old blueliner.
Is it because he came from humble beginnings, the son of two immigrants who showed their four kids that working hard for what you want is the best way to achieve your dreams? Or maybe it’s because while most teenagers twiddled their thumbs during the pandemic, Xhekaj was working in a Costco? Or perhaps, it’s the fact he bought all new appliances for his parents with his signing bonus? (from “Canadiens’ Arber Xhekaj Learned Key Lessons From His Mother“, The Gazette, May 12, 2023)
The more likely answer is that they love how he plays the game, but everything mentioned above certainly doesn’t hurt. Do you know who else appears to love the eldest son of Jack and Simona Xhekaj? NHL general managers, plural. According to David Pagnotta, general manager Kent Hughes keeps getting calls about Xhekaj and he keeps giving the same answer: no.
Hughes Getting Calls About Xhekaj Is Nothing New
Last January, there were rumours about GMs calling Hughes about the rugged player. The thinking was that since they had sent him down to Laval, he must have been available, but that wasn’t the case. Xhekaj was sent down to Laval when he came back from injury but also because he needed to improve his defensive game as Hughes explained in an interview with TVA Sports’ Jean-Charles Lajoie:
[translated from French] Our plan is not to trade Arber Xhekaj. He’s not in the AHL because he’s no longer part of our plans. […] Arber was injured last year, then again this year. Last year, we couldn’t afford to send him down to the AHL. This year, Struble showed us he was ready. It’s not that he’s overtaken Xhekaj in our hierarchy. He allowed us to send him to the AHL to work on some aspects of his game.
Since then, Xhekaj was recalled from the American Hockey League (AHL) and paired up with David Savard most of the time until he had to call time on his season because of an issue with his left shoulder which required surgery. In his end-of-season media availability, he admitted it wasn’t a new injury but something that had bugged him going back to his junior days. He added he should have had it fixed before but didn’t want to stop playing in what was a contract year for him.
Xhekaj Was a Hit in Laval
While he was sent down to polish some aspects of his game, Xhekaj revealed himself to be a good “big brother” for Logan Mailloux in Laval. The two made an interesting pair and it wouldn’t be a shock to see them both on the same pairing in Montreal soon enough.
Related: Canadiens’ Arber Xhekaj AHL Assignment an Opportunity
During his stay with the Canadiens’ farm team, Laval’s head coach Jean-François Houle had good things to say about the youngster:
It takes time sometimes. You have to get to know your teammates and he played full time in the NHL last season, and he was sent down. It’s not fun for him but I think he understands why he’s here. […] Up to now, he’s showed good things and I find him a lot more comfortable now.
Even though Xhekaj found his demotion to be tough both mentally and physically, he eventually saw the opportunity that was given to him to polish his game. He realized that buying yourself some time prior to moving the puck in the defensive zone is a good way to avoid making costly turnovers. Something sure to please the Habs brass considering this was the number one reason why he was sent down.
Why Is Xhekaj a Unicorn?
Xhekaj is a rare breed of defenceman, an interesting mix of strength and skills, old and new and defence and offence. While at times it looks like he is a tough guy playing hockey like in “the old days”, on other occasions he reminds us and everyone around him that he is a modern-day hockey player by showing he can skate with the puck and be a threat from the blue line.
Furthermore, in his rookie season, he found room on the second power-play unit and displayed a knack for finding lanes to put the puck on net, creating scoring chances for forwards either by deflecting the shot or by jumping on rebounds. Last season though, he also revealed he can have a booming shot from the blue line, the kind of shot that can surprise a goalie or make a defenceman think twice before trying to block it.
Even though he can do all this, he’s not scared to “take one for the team” and go stand up for a teammate or even drop the gloves if he has to. He made himself a name for that early on in his rookie season getting in duels with the likes of Zack Kassian, Vincent Desharnais, and Mark Kastelic. Early last season, he also manhandled Toronto Maple Leafs’ tough guy Ryan Reaves. When he’s in the lineup, his teammates feel bigger and tougher thinking they can take some liberties as Juraj Slafkovsky mentioned on the Raw Knuckles Podcast.
Even though Xhekaj will never be a top-pairing defenceman and would ideally be a third-pairing guy on a contending team, to have that skillset in a depth player is a luxury. Many teams’ third defenceman duo are stay-at-home guys, and you don’t even notice if one of them is replaced by the seventh blueliner on any given day. Whereas with Xhekaj, you know when he’s there and when he’s not there. On July 1, he’ll be a restricted free agent, and considering the calls he’s getting, Montreal’s GM would do well to make this signing a priority. After all, it could be the start of the salary structure on the blue line.
There you have it, my take on why Hughes didn’t want to trade Xhekaj last January and why he still doesn’t. He’s open for business when it comes to other young blueliners, but it doesn’t sound like there are as many suitors.
