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Player Discussion Arber Xhekaj: The Sheriff

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Tyson said:
An absolutely awesome interview. Xhekaj is going to only get better and it's mind boggling that no NHL amateur scout saw enough in him to take a chance in the 7th round.
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Okay so in 10 yrs when we look back at the Covid draft years the headline will read “winning the Norris confirms Xhekaj was a top 5 player selected/signs throughout the pandemic draft years” lol
Cheers
 
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Habs said:
Ritchie is tough TBH, he doesn't back down I'm not sure if anyone really knew what was going on. On the flip side nobody on Montreal reacted to the 'accidental on purpose' hit on Cole either. Always surprised me Calgary got rid of Bennet, he's the complete package too
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Dach tried and it's probably why he went nuts when he got four the other night ,it wasn't even a dirty hit and I've seen plenty of similar if not worse hits on us go unpenalized lately... bush league.
 
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hvac412 said:
Dach tried and it's probably why he went nuts when he got four the other night ,it wasn't even a dirty hit and I've seen plenty of similar if not worse hits on us go unpenalized lately... bush league.
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NHL officiating is total garbage, they can't even agree what an offside is, nevermind interference. The reffing was better with just 1 guy roaming around officiating, ever since we have 2 they are just looking for things to call.
 
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I just wonder something. If I posted in the trade thread that

Arber Xhekaj was available.​

A month ago the nhl said he was the most improved player this year.
Watch how fast posters will offer a bag of pucks because He is NO DAM GOOD.
 
DAChampion said:
A lot might be going on that we don't know about.

MSL might be trying to maintain Wideman's trade value, or Xhekaj night have small micro-injuries here and there that we don't know about, or he wants to keep the young players hungry, or many other things.

We can trust --- or dismiss -- MSL based on the big picture. Don't micro-nitpick individual decisions.
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You cannot say in any amount of seriousness, that Wideman has one ounce of trade value.
 
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BJCOLLINS said:
Okay so in 10 yrs when we look back at the Covid draft years the headline will read “winning the Norris confirms Xhekaj was a top 5 player selected/signs throughout the pandemic draft years” lol
Cheers
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Xhekaj may well turn out to be a diamond in the rough, but winning a Norris Trophy maybe a couple of bridges too far for this surprisingly effective young player.

The more I watch Xhekaj, the more I’m impressed with his poise and calmness with the puck. He actually slows the game down once he has possession of the puck. There’s just no panic in his game. He shows great vision in both the offensive zone and easily has one of the best first/stretch passes of all Montreal defencemen and shows a level of creativity in the offensive zone that belies his image of being just an on ice enforcer. Xhekaj also possesses a frighteningly hard and accurate wrist shot that he has shown he can get by pressing opposing forwards and hit the net. This is no easy task and Xhekaj gets that powerful shot away, accurately even when under duress. Its a tangible skill that another prime Montreal defensive prospect , Mailloux, needs to develop.

Defensively, Xhekaj continues to punch above his NHL experience weight displaying a level of anticipation, physicality, positioning and defensive awareness that has quickly turned a supposed questionable part of his game into a contributing element of the Team’s surprising level success in the first part of the season.the aura of this menacing player in the league has only contributed to Xhekaj’s success as most opposing players Give him more time and space to make a play whether that aura is warranted or not. Intimidation is still alive and thriving in the NHL and Xhekaj’s presence in the line up provides Montreal with a measure and counter measure of intimidation that we haven’t seen in a long time here.

A future trophy candidate? Highly unlikely. But the tangible on ice and office elements that Xhekaj brings to the team will be nevertheless hugely contributory to this team’s long term success. Like it or not, Xhekaj is at forefront of the wave of new, young players who will shape the future of this storied franchise.

It goes to show that in team building, like most things in life, being lucky is as important as being good.
 
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ChesterNimitz said:
Xhekaj may well turn out to be a diamond in the rough, but winning a Norris Trophy maybe a couple of bridges too far for this surprisingly effective young player. The more I watch Xhekaj, the more I’m impressed with his poise and calmness with the puck. He actually slows the game down once he has possession of the puck. There’s just no panic in his game. He shows great vision in both the offensive zone and easily has one of the best first/stretch passes of all Montreal defencemen and shows a level of creativity in the offensive zone that belies his image of being on an ice enforcer. Xhekaj also possesses a frighteningly hard and accurate wrist shot that he has shown he can get by pressing opposing forwards and hit the net. This is no easy task and Xhekaj gets that powerful shot away, accurately even when under duress. Its a tangible skill that another prime Montreal defensive prospect , Mailloux, needs to develop.

Defensively, Xhekaj continues to punch above his NHL experience weight displaying a level of anticipation, physicality, positioning and defensive awareness that has quickly turned a supposed questionable part of his game into a contributing element of the Team’s surprising level success in the first part of the season.the aura of this menacing player in the league has only contributed to Xhekaj’s success as most opposing players Give him more time and space to make a play whether that aura is warranted or not. Intimidation is still alive and thriving in the NHL and Xhekaj’s presence in the line up provides Montreal with a measure and counter measure of intimidation that we haven’t seen in a long time here.

A future trophy candidate? Highly unlikely. But the tangible on ice and office elements that Xhekaj brings to the team will be nevertheless hugely contributory to this team’s long term success. Like it or not, Xhekaj is at forefront of the wave of new, young players who will shape the future of this storied franchise.

It goes to show that in team building like most things in life being lucky is as important as being good.
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Well, Weber was an excellent defenseman and never won the Norris.
 
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Matthew McConaughay said:
Well, Weber was an excellent defenseman and never won the Norris.
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Agreed. With the selection process for the Norris so highly influenced by offensive production, I think Hutson has a better chance of being a Norris Trophy winner than Xhekaj among Montreal’s current prospective defencemen.
 
ChesterNimitz said:
Agreed. With the selection process for the Norris so highly influenced by offensive production, I think Hutson has a better chance of being a Norris Trophy winner than Xhekaj among Montreal’s current prospective defencemen.
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Agreed, being a highly offensive Dman, seems to be the way to win the Norris these days.
 
Habs said:
NHL officiating is total garbage, they can't even agree what an offside is, nevermind interference. The reffing was better with just 1 guy roaming around officiating, ever since we have 2 they are just looking for things to call.
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It's very easy for the outcomes of games to be influenced by officiating. When you hear the game's biggest star complaining about the consistency or lack thereof, it shows us how bad the situation is. As a fan of the game and not just the habs, I am sickened by the inconsistency of what is and isn't a penalty. If a team goes up 2-0, 3-0 you can bet your bottom dollar that 2-3 calls are automatically going against them. It's all about keeping warm bodies in the stands ($$$$) and no lead is safe now because of it.
 
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DAChampion said:
Why was Xhekaj undrafted?
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How much of it is about playing in the best hockey schools or tournaments, events that require big money from wealthy parents? Xhekaj has been chirped on the ice because he had a job in retail by guys, most of whom grew up with a silver spoon in their mouths, most of whom had the best of everything without ever knowing the hardship of having to choose something else over sport because of economic reasons.

It is almost impossible for a middle-class to poor kid to make it to the NHL today. If they are not in the most prestigious tournaments or schools then they just don't exist. I think that was the case with Arber and I chuckle when they call him a throwback player, a tough kid that had to fight his way through everything. That is nothing more than rich people saying "oh wow, one of them managed to slip through(pinkie extended from tea cup)" lol because they can't even relate to the situation. How many Jackeye's never got a shot because they simply give up on what is an uphill battle?
 
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Has the crowd “called him to the ice” yet, like we used to call for Nilan whenever someone got roughed up? It was deafening. I’ve seen bad boys on the bench look down at their feet thinking oh f*** what have I done so many times. Crowd was the 6th player for sure back then and we used our goons!
 
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