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Player Discussion Arber Xhekaj: The Sheriff

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Tyson said:
If it's day to day...that's a win.

I am sure Barbashev will one day have to answer even if it was clean.
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The Real Timo said:
It was such a solid hit though... impressive. We should get someone like that.
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I doubt it. He won't actively go after Barbashev nor will he refrain from hitting him when the opportunity arises. It's simple if Xhekaj wasn't playing a shift that was 2:48 seconds long it would never have resulted in an injury. I doubt Arber blames Barbeshev for that maybe some of his forwards were actually more responsible? :sarcasm:

And I agree Barbeshev is a truck a big Mack truck.
 
CAUFIELD said:
How is he performing in the AHL?
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Nice goal tonight. He went from disinterested the first couple games to taking this seriously and anchoring the first pair + PP1 with decent success. Unfortunately for him, however, it’ll be very hard to go back up now, with how well Struble has been doing… Good thing Laval is winning and back to having fun because he might be there a little while. Harris isn’t even back yet!
 
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bonneaug said:
Nice goal tonight. He went from disinterested the first couple games to taking this seriously and anchoring the first pair + PP1 with decent success. Unfortunately for him, however, it’ll be very hard to go back up now, with how well Struble has been doing… Good thing Laval is winning and back to having fun because he might be there a little while. Harris isn’t even back yet!
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Don't forget tht he was ALSO coming back from an injury.
 
He definitely should not be focusing on offense, which might have been part of his issues this season. He's not a complete klutz with the puck and he can bring some production, but his bread and butter should be solid 5 on 5 defensive play. Be a 20+ minutes a night work horse and the rest is going to be gravy on top.
 
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Pompeius Magnus said:
He definitely should not be focusing on offense, which might have been part of his issues this season. He's not a complete klutz with the puck and he can bring some production, but his bread and butter should be solid 5 on 5 defensive play. Be a 20+ minutes a night work horse and the rest is going to be gravy on top.
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With how bad our penalty kill has been, it would be great for him to improve on the PK and be a guy who could log big minutes on it.

Guys like Edmundson and Weber were good at clearing the front of the net and making it easier for our goalies to see the puck, if Xhekaj could fill a similar role it would help our PK a lot.
 
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Leon Lucius Black said:
With how bad our penalty kill has been, it would be great for him to improve on the PK and be a guy who could log big minutes on it.

Guys like Edmundson and Weber were good at clearing the front of the net and making it easier for our goalies to see the puck, if Xhekaj could fill a similar role it would help our PK a lot.
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Eddy and Weber were really solid defensively in their primes. Xhekaj will have to grow his all around defensive game to be as effective as they were on the defensive end, 5 on 5 and on the PK.

He's young. But I often saw him lack awareness of opposition players around him when he handled the puck in the defensive end.
 
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26Mats said:
Eddy and Weber were really solid defensively in their primes. Xhekaj will have to grow his all around defensive game to be as effective as they were on the defensive end, 5 on 5 and on the PK.

He's young. But I often saw him lack awareness of opposition players around him when he handled the puck in the defensive end.
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Xhekaj has innate intangibles that can’t be taught such as size, toughness & skating. if he’s developed properly he’ll be a beast at 25-29 years old
 
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This was posted recently https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montr...-arber-xhekaj-is-making-a-difference-in-laval

"In general, just clean up the D-zone," said Xhekaj explaining the direction provided to him by the team. "I don't think [management] want me to be a six or seven guy in Montreal. I think they want me to be a go-to guy who eventually plays 20 minutes a night and build into that."
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What do you think about this? How about Wifi is given a chance to try to develop and add more sophistication to his understanding of the game in order to be a more relevant, more impactful, more valuable player in the near future?

In his first AHL game, the undrafted defenseman finished the night with minus-2, but the coach has seen improvement. "In his first two games, he had several turnovers but now he's calmer with the puck, he scans more to look for his options, he buys himself time and wins his board battles."
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A player who plays with emotions and physicality is definitely exciting but what about we let him play with his brain and learn to leverage his natural physical strengths with a refined understanding of how to play sufficiently good defence against the best hockey players in the world?
 
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@Nova_Scotia_Vees when Arber is not in the lineup.

IMG_20231220_101337.jpg
 
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