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Player Discussion Arber Xhekaj: The Sheriff

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Zilo44 said:
I did not watch him play outside of the Memorial Cup, but is this guy really an NHL talent ? I understand that people want toughness on our roster and people talk about him as a violent player (i.e. more than a physical player), but is it wishful thinking that he plays in the league?

How does he compare to guys like Thrower and Lernout in junior ?
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I haven't seen him in junior at all, but he caught my eye in training camp last year.

It hard to project how a player develops over time, but he looks like he's got a decent shot of being a full time NHL player. He has some Ben chiarot vibes to him IMO.
 
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For the last 20 or so years I have gone to 10-15 Kitchener Rangers games a year. For as long as I have been going I have never seen a player come out of nowhere and progress as much as he has. In his rookie year I don’t think that anyone had high hopes for him. We all figured he was a big defender who will be a physical depth piece for his OHL tenure.

Then in his second year it really was his coming out party that everyone missed. Problem was the Rangers who two defencemen who were third round picks already on the team. The two new European import picks were both defencemen and the one was a late round NHL pick already and the other was selected in the following NHL draft. Then the other two defencemen had one as an overager and the other one was the Rangers 1st round draft pick. The Rangers were stacked on defence. Then come the trade deadline the Rangers picked up another overage defenceman just for depth. He wasn’t the best but they got him super cheap. During that season he overcame the odds and still played second pairing minutes.

His third year was shut down by Covid. He lost the entire year and I am 100% positive that he would have been drafted by an NHL team if he had played. He would have had significantly more playing time and a much bigger role on the team.

Then this past year he was a man on a mission. He was a man playing among boys. He went out of his way to make the big hits and I think he did it because he takes enjoyment in it. I have seen very physical players before in the OHL but rarely are they ever the best player on their team as well. I was happy to see him go to Hamilton and chase a Cup. He was the biggest fan favourite here in Kitchener. Everyone loves an underdog story.

My hopes for next year is that he goes to Laval and plays hockey. The OHL has their three fights in a season rule and then you start to get suspended. If their was not that rule he would have got into MANY more fights. I’m hoping that he plays hockey and doesn’t start gooning it up. He can skate well for a player of his size and has a good shot and a good outlet pass. He doesn’t have a high NHL ceiling but he has a high floor. I can see him being a bottom pair NHL defenceman one day. He will be one of those players where once the NHL team has some injuries on defence and they need to call up a defenceman he will get the nod because the coach wouldn’t need to worry about him as much as other rookies.
 
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It's going to be fun watching Xhekaj and Slafkovsky play together. I hope they become bffs.
 
Belial said:
What a brutal take...
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The guy barely cracked the top 4 on a 32nd place team, and he only did so because of injuries. 13 points in 79 games.

You can’t explain how it’s a “brutal take”. Facts and reality just hurt your feelings is what the issue is.
 
Garbageyuk said:
The guy barely cracked the top 4 on a 32nd place team, and he only did so because of injuries. 13 points in 79 games.

You can’t explain how it’s a “brutal take”. Facts and reality just hurt your feelings is what the issue is.
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He was our most used D at the end of the season... Come on man...

I don't think we lost the next Lidstrom but he was already a decent top 4 D and not some scrub as you said.
 
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Belial said:
He was our most used D at the end of the season... Come on man...

I don't think we lost the next Lidstrom but he was already a decent top 4 D and not some scrub as you said.
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I didn’t say he is a scrub; I said he is not a top 4 on most other teams. He is solidly NHL calibre at 22 years old, and may become a top 4 D. But he isn’t one right now. Don’t let last season fool you. He was our most used D at the end by pretty much necessity, and he didn’t look up to the task at all. He looked lost a lot of times, and he doesn’t have any offensive skill to produce.
 
Garbageyuk said:
I didn’t say he is a scrub; I said he is not a top 4 on most other teams. He is solidly NHL calibre at 22 years old, and may become a top 4 D. But he isn’t one right now. Don’t let last season fool you. He was our most used D at the end by pretty much necessity, and he didn’t look up to the task at all. He looked lost a lot of times, and he doesn’t have any offensive skill to produce.
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We'll see about that. If Dach doesn't become what they hope this will be another huge blunder.
 
Belial said:
We'll see about that. If Dach doesn't become what they hope this will be another huge blunder.
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No. It won't. It would be a minor blunder because within a couple of years he wouldn't be needed with the similar prospects the Habs have. And at this time it's best to unload Russians in case they end up in the army or are booted out of North America.
 
Tyson said:
Every trade is an inherent risk.
He was highly touted during his rookie year. Time will tell
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Prior to his injury Dach's development was widely acknowledged as being very encouraging. Last season he played on an awful team in disarray, the clowns who already label him as a bust or a player who is unlikely to improve much are just the bottom feeders at the trough of hockey acumen.

There is no guarantee that he will become a strong top 6 center but there is still plenty of room for optimism. Those who state otherwise are not worth listening to.

Now can we go back to Xhekaj discussion? I am really curious to see how he thinks the game with less time and space and if/when he learns how to find an efficient balance between aggressiveness and positional play. He was definitely too aggressive in his approach in junior relative to what he will need to do at the pro level. Perhaps he is aware of this and was just doing it because he knew he could as opposed to being compelled to step up so often. He has sneaky good puck skills with flashes of surprisingly good footwork so there is some real potential for upward progression that originally was not necessarily part of his earlier projections.
 
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Belial said:
He was our most used D at the end of the season... Come on man...

I don't think we lost the next Lidstrom but he was already a decent top 4 D and not some scrub as you said.
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I'm sure HuGo did their homework...

Yeah, this trade ultimately will be judged not only on what Dach becomes, but also what Romanov becomes.

And, at the end of the day, who cares about this one move. The goal isn't to win as many individual moves as possible. It's to build a winner. Hugo took from a position of plethora to address a position of need. If they end up addressing the center position in the long run through various attempts and building a winner, the totality of moves will have been successful.
 
:rolleyes:Really hate that people feel the need to dump on a player just because the player is no longer a member of the team, brown nosers glee :rolleyes:. Can someone change the thread title ffs.
 
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Desto420 said:
Son, don't quit your day job and buy some glasses. Ever wonder why Lamoriello wants him with Dobson in NYI? He must be out of his mind...
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Lol. Like Lamoriello hasn’t made plenty of moronic decisions before 🤣. Nice appeal to authority.

Romanov couldn’t stick in the top-4 on a 32nd place team. The only reason he played top-4 minutes for us is because of injuries.

Really thought you got me with that one 😂, next time my boy.
 
rickthegoon said:
looks like a man amongst boys. I’m definitely looking forward to see him carry that over to the next level.
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A lot of his hits are late hits where he's taken himself completely out of the play (along with the guy he hit, mind you). Early on, refs might cll him regularly for charging?

Hip checks are strong -- that's a good thing. Not many people will want to enter the zone on his side, or through the middle, even, when he is on the ice.

Just don't know if his skating timing and everything else will be good enough for the NHL? I'd like him to make it, for sure.

Just putting Xhekaj on the ice will get into opponents' heads -- never a bad thing. If he can play as well, bonus!
 
Desto420 said:
Son, don't quit your day job and buy some glasses. Ever wonder why Lamoriello wants him with Dobson in NYI? He must be out of his mind...
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Maybe because the genius gave away Toews for nothing to Colorado. Lou L is living off his cups in New Jersey, He has become like Dubas, borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. Don't use him as an example of correct player evaluation
 
Garbageyuk said:
Romanov is like a 6th or 7th D on most teams lol I don’t know how he got so overrated on here. People like big hits I guess.
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Xhekaj's becoming extremely overrated on here as well it seems... ironically because he was a physical beast last year in juniors.

I love underdogs stories too, but if Xhekaj becomes half a Romanov it's gonna be a win
 
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