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Player Discussion Arber Xhekaj: The Sheriff

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Habs10Habs said:
Woah, pump the brakes lol Xhekaj is a good fighter. But he's yet to fight any true heavy weight. Yet you're already to name him in the same range as Laraque, and a better fighter than Nilan?

Go back and watch some youtube videos of Souray, Brashear, Robinson, Kordic.

Xhekaj may prove to be better once his career is over. But he's not there yet.
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I had forgotten Souray. Yes he was one tough hombre but didn’t fight much because he was so important to the team. I did think of Robinson. He was a dominant fighter when he did fight. But he did it rarely because he needed to be really pissed.

I thought Kordic was a big tough guy but his fight were a bit of a blur. I don’t know if he ever had that reputation as the king of the mountain like Probert or Laraque. I should have remembered Brashear. He was a tough superheavyweight but would lose the odd fight in Mtl. I believe he became a better enforcer when he left Montreal.

Side note: Best pound-for-pound fighter for me was Aaron Asham but he was not a super heavyweight.
 
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admiralcadillac said:
What do you mean true heavyweight? Every guy he's fought is over 210 lbs. Watson is 6'4, Massicotte 6'5.

How many guys in the NHL are larger?
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Wait until he fights the current NHL heavyweights. Reaves, Lucic, Wilson....etc If he can hold his own against them, or beat them. Then feel free to put him at the top of the Habs list. Until then, I stand by what I stated. He's unproven.

salbutera said:
Kordic was the best pugilist the Habs ever had and it’s not even close - think early Mike Tyson years. Simply dominant.

Big Bird could throw them & demolish the opponent if needed but he was a key core TOI player
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Kordic was crazy and let's just say "fuel injected". He was smaller than Xhekaj, but he was one powerful man. Tyson is a good comparison.

Yeah you didn't really see it with Larry due to his importance on the ice.
 
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salbutera said:
Kordic was the best pugilist the Habs ever had and it’s not even close - think early Mike Tyson years. Simply dominant.

Big Bird could throw them & demolish the opponent if needed but he was a key core TOI player
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What about Gilles « One Punch » Lupien?

Lupien terrorized the Q and could dominate with the best of them in the NHL, if memory serves.

Lupien’s fights in particular, did not last long. He had a huge reach advantage and he packed a lot of power.

Kordic could throw them but if i recall correctly, he also took a lot of punishment doing it. He had a strong jaw.
 
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Kennerback said:
I had forgotten Souray. Yes he was one tough hombre but didn’t fight much because he was so important to the team. I did think of Robinson. He was a dominant fighter when he did fight. But he did it rarely because he needed to be really pissed.

I thought Kordic was a big tough guy but his fight were a bit of a blur. I don’t know if he ever had that reputation as the king of the mountain like Probert or Laraque. I should have remembered Brashear. He was a tough superheavyweight but would lose the odd fight in Mtl. I believe he became a better enforcer when he left Montreal.

Side note: Best pound-for-pound fighter for me was Aaron Asham but he was not a super heavyweight.
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Yeah guys like Souray and Larry rarely fought due to their importance on the ice. So it's easy to overlook them. lol yeah, Larry had a really long fuse.

Kordic had that craziness going for him. I've seen him take shots, and just laugh at his opponent. Plus he could punch with equal power from each hand. He was a very tough fighter to get a read on. You never knew what he was gonna hit you with. You're correct, he didn't have the rep of say a Laraque or Probert. But when those two were at the top. They were each the consensus top heavy weight of their times. You can't put too many fighters from any era with those two.

Brashear was underrated imo while he was in Montreal. He seemed to get noticed a lot more once he left.

lol Asham is the same. He's a good fighter, not quite super heavy weight. But pound for pound fighter like you mentioned. Add Corson here, he was a better fighter than what he's given credit for.
 
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I honestly have no idea what management will do. A lot of young players did enough to stay on the team, but they could easily justify a demotion. I don't want to see these guys get burned out at 20 years old. Xhekaj, in particular, even if he's been very good, will get tested physically like no one else on the team. Players are going to take runs at him and tough guys are going to try to beat him up. A guy like Tom Wilson won't mind doing something idiotic just to prove a point.
 
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HuGo Sham said:
true but there aren't a lot of guys who can test him in today's NHL. Kastelic jumped him and watson held on for dear life. Arber may need to learn to protect himself against more skilled fighters and not always go toe to toe. I get that he's 6'4, 240 but I personally don't want him fighting Reaves, Deslauriers, Lucic, Macdermid and Ross Johnson just for the sake of fighting
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Yeah, he needs to learn to protect himself if he goes up against the NHL heavyweights.

I remember Kent Carlson, Habs defenseman in the 80s who was just a punching machine in his first fights, then he got his face punched in a fight and was never the same after. In fighting, you always meet your match at a certain point. You just got to develop good defense too so that when you meet your match, it's not too devastating.
 
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HomaridII said:
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He left a trail of human remains in the OHL last year. Let me tell you something, I was talking with some coaches and players were absolutely petrified. They literally couldn’t skate, just sat helplessly as Xhekaj feasted on their faces. So yeah, he’s a tough guy, eats some players sometimes but generally well liked by his teammates.
 
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Kennerback said:
The only guy that was as good as a fighter for the Habs was Laraque, and it was for a short period of time at the tail end of his career. Xhekaj is a better fighter than Nilan. Nilan was our best enforcer because he could fight 3x a night, he always wanted to go, and he was a decent player.
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Guys like Nilan, Corson and Roberge were not heavyweights, but they had great technique, which is why they never looked bad in a fight against tough guys.
 
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Runner77 said:
What about Gilles « One Punch » Lupien?

Lupien terrorized the Q and could dominate with the best of them in the NHL, if memory serves.

Lupien’s fights in particular, did not last long. He had a huge reach advantage and he packed a lot of power.

Kordic could throw them but if i recall correctly, he also took a lot of punishment doing it. He had a strong jaw.
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I've stood beside Kordic, his head was huge. Kind of like trying to punch a pumpkin. Very strong jaw as well. Also he had huge hands. As a 16 yr old kid. He put his hand over my face. His thumb and his index finger touched each of my ears. lol
 
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Andrei79 said:
I honestly have no idea what management will do. A lot of young players did enough to stay on the team, but they could easily justify a demotion. I don't want to see these guys get burned out at 20 years old. Xhekaj, in particular, even if he's been very good, will get tested physically like no one else on the team. Players are going to take runs at him and tough guys are going to try to beat him up. A guy like Tom Wilson won't mind doing something idiotic just to prove a point.
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Arber’s burden from meathead challenges should be reduced once Edmundson returns to the lineup.

Not a fan of fighting but you still need these kind of players as dissuasion.
 
Habs10Habs said:
Yeah guys like Souray and Larry rarely fought due to their importance on the ice. So it's easy to overlook them. lol yeah, Larry had a really long fuse.

Kordic had that craziness going for him. I've seen him take shots, and just laugh at his opponent. Plus he could punch with equal power from each hand. He was a very tough fighter to get a read on. You never knew what he was gonna hit you with. You're correct, he didn't have the rep of say a Laraque or Probert. But when those two were at the top. They were each the consensus top heavy weight of their times. You can't put too many fighters from any era with those too.

Brashear was underrated imo while he was in Montreal. He seemed to get noticed a lot more once he left.

lol Asham is the same. He's a good fighter, not quite super heavy weight. But pound for pound fighter like you mentioned. Add Corson here, he was a better fighter than what he's given credit for.
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Kordic blocked punches with his face, but he didn't feel anything (we all know why). He was just an all-offense punching machine though.
 
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Habs10Habs said:
I've stood beside Kordic, his head was huge. Kind of like trying to punch a pumpkin. Very strong jaw as well. Also he had huge hands. As a 16 yr old kid. He put his hand over my face. His thumb and his index finger touched each of my ears. lol
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The two Habs with huge hands that I know of were Jacques Plante and Guy Lafleur, both of whom I shook hands with. These guys were freaks of nature.
 
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Runner77 said:
The two Habs with huge hands that I know of were Jacques Plante and Guy Lafleur, both of whom I shook hands with. These guys were freaks of nature.
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I never met Plante, but I"ve heard the same. I've met Guy several times. First as a child and a bunch of times later. The last time being about 4 or 5 years ago. My hands as an adult aren't big, but my fingers are like sausages lol His hand easily wrapped around mine. As if I was a small child.
 
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Paddy17 said:
Yeah, he needs to learn to protect himself if he goes up against the NHL heavyweights.

I remember Kent Carlson, Habs defenseman in the 80s who was just a punching machine in his first fights, then he got his face punched in a fight and was never the same after. In fighting, you always meet your match at a certain point. You just got to develop good defense too so that when you meet your match, it's not too devastating.
Click to expand...
There was another one, the name totally escapes me now. Who was the tough kid we had who got his ass handed to him by Chara? He was never the same player again?
 
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