Ya it’s kind of weird he was so passed over. Great size. Moves decently. Big shot. And obviously has supreme toughness and physicality. We took Tinordi in the mid 1st for that combo. And obviously Arber looks better than Tinordi ever did already.
I live in Kitchener and watched him play as a Ranger many times. It is not surprising that he was passed over at all in the draft.
In his 17 year old season he was a rookie that was played very sparingly. He had 3 points in 59 games. He was a walk on with Kitchener and made the team which is pretty much unheard of. He played big and was physical but was definitely the #6 defenceman on the team.
In his 18 year old season, his draft year, Kitchener was loaded on defence. Sebrengo (3rd round DET), Vukojevic (3rd round NJ), Ottavainen (4th round SEA), Bergqvist (7th ARI) were all on the team. MacPherson was 19 years old and in his fourth OHL season. Motew was Kitchener’s first round draft pick playing as a rookie. Then at the trade deadline they picked up Wale who was an overager. Xhekaj played 51 games that year and actually played well. He went from starting the year off as a bottom pair defenceman to rolling the lines and playing more minutes. He was not played in any offensive role at all. I’m sure that scouts noticed him but he didn’t get the opportunity to prove being draft worthy. Plus the OHL has their three fight rule where a player can only get in three fights a year and any fight after that leads to an automatic one game suspension. He was a tough guy but he couldn’t goon it up.
In his 19 year old season the OHL was shut down for the entire year due to Covid. He would have played a much bigger role on the team and I am positive that he would have been drafted. Habs still invited him to their camp.
In his 20 year old season he was a man among boys. You expect overagers to play dominant but no one expected him to be one of the best defencemen in the league. It is very rare that your toughest player is also your best player. Kitchener traded him to Hamilton at the trade deadline and it helped Xhekaj immensely.
He really was a fan favourite in Kitchener. Especially in his overage year. I have watched a lot of Rangers hockey over the last 20 years and I can honestly say that I have never seen a player progress so much over the course of their OHL career. Watching him play as a rookie he had no NHL potential. I figured that he would be a 17, 18, 19 year old player who is a physical bottom pair defensive defenceman.
Going into camp I figured that he would have to play a couple seasons in Laval and work his way up to being a physical bottom pairing NHL defenceman. Watching him in pre season I think he actually makes the Habs now. He plays physical, he fights but what people are not mentioning is how he has made good outlet passes and has had a good transitional game. He can skate well for a large man and has even scored a goal. He does get caught out of position often and will even more so when he goes for big hits.
