Player Discussion Arber Xhekaj: The Sheriff

[Saundies]

Gonna disagree. That sets a weird precedent where then you can call any interference or hit in a heated game a suspension. He made no head contact and if you're going to suspend a player because your subjective opinion is you think he meant to hurt the other player then that opens just about every hit to possible suspension.

The problem with penalizing on 'intent' is that it's your personal perceived intent. 'He was trying to hurt him.' You don't know that for sure, ever. You can make a reasonable guess or try to, but that introduces a ton of bias into the process.

Was Greig trying to hurt Dach, or was it just a regular hit that was too late/too high? Was Pare trying to hurt Laine, or was it just a scrub AHL guy not wanting to get walked? Both are dirty plays, but were they intended to be?

Refs penalize on intent sometimes because they're right there on the ice. They can see it happening, hear guys talking, etc. After the fact just watching a slowed down version of the incident, I don't think there's enough there.

 

[Habby4Life]

Yeah, I love the player, but he has to dial it down a bit.

Too important to be unavailable.

Both of these instances were significant enough that required a receipt. He doesn’t do this kind of stuff on a whim.

Shit, do we want this to be a team where the opposition knows they can take liberties and nothing is coming back, ffs.

They need more guys like Wifi.

I am trying to figure out who are the dumbest people on earth. Leafs fans, sens fans, SN panel, or refs? All of the above is an option too.

Some hab fans that are ragging on Wifi.

 

[Team_Spirit]

Haters gonna hate, that's what they do~

 

[Habby4Life]

My concern is they actually trade Xhekaj.

They would be stupid to do so.

 

[McGuires Corndog]

A good deterrent would be a prolific, heck even just a solid powerplay. Teams would be more willing to avoid taking penalties (in theory - this would be part of their game plan).

I have to disagree.

The Habs had a prolific PP back in the Kovalev-Markov era and they still went out and got Laraque to be a deterrent.

 

[Beaker]

I think he should have got 2 games. Point of contact is such a stupid meat head definition. He was looking to hurt Stutzle and those hits shouldn't be in hockey.

If he lines up stutzle and stutzle has the puck, I have no problem. That wasn't a hockey play though, he had a lot of time to at least ease up, but he chose the meat head way.

I love him and I love the truculence but fair is fair.

Stutzle would’ve been asleep on the ice if he wanted to hurt him.

 

[Kennerback]

I have to disagree.

The Habs had a prolific PP back in the Kovalev-Markov era and they still went out and got Laraque to be a deterrent.

I remember the « team toughness » era. First, a top player was targeted. Then, either another top player would stand up and risk injury or either Tom Kostopoulos would stand up and get the crap kicked out of him. Either way the Bell Center crowd clapped because they knew we couldn’t do better.

 

[The Real Timo]

They would be stupid to do so.

Habs have a history of doing stupid shit.

Haters gonna hate, that's what they do~



View attachment 911696

Ha! Love Kirby hat

 

[Natey]

I think he should have got 2 games. Point of contact is such a stupid meat head definition. He was looking to hurt Stutzle and those hits shouldn't be in hockey.

If he lines up stutzle and stutzle has the puck, I have no problem. That wasn't a hockey play though, he had a lot of time to at least ease up, but he chose the meat head way.

I love him and I love the truculence but fair is fair.

Every f***ing hit is "looking to hurt someone." That's literally the point of hitting. To hurt and wear down your opponents to make the game easier.

If you think Xhekaj was trying to hurt someone long-term, you're absolutely not thinking clearly. Xhekaj wanted to absolutely demolish Stutzle and make him irrelevant in the game at hand. I can pretty much guarantee that Xhekaj isn't trying to seriously injure someone.

If you think hitting should be removed from hockey? Fine. I can accept that honestly. But if you think it should be removed because someone was trying to injure someone? Then contact sports aren't for you.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Its the refs who should be disciplined for f***ing this up so royally. Greig should have gotten a major and there was no penalty on X because there was no hit.

I agree that Greug should’ve gotten a major. I don’t know that it would’ve changed anything but he deserved a major as it was a really dirty hit.

 

[Ozmodiar]

Both of these instances were significant enough that required a receipt. He doesn’t do this kind of stuff on a whim.

Shit, do we want this to be a team where the opposition knows they can take liberties and nothing is coming back, ffs.

They need more guys like Wifi.

He has to be available. They don’t have anyone like him.

 

[Sorinth]

I'm starting to believe the stories that's why Gorton was canned from NY. He didn't want to build a tougher, bigger team to compete in the division and was booted out. Watching the Devils Rangers last night, they both look well stocked to play any style you want, some big boys out there who can skate on the bottom lines and bang if needed.

Makes no sense, if management had some aversion to size they wouldn't have drafted Slafkovsky with the 1st OA pick, they wouldn't have drafted guys like F. Xhekaj, they wouldn't have had Arber go straight to the NHL from the OHL if they didn't value size/physicality.

 

[Habby4Life]

He has to be available. They don’t have anyone like him.

He was available and did his job.

 

[Andrei79]

Griegs hit was 100% predatory and unnecessary with the only intent to hurt Dach. Within that context, I have no issues with what Xhekaj did. On the contrary. It finally feels good to have players that will retaliate savagely.

 

[Habs]

Makes no sense, if management had some aversion to size they wouldn't have drafted Slafkovsky with the 1st OA pick, they wouldn't have drafted guys like F. Xhekaj, they wouldn't have had Arber go straight to the NHL from the OHL if they didn't value size/physicality.

Arbs went to the NHL because of a real lack of depth on the blueline, same as Harris, Struble etc. There was a reason Gorts was canned in NY, just some of the stories you hear snooping around I'm not sure if they are true.

 

[Captain Mountain]

I'm starting to believe the stories that's why Gorton was canned from NY. He didn't want to build a tougher, bigger team to compete in the division and was booted out. Watching the Devils Rangers last night, they both look well stocked to play any style you want, some big boys out there who can skate on the bottom lines and bang if needed.

Literally the first player Montreal drafted was a 6'4" winger, in large part because of their size. The team has also targeted players with size in trades and high in the draft.

They also just had a game where they basically went psycho after one questionable hit.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Xhekaj has been on the wrong side of bs for a while.

Remember when he was in junior with Kitchener I believe it was and some guy named Woolley(Jared maybe ?) Beat up someone on Xhekaj's team while he was out and did the "sleeping" pose. Nothing happened to him.

Next game they play Xhekaj knocks him out and got suspended "indefinitely" for it.

 

[Habs]

Literally the first player Montreal drafted was a 6'4" winger, in large part because of their size. The team has also targeted players with size in trades and high in the draft.

They also just had a game where they basically went psycho after one questionable hit.

It's not the size I'm questioning, its the physical depth players on the bottom end. I'm happy with the top 2 lines, I think the D drops off in physical play after Arbs and Struble pretty fast since we don't know if Logan is stick around or what he brings. Evans, Gallagher, Armia, Dvorak etc.. pretty damn soft as well. Mesar, Kapanen, Farrell etc aren't solving the bottom lines lack of physical play either. Pez is not a regular....

I'm not talking about gooning it up, I believe your bottom lines need to be able to skate and control the play physically, soften the other team up. The East is a big division, the Habs need to stay healthy.... our bottom lines need to be beefier and adapt physically.

 

[bud12]

I just hope he play next game again the Sens so he can live in their head rent free again. It's so funny seeing them lose their minds. And what's even funnier is that they have no one who can do shit about it on their team.

 

[Habano]

How do you get 5 minutes and a game for not touching someone. The refs should be fined or suspended for making the wrong call

 

[Captain Mountain]

It's not the size I'm questioning, its the physical depth players on the bottom end. I'm happy with the top 2 lines, I think the D drops off in physical play after Arbs and Struble pretty fast since we don't know if Logan is stick around or what he brings. Evans, Gallagher, Armia, Dvorak etc.. pretty damn soft as well. Mesar, Kapanen, Farrell etc aren't solving the bottom lines lack of physical play either. Pez is not a regular....

I'm not talking about gooning it up, I believe your bottom lines need to be able to skate and control the play physically, soften the other team up. The East is a big division, the Habs need to stay healthy.... our bottom lines need to be beefier and adapt physically.

There's not really much management can do about bad legacy contracts. Montreal hasn't really had much ability to change the roster meaningfully (without hurting the bigger objectives) and when they have, they've focused on more important areas like the top 6 or D. But Montreal's cap situation is only just now starting to get cleaned up.

 

[Sorinth]

Arbs went to the NHL because of a real lack of depth on the blueline, same as Harris, Struble etc. There was a reason Gorts was canned in NY, just some of the stories you hear snooping around I'm not sure if they are true.

There may have been a lack of depth on the blueline but they still chose Xhekaj over other options. For example Schueneman had played 24 NHL games the year before and did pretty decent, if they didn't value Xhekaj's physical play they likely would have gone with him or taken another player off the waiver wire like they did with Kovacevik or gone with a skilled D in Norlinder.

Even if the rumors about why Gorton was fired in NY are true, it's irrelevant to what he's done with the Habs because it's clear as day the Habs under Gorton/Hughes/MSL do value size.

It's not the size I'm questioning, its the physical depth players on the bottom end ... Evans, Gallagher, Armia, Dvorak etc.. pretty damn soft as well.

Their hands have been tied in this regard due to the contracts being essentially unmoveable.

 

[BozoTheClown]

I am ok with Xhekaj being the way he is. Let the league know you are a bit crazy and can back it up. We’ve needed a guy like this since forever.

 

[JoelWarlord]

I'm sympathetic to the arguments about calming down/picking your spots/not taking bad penalties etc but in preseason I just don't care. It's a different story if he starts routinely doing this stuff in the regular season but that hasn't generally been the case.

He does take way too many penalties but they're mostly "hockey" penalties and not goon/enforcer stuff so that's a separate issue, he hasn't really got into too much trouble doing goon stuff when the games matter.

It's not the size I'm questioning, its the physical depth players on the bottom end. I'm happy with the top 2 lines, I think the D drops off in physical play after Arbs and Struble pretty fast since we don't know if Logan is stick around or what he brings. Evans, Gallagher, Armia, Dvorak etc.. pretty damn soft as well. Mesar, Kapanen, Farrell etc aren't solving the bottom lines lack of physical play either. Pez is not a regular....

I think you're reading too much into the realities of being stuck with some veteran contracts. They just signed Tuch, drafted Florian Xhekaj last year, and Protz/Thorpe this year (and kept Struble/Xhekaj while trading Harris), it's pretty obvious they're trying to keep getting bigger and more physical.

 

[CharleyHorse]

I think he should have got 2 games. Point of contact is such a stupid meat head definition. He was looking to hurt Stutzle and those hits shouldn't be in hockey.

If he lines up stutzle and stutzle has the puck, I have no problem. That wasn't a hockey play though, he had a lot of time to at least ease up, but he chose the meat head way.

I love him and I love the truculence but fair is fair.

In the same vein of fair is fair, I doubt X would have gone after Stutzle if Greig hadn’t pulled his stunt on Dach. That’s not typically X’s style. Yes, he's taken dumb penalties, but not delivering Scott Stevens-hits like hits. It seems like he just reacted to the last two games. If the League or refs won’t step in, it’s good to see someone on the Habs step up and send a message