Player Discussion Arber Xhekaj: The Sheriff

[Le Tricolore]

If he was doing this in the regular season, I think everyone would agree with you. But not sure what you propose as an altnerative. The refs are not doing their job and opposing players are not respecting our players. And I don't mean a little face wash at the net. They are literally running our top players with serious consequences. Then when the players are asked to face the music, they don't.

The game is set up with codes which if not respected does not leave many choices. Two games, two idiots running our guys, two idiots who then keep their gloves on and avoid answering for their actions.

I don't want Xhekaj to blindside anybody, but he has to play with an edge, for now, while other teams take note of what happens when you run our guys. They have to believe there will be consequences that cannot be avoided by hiding all game or the deterrent wont work.

The players are livid. Did you see Evans at the intermission. Players are pissed off and they 100% have Arbers back.

Codes are absolutely stupid. The league has rules and has the ability to suspend players who don't respect them.


Letting the players police themselves is some real 1950s crap that every needs to be moved on from.

 

[Tyson]

Codes are absolutely stupid. The league has rules and has the ability to suspend players who don't respect them.


Letting the players police themselves is some real 1950s crap that every needs to be moved on from.

Sorry but the game isn't changing because you think it's stupid. Hockey has been this way since it's inception.

 

[Twisted Sinister]

The amount of fans on this forum that think this is ballet and that are content with our team having gotten their heads bashed in for the last 20 years with no deterrence is outstanding.

"Waaaaah, intent to injure, waaaah."

They go after your top guys. You go after their top guys till they stop. Beating up Greig won't stop them. They'll just send a new knucklehead next time. Cheap shot artists are a dime a dozen in the AHL and NHL. You go after Stuzle and maybe they'll think twice about hitting Dach. In order to legitimately deter, there actually has to be the possibility of the other inside losing something valuable. That's how deterrence actually works in all facets of life, not just Hockey.

Grow up and put your big boy pants on or learn to love continued injury-riddled seasons while crying like bitches every time a Sens player puts one of our guys on the shelf.

 

[Andrei79]

Sorry but the game isn't changing because you think it's stupid. Hockey has been this way since it's inception.

This is without mentioning that that despite official rules, norms have existed in quite literally every aspect of human life since its inception. This isn't 1950s hockey, it's still very much 2024 hockey.

 

[OldCraig71]

It seems that Arber caused quite a stir when standing up for his teammates. People can call it what they want, but at the end of the day, he was sticking up for his friends, which takes plenty of guts. The bad thing about his actions is that every team that faces us will be taking liberties and looking to make a statement. We don't have enough grit on the roster and teams will take advantage of it.

 

[HabsWhiteKnightLOL]

Why would Xhejak have an hearing?
They are 10x worse dumber stuff happening in the league every day and nothing ever happens.

You think missing 2 games and a fine of 5000$ from millionaires will change anything

This is the equivalent of sucker punching ur coworker and staying at home 2 days with no pay and having to give 5$ to the company for ur action lmao.

 

[the valiant effort]

When MSL said, “Jacko was just playing the game” was that code for vroom vroom durrr bus drivin time?

 

[Natey]

No, I stated a fact, you do with that what you will. In your case, you chose to start the said contest.

You, in fact, started the contest.

"I have endured more punishment and given out more punishment than you'll ever do in the last month alone"

Your words, not mine. Even though you have zero actual clue and no idea if what you said was a fact, lol. It could be a fact, but chances are...... no.

 

[BLONG7]

The amount of fans on this forum that think this is ballet and that are content with our team having gotten their heads bashed in for the last 20 years with no deterrence is outstanding.

"Waaaaah, intent to injure, waaaah."

They go after your top guys. You go after their top guys till they stop. Beating up Greig won't stop them. They'll just send a new knucklehead next time. Cheap shot artists are a dime a dozen in the AHL and NHL. You go after Stuzle and maybe they'll think twice about hitting Dach. In order to legitimately deter, there actually has to be the possibility of the other inside losing something valuable. That's how deterrence actually works in all facets of life, not just Hockey.

Grow up and put your big boy pants on or learn to love continued injury-riddled seasons while crying like bitches every time a Sens player puts one of our guys on the shelf.

I am hoping his brother joins the team next year......we need more team toughness.

 

[Sorinth]

Codes are absolutely stupid. The league has rules and has the ability to suspend players who don't respect them.


Letting the players police themselves is some real 1950s crap that every needs to be moved on from.

I don't disagree but time and time again we've seen the league is unwilling to apply the rules fairly or evenly, and I'm not talking team bias here which is more conspiracy theory then anything but just general consistency.

 

[Sorinth]

Yeah, I agree that's a big hole in my rhetoric, it's just that I don't want Xhekaj doing it all alone while waiting for more to emerge, kids ain't there yet and our vets ain't reliable.

Wasn't talking about just an 'enforcer' though, just someone with some size and knows how to use it, can fight if needed and obviously can bodycheck. Just naturally aggressive, to be an 'example' to those who're coming through.

Sacrilegious, but I loved the Bruins teams from the middle of 2000s to the middle of 2010s, team toughness was definitely well-implemented.

Yeah but guys with size who can fight and play hockey aren't really available, they might become moved nearer TDL but until then teams are keeping them. So our choice is go for someone who isn't a good hockey player but can fight, or go with what we have. And I'd rather go with what we have and try to go with the word of day "pack mentality" and hopefully next year F. Xhekaj, Tuch and others progress enough that we have internal options.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Montreal fans second-guessing Xhekaj's contributions are the underminers of Western civilization.

Bring in Islamic Futurism to salvage the whole thing before it is too late.

 

[Habssince89]

I will go against the grain a tiny bit here, and say that X does need to watch his emotions. He's a bit like Domi where he gets set off and can't pick his moment. I hope he focuses on playing hockey, because he's actually pretty good at it. The fights will come but I think he needs to be like Weber and be the threat. That's where the eventual bottom 6 will really help take things off his plate. Imagine if we still had Deslauriers? hoo boy

 

[BenchBrawl]

I will go against the grain a tiny bit here, and say that X does need to watch his emotions. He's a bit like Domi where he gets set off and can't pick his moment. I hope he focuses on playing hockey, because he's actually pretty good at it. The fights will come but I think he needs to be like Weber and be the threat. That's where the eventual bottom 6 will really help take things off his plate. Imagine if we still had Deslauriers? hoo boy

It had to be done.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

The amount of fans on this forum that think this is ballet and that are content with our team having gotten their heads bashed in for the last 20 years with no deterrence is outstanding.

"Waaaaah, intent to injure, waaaah."

They go after your top guys. You go after their top guys till they stop. Beating up Greig won't stop them. They'll just send a new knucklehead next time. Cheap shot artists are a dime a dozen in the AHL and NHL. You go after Stuzle and maybe they'll think twice about hitting Dach. In order to legitimately deter, there actually has to be the possibility of the other inside losing something valuable. That's how deterrence actually works in all facets of life, not just Hockey.

Grow up and put your big boy pants on or learn to love continued injury-riddled seasons while crying like bitches every time a Sens player puts one of our guys on the shelf.

It’s unfortunate, but this is the world we live in. I guarantee you the league has taken notice. Arber put a big ol scare in the Sens, and thankfully Stutzle is fine other than the nicked nose his stick got him. But teams will certainly think twice about taking liberties with our stars since they know the payment will be repaid in full. It’s like having nukes. Everyone now knows we’ve got one so don’t f*** with us.

 

[Habby4Life]

It had to be done.

And Wifi knew it.

Hugo has a lot of work to do to add toughness.

I don’t know about you but when I watched the Pare & Greig hit and no one did anything at the time, I found it so telling about this team. Wifi is on an island by himself he needs help and can’t be the only guy that does anything.

 

[BenchBrawl]

And Wifi knew it.

Hugo has a lot of work to do to add toughness.

I don’t know about you but when I watched the Pare & Greig hit and no one did anything at the time, I found it so telling about this team. Wifi is on an island by himself he needs help and can’t be the only guy that does anything.

Xhekaj is Top 3 most valuable asset on this team, after Slafkovsky and Suzuki.

 

[Kennerback]

5th column in the media wanting to neuter the Habs to go back to the days of the free for all on our players. Exhibit A: Jarkko Ruutu. Exhibit B: Sens so concerned about his cheap shots, picked him up to sick him with Neil at Montreal’s best player several times a year. We did nothing. Just waited for the next team to make our best players their bitch.

 

[Habby4Life]

Xhekaj is Top 3 most valuable asset on this team, after Slafkovsky and Suzuki.

He is very valuable.

There is no one, zero, who brings anything remote to the table that he does. I kind of feel for the guy. If he does nothing, gets shit on, does something, OMG.

He needs help in the sense to take some of this load off his back. If they had a Deslauriers or Olivier he wouldn’t always have to be the guy to answer the bell. Shit, he could develop more of his D game.

 

[Habssince89]

It had to be done.

Sure, but picking his specific spot is what he needs to work on. I want him to be someone who can dish out some justice when he needs to, I'm just saying he can't cost us with penalties come regular season. I don't want to see him get hampered with reputation calls. He's got to be like Weber where he makes the officials job easier and they'll let him get away with small front of the net penalties. That's all I'm saying

Xhekaj is Top 3 most valuable asset on this team, after Slafkovsky and Suzuki.

He's a core role player, for sure

 

[Sorinth]

I will go against the grain a tiny bit here, and say that X does need to watch his emotions. He's a bit like Domi where he gets set off and can't pick his moment. I hope he focuses on playing hockey, because he's actually pretty good at it. The fights will come but I think he needs to be like Weber and be the threat. That's where the eventual bottom 6 will really help take things off his plate. Imagine if we still had Deslauriers? hoo boy

He'd be the first to tell you that picking his moments is something he's working on. But let's not forget this is preseason, this is absolutely the time to take costly penalties and establish your threat level because the games are essentially meaningless. I have no doubt we will see a more in control Xhekaj during the regular season when the games actually matter.

 

[FLHabs]

If we're going to love and live with a guy like Hutson playing a high-risk offensive game and sometimes getting burnt or creating turnovers that leads to scoring chances or even goals, then there should be no problem with Xhekaj playing the game on the edge and sometimes crossing it.

This team needs more guys cut from his cloth, not less

 

[Hacketts]

Be thankful Arber's on our team.

 

[calder candidate]

I am not going to bother weighing in on which hit was dirty and which hit was not dirty.

That being said, you absolutely can not in good faith say that Xhekaj's hit was less predatory than Greig's hit. We know for a fact that Xhekaj's hit was 100% predatory, not 99.999%.....but 100%, and that is maximum predation percentage lol. We do not know for sure what Geig was thinking but he quite literally, even with the worst intentions could not surpass Xhekaj's level of intentional predation.

Both hits were very similar in many ways but Greig could have prevented the hit on Stutzle by being a man and answering the bell.

Both were predatory. the Grieg hit was a bigger impact, the optics seem that the Xhekaj hit is worst but it more of a glancing blow and Greig action directly caused Xhekaj reaction… Greig line up Dach for a full 2 second loading for the hit while Dach was already cover by someone else never saw him, Grieg saw he was vulnerable and even with all that time he still when for it having to go out of is way to get him square instead of the nearest shoulder. Xhekaj was the player covering Stutzle he see Xhekaj in front of him (still doesn’t expect to get hit) but Xhekaj doesn’t hit him as square it because one Stutzle see him coming and he also make the decision the decision to hit him later) if Stutzle doesn’t see him and Xhekaj load up and to get him square like Grieg did to Dach Stutzle never get up, even if that was the intent that isn’t what happen… Greig hit is dirtier because he saw Dach was Vulnerable and knew he never saw him coming also there no other event that lead to it. There both dirty hit but Xhekaj hit was retaliation and the angle is a less damaging of an impact and even less contact with the head… even in a vacuum if Greig is 2 minute for interference I can’t see why Xhekaj is 5min for interference + 2min roughing and a game… what I saw this morning from a lot of people seem to act as if Xhekaj was a scumbag and had pulled a Steven elbows on Kariya.. in reality he doesn’t even touch is head…It isn’t stuff you want to see but everyone knows why it happen and everyone knew something was coming.
the league missed a other opportunity to make a take a stand for player safety…