Player Discussion Arber Xhekaj: The Sheriff

[WeThreeKings]

He still gets beat one on one more often then be should.

At one point Parayko just blew by him way too easily.

Decent game though.

I was saying to @JoelWarlord that he's gotten beat wide too many times and they've cut to the net. He should be knocking people's heads off their body if they try to cut to the inside against him.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Marty hates this guy.

Before Saturday’s game, Xhekaj had a conversation with St. Louis. A good conversation. It helped immensely.

Anyone who thought St. Louis hated Xhekaj based on those comments Friday should probably hear Xhekaj talk about that conversation himself.

“I had a good talk with Marty, and it was, just, relax. I was overthinking things. I was too worried about things I couldn’t control. Just clear my mind. I know I’m a good player, so just play the game. And it went well,” Xhekaj said. “He definitely helps me a lot and definitely tells me, like, ‘Just play, man. You know what to do out there. Don’t worry about anything, just play.’

“It feels good to hear that from your coach. So it definitely helped my game.”

 

[phillytennis]

Hire the best beat coach available and a translator lol. Get with the 2000s. F the French media.

There are plenty of coaches that speak French and English....the best coach ever Scotty Bowman is from Montréal (Verdun)...can speak both French and English.
Jim Montgomery...great coach...from Montréal....speaks both French and English.
Plenty of great hockey minds in Québec.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Hoping he can put it together. He’s got too much going for him and we desperately need his type.

 

[HabsAddict]

Comment to a question on another site...
......

Remember the last Incredible Hulk we had in Komisarek? He had huge issue with reading the play and getting beaten on the outside. Season after season in the AHL didn't fix anything.

Then they bring him up and welded him on prime Markov, who was at another level and did the thinking for both of them. It worked for us to a point. When Komisarek got greedy and signed with the Laffs, there was no improvement at all in a decade of playing...and the end of his career in his early 30s.

There was an expectation because of his size...but failed.

I don't want a Komi V2 in X. He's doesn't have the broken Atari that was on Komis head and it's in HIS hands to raise his compete level and cut down on errors. Sadly we don't have a Markov to learn from but he has a longer runway to improve.

Let's see what we have by mid season...

 

[HabsAddict]

I know Marty was blowing a bit of smoke up X derrier to make up taking him down publically, something that should never be done...but...i don't know if i would call X playing "excellent" but pretty good.

One of the things that i don't see is the level of compete that Guhle brings in EVERY game. With X's size and reputation, people should fear death, not a huggy bear. In my cranky eyes he doesn't have a high compete, high energy motor that would make him a top 2.

If you don't have a supercomputer vision of the ice, then max the tools you do have.

Then the next complaint, because I'm a professional complainer, he has 107 mph shot and doing what with it? He should unleash that beast at least 5 times a night if for nothing else, just to maim people. I don't even see him call to shoot.

Reputation as a fighter is worth two wooden nickels if no one drops them with him, but a shot that can maim you at any second, a defenseman that will pulvarize you for fun, a guy everyone hates to be near, THAT will make him valuable and eventually top 4.

He's a work in progress and a really high ceiling that he needs to see in him and strive for it.

 

[Tyson]

I know Marty was blowing a bit of smoke up X derrier to make up taking him down publically, something that should never be done...but...i don't know if i would call X playing "excellent" but pretty good.

One of the things that i don't see is the level of compete that Guhle brings in EVERY game. With X's size and reputation, people should fear death, not a huggy bear. In my cranky eyes he doesn't have a high compete, high energy motor that would make him a top 2.

If you don't have a supercomputer vision of the ice, then max the tools you do have.

Then the next complaint, because I'm a professional complainer, he has 107 mph shot and doing what with it? He should unleash that beast at least 5 times a night if for nothing else, just to maim people. I don't even see him call to shoot.

Reputation as a fighter is worth two wooden nickels if no one drops them with him, but a shot that can maim you at any second, a defenseman that will pulvarize you for fun, a guy everyone hates to be near, THAT will make him valuable and eventually top 4.

He's a work in progress and a really high ceiling that he needs to see in him and strive for it.

100 NHL games for an undrafted player tells me that he needs another 100 games of development.

 

[the valiant effort]

I know Marty was blowing a bit of smoke up X derrier to make up taking him down publically, something that should never be done...but...i don't know if i would call X playing "excellent" but pretty good.

One of the things that i don't see is the level of compete that Guhle brings in EVERY game. With X's size and reputation, people should fear death, not a huggy bear. In my cranky eyes he doesn't have a high compete, high energy motor that would make him a top 2.

If you don't have a supercomputer vision of the ice, then max the tools you do have.

Then the next complaint, because I'm a professional complainer, he has 107 mph shot and doing what with it? He should unleash that beast at least 5 times a night if for nothing else, just to maim people. I don't even see him call to shoot.

Reputation as a fighter is worth two wooden nickels if no one drops them with him, but a shot that can maim you at any second, a defenseman that will pulvarize you for fun, a guy everyone hates to be near, THAT will make him valuable and eventually top 4.

He's a work in progress and a really high ceiling that he needs to see in him and strive for it.

Big time agreement with the bolded

 

[rickthegoon]

I only caught the 3rd period, but I was realy impressed by his pk shift at the end of the game. Blues tried 3 times to enter the zone on his side and Xhekaj killed all these zone entries by holding the line and having an active stick.