Player Discussion Arber Xhekaj: The Sheriff

[Benstheman]

Xhekaj is going nowhere unless an other team overpays big. It just doesn't make sense to trade him now.

 

[Kennerback]

I'm good with those moves if the goal was to keep rebuilding at the bottom of the standings , if they thought otherwise they might just be dumb

I believed they had to take a step forward not tank.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Xhekaj is going nowhere unless an other team overpays big. It just doesn't make sense to trade him now.

I just hope they are properly communicating with him.

I believed they had to take a step forward not tank.

You'd think they'd make a move to insulate the young guys instead of trotting Savard out there as the only guy who could isolate somebody , not to mention that he really can't do that consistently anymore

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

To me, Xhekaj looks a bit scared to take a hit to make a play in the defensive zone. I know he has a reputation as a tough guy, and he's obviously not afraid to play physically, but I do see some panic with the puck on his stick in the d-zone. Mike Komisarek had that too at some point. Hope it's fixable.

I liked the way Xhekaj played v the Kraken except for that brutal giveaway.

 

[The Real Timo]

To me, Xhekaj looks a bit scared to take a hit to make a play in the defensive zone. I know he has a reputation as a tough guy, and he's obviously not afraid to play physically, but I do see some panic with the puck on his stick in the d-zone. Mike Komisarek had that too at some point. Hope it's fixable.

I liked the way Xhekaj played v the Kraken except for that brutal giveaway.

Marinaro and Belanger are not undertanding why X was not dressed against the Caps. You could tell they were saying it was dumb without saying it was dumb. So PC.

Arbs is coming up in the discussion a lot. Everyone, other than the coach, seems to like and appreciate Arbs. Sigh. Misere!

 

[WeThreeKings]

MSL’s pet, jayden struble, look terribly bad and never miss a game. The dude played 10 minutes and ends up -2.

Sorry but Struble and Barron hasn’t showed me more than Xhekaj that makes me think that Xhekaj should sit for those 2. I rather we give the ice time to a rare specimen dman and focus on developing and helping him than give icetime to one of a dozen dmans like struble and Barron. Both of them a nothing special.

He was healthy and ready to come back but they gave Xhekaj two extra games before bringing Struble in. The reality is that Struble outplayed Xhekaj massively in the pre-season and Xhekaj has not taken that lead back from Struble since then.

None of them have shown more than the other, Barron is a right shot though and whether we like it or not, coaches like to have people on their strong sides, especially when they are young.

The thing that is true, and I know you agree, is when Xhekaj gets in and gets his chance, he has to show that he deserves to stay in, and he hasn't done that with the opportunities he's gotten. It's fair to say the others haven't either, but there's been injuries to both those guys and we've seen a natural rotation of those players coming back from injury and into the lineup. All 3 of them haven't been healthy enough to see whether or not Xhekaj is really the '7' or if he's being rotated equitably with the other two until they establish themselves.

Probably a result of “too much, too soon”.

They skipped some steps with him because they had nothing else and he was such a breath of fresh air, but in normal circumstances he'd probably still be developping in the AHL.

I haven't given up on him…its all part of the process, but there is too much can twerking going on for him right now.

His play in year one was worthy of the NHL, it's just been a steady decline in all of his play, physicality, defense, offense.. he probably should go to the AHL for a sizeable chunk of the year before it's too late and we have another Barron situation and he can't go down.

Just call up Lindstrom and let Xhekaj cook down there.

 

[417]

His play in year one was worthy of the NHL, it's just been a steady decline in all of his play, physicality, defense, offense.. he probably should go to the AHL for a sizeable chunk of the year before it's too late and we have another Barron situation and he can't go down.

Just call up Lindstrom and let Xhekaj cook down there.

Might be a city riot

 

[WeThreeKings]

Might be a city riot

He's gotta be the most marginal player in Habs history to have this big of a following and excuse train for.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

He's gotta be the most marginal player in Habs history to have this big of a following and excuse train for.

Agreed but everybody else looking like absolute crap dosen't really help the entire situation , players watch games and know what's going on , I just hope we have healthy communication with him on why he's benched and what he needs to work on.

Everybody is saying MSL dosen't really like him but until something comes out its all speculation

 

[WeThreeKings]

Agreed but everybody else looking like absolute crap dosen't really help the entire situation , players watch games and know what's going on , I just hope we have healthy communication with him on why he's benched and what he needs to work on.

Everybody is saying MSL dosen't really like him but until something comes out its all speculation

There was an article about it recently in The Athletic, they're working with Marty and Arber feels very well supported. It's a non-issue. He just has to do better when he has this chance.

 

[dcyhabs]

He was healthy and ready to come back but they gave Xhekaj two extra games before bringing Struble in. The reality is that Struble outplayed Xhekaj massively in the pre-season and Xhekaj has not taken that lead back from Struble since then.

None of them have shown more than the other, Barron is a right shot though and whether we like it or not, coaches like to have people on their strong sides, especially when they are young.

The thing that is true, and I know you agree, is when Xhekaj gets in and gets his chance, he has to show that he deserves to stay in, and he hasn't done that with the opportunities he's gotten. It's fair to say the others haven't either, but there's been injuries to both those guys and we've seen a natural rotation of those players coming back from injury and into the lineup. All 3 of them haven't been healthy enough to see whether or not Xhekaj is really the '7' or if he's being rotated equitably with the other two until they establish themselves.



His play in year one was worthy of the NHL, it's just been a steady decline in all of his play, physicality, defense, offense.. he probably should go to the AHL for a sizeable chunk of the year before it's too late and we have another Barron situation and he can't go down.

Just call up Lindstrom and let Xhekaj cook down there.

Xhekaj had surgery on both shoulders. Caufield was visibly not playing right after his surgery last year, it's probably not a stretch to think Xhekaj is having some problems with contact and puck handling that will improve with time. Caufield isn't very physical so his shot problems were pretty visible, not so much the hits, though he did seem to be a little more timid last year.

Arber didn't have as much junior and AHL time as a lot of other players, and that seems to be a common factor among the various players who looked good early in their careers and declined with the habs. If they aren't going to play Xhekaj in the NHL and live with the learning then they should send him down and ensure he gets the reps, 20+ minutes per night in the AHL.

Probably needs to get his rep back, though, and that may be impossible. Refs seem to have decided he is John Scott, just there for the fights, and not, say, Tom Wilson, who can goon it up when he feels like it with no repercussions. Part of that is age and experience, part of it is the habs jersey, and part is weird Toronto narratives. The Toronto narratives are just one of those things, like every Leaf fan just knows a bunch of stuff that seems completely nuts to people in all the other markets, like "Gretzky was an average player that the refs liked." I was happy in Toronto for a decade or so, but I never really got that. It's as ubiquitous as the extensive and over the top plans for the next Stanley Cup parade that every Leaf fan can describe in extravagant detail.

 

[HuGort]

What could we get for Xhekaj on trade market?

 

[Twisted Sinister]

There was an article about it recently in The Athletic, they're working with Marty and Arber feels very well supported. It's a non-issue. He just has to do better when he has this chance.

Thing is that we have a soft-as-hell team, everyone takes liberties with us, and the entire defensive corps other than Hutson and Guhle (when he's not injured) are playing atrociously. Arber is the one guy that seems to be getting scapegoated for this. And every time he sits, teams start taking liberties. We need more players like Arber, not fewer.

If we're gonna suck because of Napoleon's defensive "concepts", we shouldn't get beaten up too.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Thing is that we have a soft-as-hell team, everyone takes liberties with us, and the entire defensive corps other than Hutson and Guhle (when he's not injured) are playing atrociously. Arber is the one guy that seems to be getting scapegoated for this. And every time he sits, teams start taking liberties. We need more players like Arber, not fewer.

If we're gonna suck because of Napoleon's defensive "concepts", we shouldn't get beaten up too.

I don't think it's true that he's gotten scapegoated for this.

He did not win his spot in pre-season. He got to play because Struble got injured.

His audition with Struble hurt didn't go well. He sat when Struble came back and got 2 extra games to ramp up.

Then Barron got hurt and he came back in, had a good game and a really bad game. So when Barron was back to play and Guhle returned, Mailloux went down and Xhekaj got scratched.

That's three times he's had a chance to play well and didn't. When you have competition, you have to be better than your competition and he hasn't. The team doesn't look at it like, oh well, let's just not develop Struble or Barron because hey if they're all playing bad, let's have a guy who punches people and gets a bunch of penalties called against him.

They'll rotate. They will until someone gives a reason to not come out.