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Arber Xhekaj

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Communal Blood said:
Not quite sure I understand this reasoning when Wilson is scraping guys like Michael Pezzetta and Kyle Clifford.
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Depends on a lot of things, like what’s happening on the ice and who else is out there.

Main person who was dropping the gloves for the Caps the past few years was Hathaway.

Reaves averages 8-9 min a night… Wilson plays top line minutes
 
I want to give Xhekaj some credit. I've watched 2 Habs games and he looks improved this season and can play the game. He was awful in the Habs' 5 losses to the Sens last year, but that's a small sample size, I shouldn't have judged him on that and it's not unusual for a rookie D to look overwhelmed at times. The kid can play, and tough guys that can play are very useful. I'd love to have him on my team. Not because he is tough, but because he is tough AND can play.

Tough guys that can't play are useless in today's game, as very few players are intimidated any more. Fighting is way down and you don't have to fight if you don't want to. Colorado won the cup without any hint of an intimidating player. I cringed when the Sens signed Zack MacEwen, like I said, toughness without any skill is pretty useless today. I'd rather have Euro league veteran Smejkal playing in his spot. I watched the Toronto Chicago game last night. Reeves was trying to intimidate Perry, who was so scared that he proceeded to score the winning goal and have a pretty good game. I see Reeves is -3 on a good team, so he's already being taken advantage of on the ice. Dude can't keep up. Good character player, good guy apparently, but he doesn't fit today's game.
 
Score8 said:
A player the NHL needs.
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Does it deserve him though

sennysensen said:
I want to give Xhekaj some credit. I've watched 2 Habs games and he looks improved this season and can play the game. He was awful in the Habs' 5 losses to the Sens last year, but that's a small sample size, I shouldn't have judged him on that and it's not unusual for a rookie D to look overwhelmed at times. The kid can play, and tough guys that can play are very useful. I'd love to have him on my team. Not because he is tough, but because he is tough AND can play.

Tough guys that can't play are useless in today's game, as very few players are intimidated any more. Fighting is way down and you don't have to fight if you don't want to. Colorado won the cup without any hint of an intimidating player. I cringed when the Sens signed Zack MacEwen, like I said, toughness without any skill is pretty useless today. I'd rather have Euro league veteran Smejkal playing in his spot. I watched the Toronto Chicago game last night. Reeves was trying to intimidate Perry, who was so scared that he proceeded to score the winning goal and have a pretty good game. I see Reeves is -3 on a good team, so he's already being taken advantage of on the ice. Dude can't keep up. Good character player, good guy apparently, but he doesn't fit today's game.
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He was our best Dman last game against Chicago which is nice for him but quite the indictment on our overall D
 
CupInSIX said:
Unlike Wilson he won't turn into a choir boy when he sees Reaves or Lucic
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Why would Wilson fight fourth line players. Wilson is an offensive weapon not just a goon.






Arber Xhekaj is my kind of player. I wish he was on my favourite team. He is pure gold. An absolute beauty.​

 
abo9 said:
Honestly I'm a little disapointed that OP reduced the discussion to fighting.

Agreed with the Lucic comment.

I was skeptical at first, but Xhekaj showed insane improvements and is a legit player. Yes he can fight with the heaviest of them, but he's part of that rare breed that can both fight and play ala Lucic in his prime.

Im curious to see how much he can elevate his game still. Hes being tried on PP2, which surprised me, but from my little watching of the game he made a solid play or teo on there.

Another comparison I guess would be a like a Tom Wilson, albeit hopefully without the suspensions. Obviously Xhekaj is on D, but if he does grow into an offensive role as well, Id be hard press to find a D comparable
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There are not many D comparables unless we go way back. He reminds me of a young Marty McSorely and not just because both were born in Hamilton and undrafted.

Marty came in with the Pens as a fighter but the offensive potential was there. After a trade to Edm and then LA the offense really came out. Habs just need to find a gretzky to play him with.

Physically he reminds me of Chara, he is tall, skating appears awkward but is strong as a bear. Chara was an excellent fighter but after his first couple seasons in Ottawa he did not have to fight much, the combination of that strength and that long reach was one hell of a deterrent- no one wanted to fight him.

I am not saying he is the next Chara, He does have offensive upside though, he has the ability to get his shot on the net from the point. Could be a useful PP piece as he develops. The weakest part of his game currently is his defense. That should be the easiest to develop. That has to be developed if he wants to stick with the Habs. On the left side, Matheson and Guhle are ahead of him. Hutson may make it. Harris is the better all round defenseman right now- but Xhekaj probably has more upside.

The ability to be a dominant fighter is great but a d-man cannot be fighting regularly, hurts the team too much if you are spending a lot of time in the box. 5 mins are bad enough- the 5 and 10 min misconducts hurt the team too much.

Habs are in a good place to let him develop though, they are a couple years from competing. Use that time to see if he can develop the offense he has and the D side of his game. If he can do it he can be a great asset going forward.
 
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Alexander the Gr8 said:
This guy is a menace on the ice, you can tell other players are cautious around him.

He’s like a D version of Tom Wilson.
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More like a D version of Ryan Reaves.

I wonder if the Habs would consider moving him to a 4th line forward once they become a more competitive team. Having a liability like that as one of your 6 defensemen is fine when you're rebuilding, but I can't see a playoff team have a defenseman like that.
 
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swiftwin said:
More like a D version of Ryan Reaves.

I wonder if the Habs would consider moving him to a 4th line forward once they become a more competitive team. Having a liability like that as one of your 6 defensemen is fine when you're rebuilding, but I can't see a playoff team have a defenseman like that.
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The Bruins had Adam McQuaid in a very similar role. They won a cup and went to the finals two other times.

There's absolutely zero issue having a guy like Arber on your bottom pair, and he's hardly a liability, in fact, I'd say he would be a very sought after addition to a playoff team to play that role.
 
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The Gr8 Dane said:
Haha rent free much?
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I'm just calling it like I see it. He was completely ineffective against us last season:
1697569459591.png


No need to get upset.

Edit: He was also among the worst defensemen in the league in expected goals against:
1697569689221.png
 
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swiftwin said:
I'm just calling it like I see it. He was completely ineffective against us last season:
View attachment 753923

No need to get upset.
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That is the problem you are making a conclusion on him after 3 games on his rookie season, forgetting or ignoring all the rest of his games.

swiftwin said:
I'm just calling it like I see it. He was completely ineffective against us last season:
View attachment 753923

No need to get upset.

Edit: He was also among the worst defensemen in the league in expected goals against:
View attachment 753925
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newsflash, all the players listed are from bottom 5 teams in the ranking that is as valuable as +/- on evaluating defensive impact.
 
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I want to shit on him but honestly he actually looks like an NHL defender this year, he seems improved to my eye. Probably a #5 on a good team, which of course makes him top pairing on the Habs :D
 
JeffreyLFC said:
That is the problem you are making a conclusion on him after 3 games on his rookie season, forgetting or ignoring all the rest of his games.


newsflash, all the players listed are from bottom 5 teams in the ranking that is as valuable as +/- on evaluating defensive impact.
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It's true, +/- is not the be all end all. But the eye test wasn't pretty either.

Just look at how easily he gets outbattled in front of the net by a much smaller player:


Anyways. I hope you guys give him as many minutes as possible against us this season :)
 
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