Romanov was nothing special when he was with the Habs. He was a 2nd/3rd pairing defenceman. We had him scratched most of the playoffs too back in 2021 in favor of guys like Kulak, Merrill, Gustavsson, etc...guhle is far better than what Romanov was when we traded him. Not a good comparison.
Xhekaj is also better than what you're giving him credit for and I don't even think you've been paying much attention to him. He's played 17 AHL games lol how much did you think he played when you said a large portion? He's one of the top enforcers in the league with good skating and a good shot. Rare skillset. Still very young with lots of room to grow. He definitely has value.
Romanov played the exact same minutes as Guhle does now. 22 year old 2nd pairing dmen. I agree guhle is better than Romanov was.
But Romanov is about 3 tiers above Xhekaj.
Xhekaj is a great enforcer. Like Ryan Reaves or Deslauriers. How much value does that get them?
Xhekaj plays some of the most sheltered minutes in hockey (about 18% of his minutes come against elite competition), which makes the lives of Matheson and Guhle much harder (they have to play 40+% of their ice time against elite competition).
He can't kill penalties.
He doesn't provide value on the PP
And he isn't particularly good 5v5.
Adding Xhekaj adds as many problems as it solves, such as:
Which of the devils LD do you now give ridiculous minutes to in order to continue to shelter xhekaj, or do you put xhekaj into a role he is not built for?
Do you play Luke Hughes against the ridiculously tough matchups? That may work for MTL putting Guhle through the ringer but NJD isn't trying to make lives a living hell for their guys as they develop. Do you play siegenthaler in that role coming off a down year? Does that then mean you split up siegs and Hamilton?
What do you do about the penalty kill? Do you keep brendan smith as a 4LW and on PK? Do you trust a guy who couldn't crack MTLs 74% PK over the last 2 years? do you play dougie hamilton on the PK again like he did in carolina (with 1 of Dougie, Nemec, or Marino on their off side)?
For a guy who's creating that many question marks, we should be discusssing a 3rd, MAYBE a 2nd round pick. Certainly not a top 10 pick.
I'd be happy to put Xhekaj into a 7D/enforcer role, replacing Brendan Smith and/or Kevin Bahl if we bring in a quality 2LD.
I would be terrified trying to play Arber Xhekaj for 18-19 minutes a night against tough competition and on the PK (the Kevin Bahl role currently)