Confirmed Signing with Link: [MTL] D Arber Xhekaj re-signs with the Canadiens (2 years, $1.3M AAV)
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Xhekaj has had injuries his first two seasons, but he did play 51 games his rookie season and 61 games this past season (44 NHL, 17 AHL). I'm pretty sure he'll manage to play more than 40 games throughout the contract.
Riggins
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Good deal. Can't wait seeing him crush opponents and make non habs fans cry
Captain97
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I'm excited to see him and his brother play together at some point in the next few years. Has the potential to be great
Jeune Poulet
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Sting
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Deal seems pretty fair for this guy. Maybe he takes a massive, cataclysmic developmental leap but 1.3-2 mill is fair game for a #6/7. Like his story though.
Captain97
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Jfresh has his place but his charts for physical defensive D aren't very useful
Because they highlight the massive negative impact that putting your team on the penalty kill has?
Typically you would like your #6-7 to be at league minimum but its not a lot of money and only 2 year, By the second year 1-2 or maybe even 3 prospect should leapfrog over him
Captain97
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No because they acnt analyze the benefits of having someone physical deter opposing players from making plays they otherwise would have.
It's similar to how the best puck moving dmen often lead the league in giveaways. Certain skillets often have downsides to them. Advanced stats in general don't analyze stay at home dmen well. According to advanced stats Shea Weber was not a great dman yet he was the number 1 dman on a team that went to the finals, wore a letter for team canada, and is in the hall of fame.
I think people are forgetting how young Arber is. He's a 6/7 right now but the hope is by the end of year 2 he is a 4/5 with a physical game.
Good deal for Montreal if they weren’t trying to sign him longer term, no risk.. depends how he develops may get a nice raise in 2 years.
HockeyVirus
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- Nov 15, 2020
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I don't think this guy is ever going to be a top 4 dman even later in his career, that is mostly optimism from fans of the team who like him (and I don't blame him he is easy to cheer for).
But with that said, he is still in my mind going to have a great NHL career on the bottom pair doing what he does. A guy with limited ability with the puck but can play easier defensive minutes while being awful to play against. Like a Gudbranson type career.
But with that said, he is still in my mind going to have a great NHL career on the bottom pair doing what he does. A guy with limited ability with the puck but can play easier defensive minutes while being awful to play against. Like a Gudbranson type career.
they call him wifi because his name looks like a random Wifi password
Weber's analytics were fantastic.
They highlighted his strengths, the very very difficult competition he faced, and his great results against that competition.
In his final year they highlighted how he played the toughest competition in the league with quite good results, however he did take a lot of penalties as he slowed down.
Arber Xhekaj's card highlights exactly what he is.
decent offensive results, very bad defensively, who takes a shitton of penalties and plays against very easy competition.
If Arber Xhekaj's physicality deters players from making specific plays, that means he is EVEN WORSE defensively than this card shows, as the results are bad even despite the players being "deterred from making plays they otherwise would have"
I think the signing is fair. He has time to grow, but i haven't seen him show his tools outside of physicality/fighting consistently enough to think he will ever be in a top four.
If he can become a solid DFD, then he will be a great playoff D to have, especially if we can put him on PP or with an OFD on 5 vs 5. He has a surprising slapper too.
If he can become a solid DFD, then he will be a great playoff D to have, especially if we can put him on PP or with an OFD on 5 vs 5. He has a surprising slapper too.
lol i like that "475 pounds of no mercy" as a nickname. I heard someone refer to those two as a "two-headed monster" when he was in Laval, which seemed ludicrous to me.
EveryDay
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Why are you always bitching in Habs thread (mod)?
He's the most physical defenceman in the NHL and produce like a 3rd pairing defenceman, what's so funny?
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EveryDay
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Do it for Luke Hughes now, see you got a shitty player, he's barely a top6 defenceman, he belong in Utica.
Z-Diddy
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HabsAddict
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I'll never forget how Weber and Chiarot were rag-dolling the Leafs in the playoffs.
Well, these two are younger, faster, bigger and meaner then Weber who could barely skate and ok Chiarot. Weber offense was his slapper, that X already has. Mailman offense is at another level to Ciarot.
Drop the puck already...I want to see the carnage.
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Captain97
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Bruh, the amount of articles claiming Jeff Petry was better than Weber were rampant because he had better analytics.
And I quote
"Eye Test: How can Shea Weber's stats be this bad?
Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators is to many the consensus best NHL defenseman, but his advanced statistics are plain not good and here's why. "
That's from Shea Weber's career peak in 2014.
So glad to have him under contract. I love the guy and his story. Great job Kent
Also, Weber had a worse +/-, played less minutes, scored at about half the rate, and played in less games than Petry in that cup year. The base stats were not kind to weber that year either.
Also most of the analytics you look at during that year are regular season based, and MTL was decidely mediocre during that year, with Weber not being some superstar at age 34 during that regular season
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Except that's not what they say about Luke Hughes at all.
They say he was a quality offensive play driver, who struggled defensively playing approximately average competition, while being one of the most disciplined defenders in hockey. He was also not a great PP producer, especially compared to Dougie Hamilton last year, and really struggled without a healthy Jack Hughes there. Checks out pretty perfectly to what he was last year
To put into context the sheer gap in discipline, if xhekaj played luke's minutes their penalty differential this year would have equated to about 40 extra PPs/less penalty kills for the team with Luke Hughes.
