Do you think that a 23 year old defenseman is a finished product with zero ability to learn and grow as a player?
Marino and Siegs were regular penalty killers when they were in the lineup. Hamilton is okay as well, Nemec will be relied upon with or without Xhekaj on the PK as well. He's also young enough that he can learn to PK himself.
Playing Xhekaj likely keeps MacDermid out of the lineup more. Which of course is a benefit as well.
Nope I don't believe a 23 year old is a completely finished product. But they're getting closer to the end of the development curve.
But if you are 23 years old and frankly incompetent at the NHL level, there isn't much hope. Is there anything to suggest Xhekaj has massive upside as a hockey player? There's a reason he went undrafted. Twice.
Kevin Bahl is 23 years old too. He takes tough minutes, kills penalties at a high level, and can defend well.
I'd rather have MacDermid in the lineup than Xhekaj. With a 4th line winger it is very easy to hide. You give guys like Jack, Nico, Mercer, etc a few extra shifts each a game, which isn't going to exhaust anyone, and the matchups don't really change.
With a dman, it's not the same. there's a reason Guhle and Matheson have to play some of the hardest matchups in the league already. Because Arber Xhekaj can't handle anything beyond 4th line grinders.
18% of his ice time comes against elite competition. For comparison, you have him replacing Bahl who plays 37% of his ice time against elite competition. Who takes those shutdown minutes?
Xhekaj requires offensive zone starts as well. This means taking away offensive opportunities from Luke Hughes and Dougie Hamilton, it means every other dman on the team has to take harder matchups.
It means our PK will 100% be worse, probably by a significant amount.
Arber Xhekaj is about as likely to become an effective PK guy as Luke Hughes. He could not even get more than 20 seconds a night on a PK that has been 74% over the last 2 years.