New Defensive Pairings Indicate Arber Xhekaj Potentially Played His Last Game With The Montreal Canadiens
New defensive pairings could indicate that Arber Xhekaj possibly played his last game with the Montreal Canadiens.
The Canadiens are coming off a tough 8-2 loss against the Seattle Kraken and will look to bounce back tonight against the Washington Capitals. Martin St. Louis applied many changes to the lineup, especially defensively, where two key players are set to return from injuries. First is Justin Barron, who was viciously hit by Jacob Trouba in a 7-2 loss against the New York Rangers, and future of the Habs defense Kaiden Guhle, who's been away from the lineup since October 17th.
To add them to the lineup, St. Louis had to remove two other players. Yesterday, they sent Logan Mailloux back to the AHL after a rough NHL stint, and today, at practice it seemed like Arber Xhekaj was the other to be kept out of the defensive pairings.
Here are the lines that were seen at today's morning skates:
As you can see, Guhle got back on the first pair with Michael Matheson; Lane Hutson and David Savard remaining together on the second duo, and Justin Barron joined Jayden Struble on the third pair.
Since the season started a lot of rumors about Arber Xhekaj's fate in Montreal have circulated, and with the Canadiens deciding to healthy scratch him once again, those rumors are sure to resurface.
On the market, players like Xhekaj have a high value. There aren't a lot of players of his style available in the NHL, and when they are, they can generate interesting trade returns although it may be hard to convince a team they need an enforcer who plays under six minutes a game but with Kent Hughes rumored to be looking at a top 4 defenseman or a forward "with some edge", Xhekaj could be a valuable trade asset for Montreal.
This season, Xhekaj, 23, took part in eight games with the Canadiens. He hasn't been able to add his name to the scoresheet and has a -6 goal differential. While he showed glimpses of what he can bring to the table when he plays at full throttle, he needs to bring more consistency to his game, like many young defensemen developing in the NHL as his one-sided skillset won't lead to a long career, especially in today's modern game.
Xhekaj's situation in Montreal will be interesting to monitor. Stay tuned for further developments!
