Montreal Canadiens: Arber Xhekaj Suspended Five Games For Nasty Slew Foot (video)

Montreal Canadiens prospect Arber Xhekaj was the biggest surprise of training camp.

He was an unknown when he showed up at the Canadiens rookie camp in early September but quickly made a name for himself there and was invited to the team’s main camp the following week.

Xhekaj is a unique prospect because he went undrafted in 2019, and then the Habs invited him to training camp after he didn’t play a single game in the 2020-21 season.

His Kitchener Rangers, like many teams around the world, were handcuffed by the global pandemic and the Ontario Hockey League just never got off the ground last season. Still, the Canadiens somehow kept an eye on him and invited him to their rookie camp to get a closer look. He is a smooth skating defender with a nasty edge to his game which makes him an intriguing young player.

The Canadiens signed him to an entry-level contract before sending him back to the Rangers for his overaged Junior season.

Xhekaj got off to a strong start, scoring six points in his first eight games, but he won’t be on the ice for a while now.

As mentioned before, he is known to have a bit of an edge to his game and that caught up to him in a bad way on Friday night. Xhekaj’s Rangers were trailing by a goal to the Son Greyhounds in the final seconds when Xhekaj carried the puck the length of the ice before dumping in behind the Greyhounds goal. He hurried in on the forecheck but was held up at the side of the net by an opponent.

Xhekaj (#8) eventually got behind the net and lost a battle for the puck. When he realized the game was ending, he chose to slew foot the unsuspecting Greyhounds defender who held him at the side of the net.

He was rightfully called for a match penalty and then assessed a five game suspension by the Ontario Hockey League.

Xhekaj has shown an impressive two-way game so far this season in the OHL, but he is going to need to rein in that temper if he is going to maximize his potential in the Canadiens organization.