It has been a frustrating start to the season for Montreal Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj, and he is the first one to point out his frustrations.
A generally confident Xhekaj has been victimized by poor turnovers and outskated by opponents in the corners. There have been penalties for retaliation which have been a culmination of the frustrations thus far. When he is at his best, he plays a rough-and-tumble game.
But now it seems like he is fighting the puck and is often a step behind the play. Xhekaj usually just reacts, be it stepping up at the blueline to stop guys in their tracks or dashing up the ice with the puck on a breakout. But that has gone away, he seems to overthink things and try to do too much, which results in uncharacteristic mistakes.
#Habs Arber Xhekaj was very candid talking to the media after practice today: "I haven't been too happy with my game so far. I've been a little inconsistent so I gotta fix that... I feel like I've been in my own head a little bit and haven't been myself..."
— Priyanta Emrith (@HabsInHighHeels) October 18, 2024
The Canadiens had Xhekaj on the team out of his first training camp because he was doing the little things right. Skating the puck up the ice well, defending the rush with a quick stick or a body check and in the offensive zone, he made quick passes and put the puck on the net. Xhekaj's game isn't pretty, and it was never meant to be, maybe getting back to the simple stuff is what would serve him best.
Back to the basic's
Often times if a player is struggling, simply getting out on the pond and playing a game of shinny is the way to get back to your roots. Piling the sticks up in the middle of the ice, and having somebody blindfolded tossing sticks each way to pick teams. It doesn't get more fun than that, just playing the game for the fun of it.
Xhekaj needs to play the game the way he has always done it, with big hits that are timed efficiently. Stop chasing the puck, let it come to him and when it does, make the first play instead of trying to make the perfect play. When at his best, he moves the puck quickly, either with a pass or a dash up the ice and I believe that going back to what works is the best plan.
If it's not broken don't fix, and less is more are a couple of cliché statements that come to mind, but they are exactly the words that I think would benefit Xhekaj. The Canadiens are a better team when Xhekaj is playing at his best. So, the sooner that he rediscovers his game, the sooner the Habs will be in a better place.