As the NHL trade deadline nears, the inevitable rumour mill is churning at maximum speed, the latest involving the Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj. This latest tidbit of trade information comes courtesy of the Montreal Gazette’s Herb Zurkowsky in a tweet Tuesday afternoon, stating interest from the Calgary Flames.
I’m hearing Calgary has an interest in #Habs’ defenceman Arber Xhekaj
— Herb Zurkowsky (@HerbZurkowsky1) March 3, 2026
So, what could be a piece that the Habs would be looking at in exchange for the 25-year-old defender? There’s no denying that the number of Flames players have been tossed around in possible connections to the Canadiens, first and foremost, Nazem Kadri. However, the speculation around Kadri and the Habs seems to have severely cooled off since the start of the season, so we won't look too deep beyond mentioning the rumour’s existence.
A more likely and possibly less costly option may be attempting to get a deal on one of the Flames' right-handed defensemen, that being Mackenzie Weegar or the recently acquired Zach Whitecloud.
If one looks at the way the Canadiens have done business in the past concerning trades, they have always traded excess for an area of need. Some examples include the Logan Mailloux trade for Zachary Bolduc, an excess defenseman for the need of a depth forward, or an excess second-round pick for a depth centre in Phillip Danault.
The area of need for the Canadiens in this instance is a big right-handed defenseman to shore up the Canadiens defensive core and hopefully get Kaiden Guhle back on his stronger left-hand side.
Weegar certainly brings the experience and skill, but at the age of 32 in the third year of an eight-year contract with an AAV of $6.25 million, a deal would have to be near-perfect, most likely including some retention from Calgary, to even get talks rolling.
Whitecloud, on the other hand, has a much more favourable contract, in year four of six with an AAV of $2.75 million. The most difficult part of this hypothetical is the cost from Montreal. Sure, Xhekaj could be a solid starting point, but what would the Flames want in return? It would not be far-fetched to expect a high-round draft pick or an A-tier prospect in a package for Whitecloud.
If anything has remained true from this Habs administration, it’s that they will not shift a single piece unless the stars align. Canadiens fans will just have to wait and see if the man they call “The Sheriff” gets shipped off to cowboy country or stays protecting the ice of the Bell Centre.