Arber Xhekaj has become a fan favorite of the Montreal Canadiens, but is his time coming to an end with the team? He is currently a restricted free agent, but didn't elect for arbitration, so he could still sign an offer sheet with another team.
While he hasn't been a huge part of the Canadiens' blueline, he has been a consistent presence bouncing between that third pair and the seventh defenseman. Over the past four seasons, Xhekaj has played in 230 games and is one of the more physical players on the Canadiens, with 642 hits in his career.
Unfortunately, as Marco D'Amico recently laid out on an episode of The Starr and D'Amico Show, the Canadiens have a roster logjam with three left-handed defensemen under contract for the foreseeable future.
"If you're Arber's camp, you want to work it out in Montreal absolutely, but you also have to look at the way the roster is built. Can you afford to continue playing Hutson on his off-side? Can you play Kaiden Guhle on his off-side?" D'Amino said.
If the Canadiens want to keep those two, along with Mike Matheson, on the left side, then this really limits a pathway to Xhekaj having a bigger role. When considering that fact, what the Canadiens could get in a trade might be more valuable than having him as their seventh defenseman.
However, it is not a simple solution because Xhekaj is a different player who brings something to this defense that no other player does.
"He brings a unique skillset that the rest of the six defensemen on the team don't necessarily bring on a regular basis. So these are all the factors that are being taken into account right now, but at the same time, teams are going to be interested, especially teams that aren't very deep on defense."
Arber Xhekaj could force the Montreal Canadiens into a decision
Right now, the Montreal Canadiens have some control as they can discuss trade opportunities with other teams, as Xhekaj is a restricted free agent. They could trade his rights to a new team that Xhekaj would want to go to and work on a return they want.
However, the Canadiens can't really wait around too long because Xhekaj could sign an offer sheet. From that point, the Canadiens either match or get draft compensation based on the offer sheet tiers.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but at this point, all options are on the table until an offer sheet is signed, if it gets to that point.
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