Je ne comprends pas l’amertume et la ressentiment bizarre de Leroux contre Xhekaj dans ce récent clip de l’Antichambre… Mdr, d’où ça vient ? Au moins, les autres ne sont pas d’accord avec l’opinion de Leroux. https://www.rds.ca/videos/hockey/lnh/canadiens/antichambre-le-sherif-est-en-ville-3.1432501 Le principal point de discussion était : Dans 3 ans, pensez-vous qu’Arber sera encore dans l’alignement alors que le Tricolore sera plus compétitif. Je pense qu’Arber sera toujours très pertinent et important pour cette équipe. – Qu’en pensez-vous?
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dariusman11
8 Comments
On ability alone he probably won’t be one of the Habs best options three years from now, Guhle, Hutson, Matheson, Engstrom, on the left side all project a lot better, but the Habs clearly love him so I think they’ll make space on the bottom pair by trading some D prospects away.
I love Arber but I think his perceived value will almost always be higher than his on ice value making him one of our most valuable trade chips. If we do hit on multiple of our D prospects and one needs to be traded I think it has to be him.
I think he will always have a niche with the team. It’s a little tougher to find him a spot since he’s a defenceman, but he’s very clearly a glue guy and is actually intimidating. Plus we can’t forget they drafted his brother higher than anyone expected, so they clearly love the family and their Habs passion.
Xhekaj is a unicorn type of player. The guy is 22 years old, he can fight and hold his own against heavyweight who’ve been doing it for years, he’s freakishly huge and strong and yet he skates really well, he shoots well, he can generate offence. He needs to get better defensively but this is not too hard to learn. I honestly can’t think of a similar D-man in the league.
I agree that in 2-3 years, he shouldn’t be in our Top-4, unless he develops really really well, but as #5-6 he would be extremely valuable to this team. Both on ice and in the locker room.
The line up they made is a best case scenario. All our Defenceman prospect broke out within their own ceiling as anticipated. Also, none of them is getting a second contract with astronomical cap that would push they other emerging guys outside the organization because of cap crunch.
Amber’s contract comes to end this summer, if we’re able to ink him long term to fair cap, it would be very welcome.
Arber will get an offer sheet of he become RFA, lots of team are missing that specific type of player.
If you’re to have a good team that expects to have playoff success, you need a guy like Arber.
Well since I’m pretty sure every team is envious of us for having him in our lineup, Jacko is going to be on our top 6 for years and he’s going to get paid. I agree we have a lot of depth but a lot of them are going to get traded away to patch some hole at offense.
Leroux might’ve fallen to the classic trap of overrating our prospects oversees.
I see the what you’re saying but that Leroux take isn’t *that* crazy. I don’t think X will become a top 4 D on a contending team. But could be an amazing 5-6. I would say his ceiling is a #4D in the sense that he would need a “leader” with him on a 2nd pair.
Now that being said, I personally think it’s a bad take and X should be on this team when we compete. We were talking about unicorns during the draft? Arber is a unicorn. Teams are ready to pay a big premium for that kind of players. We got him for free. Only his 2nd season in the pros and he’s showing progress. This is absolutely the kind of players you need for a playoff run.
What I love about him is that he wants to carve his place as a good D, not a fighter. This means that he’s going to keep working on his skills and not just on the fighting aspect. But for that, I think we eventually would need to get another tough guy(sorry but I don’t think Pezzetta can cut it). Someone who can share the fighting responsibility with X so he doesn’t waste prime development minutes in the penalty box or injured/concussioned.
Leroux backtracked like a pro then went hard at the end on his lack of old school measuring of hockey credentials.
I think Guy said it the best that in this division, there’s heavyweights…There’s gonna be some big battles, and that’s what 6/7 on the roster needs but in 3/4 years?? who knows
That being said I’d like to see a Max Domi vs Xhekaj with this [Domi vs Shayne Corson](https://youtu.be/cbMdoDzDCiM) vibe at Centre Bell