Montreal's Arber Xhekaj explains why he's been given the nickname 'Wifi'
Hockey players and nicknames go together like peanut butter and jelly. If you've played hockey at any level, chances are you've had a nickname that was used on the ice at some point. Arber Xhekaj of the Montreal Canadiens is very new to the league, but he's already earned at least one nickname that has a pretty funny origin story.
Xhekaj was being asked about the possibility of a new nickname for teammate Juraj Slafkovsky, who is currently going by the somewhat uninspired "Slaf". Xhekaj said he's been working on it but hasn't come up with anything yet. Asked if he has a nickname, Xhekaj said some of his teammates call him "Wifi", and it seems his unusual last name is the reason why.
"You know how a Wifi password usually looks something like my last name?" Xhekaj said to reporters.
If you've ever looked on the back of a Wifi router for the password to someone's internet, what you likely got was a string of random numbers and letters. It seems fellow defenceman Chris Wideman felt Xhekaj's name looks like one of those password, hence the nickname "Wifi".
Xhekaj is the only person in NHL history to have a last name beginning with X. He was born in Canada to a father of Albanian decent, and a mother originally from the Czech Republic.
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YESTERDAY
JUNE 6, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mitch Marner | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Shea Theodore | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Brayden McNabb | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Taylor Hall | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Martinook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jackson Blake | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Karlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jaccob Slavin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||