Arber Xhekaj's summer just got interesting. The Montreal Canadiens defenseman is still eligible for an offer sheet, and that door opened Sunday.
Xhekaj walked away from salary arbitration ahead of the July 5th deadline. That decision keeps him wide open to a hostile offer from another club.
It's the kind of situation that can flip a career fast. And with offer sheets flying around the league this summer, nobody should call this a small detail.
Would a change of scenery actually help him? Given how his role shrank down the stretch and into the playoffs, it might not be the worst outcome.
Xhekaj put up 4 points over 65 games this season, with a minus-8 rating. Modest offensive numbers for a physical, stay-at-home defenseman.
Montreal finished the regular season 48-24-10 for 106 points, sixth overall in the league and third in their division.
His deployment tightened up in the postseason. Xhekaj still played 13 playoff games, finishing plus-5 with 1 goal and 1 assist, as Montreal dropped four of five games to the Carolina Hurricanes in May.
Playoff usage drop could push Xhekaj out of Montreal
The eye test tells a different story than the box score. Xhekaj brings size and force that nobody else on that Montreal blue line replicates.
But Martin St-Louis hasn't leaned on him consistently, and that pattern has been building for a while now.
Over his last 10 games, Xhekaj managed just 1 point and a plus-3 rating. His last 5 look nearly identical, 1 point and a plus-1.
None of that screams a player getting buried. It's usage, not production, that's fueling this conversation around Xhekaj this summer.
Kent Hughes now has a decision looming too. Xhekaj carries a cap hit of $1,300,000, cheap enough that a rival could easily fit an offer sheet under the ceiling.
A team willing to give Xhekaj a real, regular role could change everything for him. Whether that team steps up before camp opens is the question nobody in Montreal wants to answer yet.
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Should another team throw an offer sheet at Arber Xhekaj this summer?
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