Arber Xhekaj's future with the Canadiens is suddenly a real conversation, and two insiders lit that fire this week.
Xhekaj is 25, plays a physical brand of hockey, and carried a cap hit of just $1,300,000 for Montreal.
This season he posted 4 points in 65 games with a minus-8 rating, then flipped the script in the playoffs with 2 points in 13 games and a plus-5.
That kind of swing gets noticed. And on Wednesday, it got talked about out loud.
NHL Rumour Report shared comments from insider Anthony Di Marco, who does not see Xhekaj staying in Montreal long term.
Di Marco went further, saying a lot of teams are interested in the physical blueliner.
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That's not noise. A handful of teams reportedly circling a $1.3 million defenseman says plenty about where his value sits around the league.
Why the luxury item label actually stings
It follows something Jeff Marek said just over a week earlier on the DFO Rundown.
Marek framed it bluntly, saying that brand of toughness at Xhekaj's position has kind of become a luxury item for the Canadiens in some ways.
Read that comment twice. A front office doesn't reach for that word by accident.
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Montreal finished the regular season 48-24-10 for 106 points, good for sixth in the league and third in the Atlantic under Martin St-Louis.
A team that competitive doesn't need to force a fit. If Xhekaj's identity isn't the priority anymore, that reads like a signal, not a shot at the player.
His l10 shows one goal, no assists, one point, and a plus-3. His l5 mirrors it almost exactly.
Offense was never the pitch with Xhekaj. Physical presence and shutdown minutes were always the sell, and now that sell is reportedly drawing calls from other general managers.
Montreal has cap room at $1,300,000 and a defense corps already stacked with Lane Hutson, Noah Dobson, Kaiden Guhle and Mike Matheson.
Trading a cost-controlled, physical defenseman while he's drawing outside interest sounds tidy on paper.
Whether it's smart hockey is a different question, and it's the one Bob thinks Montreal needs to answer before pulling any trigger.
Give up too early on a player who just posted a plus-5 in the playoffs, and the return better be real.
Nothing here is finalized. But the noise around Xhekaj isn't the kind that fades in August, and Montreal's front office knows exactly who's listening.
Should the Canadiens trade Arber Xhekaj this offseason if a real offer comes in?
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