These three Habs players are visibly faster at training camp - including one surprising name

Florian Xhekaj stood out at the Canadiens' impromptu scrimmage Tuesday morning at the CN complex in Brossard.

It was another full house on the ice. Only three regulars sat out: Cole Caufield, Michael Matheson and Kaiden Guhle did not take part.

With no scheduled drills on the docket, the group threw together an intra-squad game on the fly.

Reinbacher, Adam Engstrom and Florian Xhekaj all jumped into that mix alongside the regulars.

Xhekaj held his own. He buried a few goals working close to the net, used his speed to separate from defenders and protected pucks well in tight spaces.

That's the kind of detail that gets noticed in a battle for bottom-six jobs come September.

But two names were on a different level Tuesday: Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov.

Two Xhekaj brothers still waiting on new contracts

Hutson put up 78 points last season, and it showed again in an unscripted scrimmage with no stakes attached.

Demidov followed with 62 points of his own a season ago, and reporters on site had him grouped with Hutson at the top of the group.

Here's the wrinkle nobody's talking about enough: two Xhekaj name tags were on the ice, and one of them is technically unemployed.

Arber Xhekaj, a restricted free agent still without a deal, carried a $1,300,000 cap hit on his last contract and was very much present in Brossard.

Zachary Bolduc, also an RFA and still unsigned, was around too, sitting on 30 points and a $863,334 cap hit from a season ago.

Two useful pieces without contracts a few weeks before camp opens for real. That's not a footnote, that's a Canadiens problem waiting on a signature.

Florian Xhekaj doesn't have that contract fight to worry about. He's just trying to shove his name higher up the depth chart, one summer scrimmage at a time.

-

Also read on Markerzone.com:
Connor McDavid reportedly has a secret condition before joining the Leafs