Florian Xhekaj dropped the gloves with Marshall Rifai in Toronto on Saturday night, and the message to the Canadiens wasn't subtle.
He came out ahead of it against a big Leafs defenceman. Nobody in that building missed the point.
The 22-year-old showed up to camp at 215 pounds this year. That's 20 more than last season, and it shows every shift.
This is a kid with nothing guaranteed. He played five NHL games last season and finished with a single assist.
Roster spots don't get handed out in that organization. He's making sure the people upstairs have something to talk about Monday.
Rifai got into one NHL game last season on a $775,000 cap hit. Both of these guys are auditioning for the same kind of job.
His brother Arber just signed a one-year deal with the club, so the family has owned this week in Montreal.
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Martin St-Louis keeps him beside Phillip Danault and Josh Anderson
That trio has held together through camp sessions all week, and it was together again tonight. Not an accident.
Danault put up 17 points across 75 games last season, then added 10 more over 19 postseason contests.
Anderson scored 14 goals on a $5,500,000 cap hit. Neither of those veterans is there to pad a scoresheet.
Which tells you what the coaching staff wants from that line. Heavy shifts, clean exits, and nobody taking a night off.
Arber himself had 4 points in 65 games last season and finished the spring at a +5. The Xhekaj value was never about the scoresheet.
Montreal finished 48-24-10 for 106 points and sixth overall. Cracking that lineup means beating out somebody who already helped get them there.
Kaiden Guhle is expected out until at least October 23 with a groin issue, which opens a little room in camp. Not on the wing, though.
Florian is on an $866,667 cap hit. That's the cheapest way for Kent Hughes to add sandpaper to a top nine.
St-Louis watches everything in these weeks, and he pays particular attention to the kids trying to force his hand.
The game was still going when the gloves came off. Preseason results don't matter, but a coach's memory does.
So does one scrap change a depth chart? Fighting your way onto an NHL roster works like knocking on a door nobody promised to answer. Some of them open anyway.
He's given them a reason to keep writing his name on the board. What happens when the exhibition games run out is the part nobody can script.
Has Florian Xhekaj done enough to make the Canadiens opening night roster?
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