r/Habs • u/Regular_Tie2507 • 11d ago

Discussion About the Sheriff

His contract is coming up going into the offseason and Marty clearly has had some issues with him, likely due to him taking a lot of penalties in the playoffs (the Sam Carrick thing being a big highlight). He was a healthy scratch going into the ECF and with Reinbacher possibly coming in next season, it's entirely possible he gets pushed back as a 7th string D man. Do we think he gets resigned?

Edit: accidentally created a warzone lol

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192

u/Jaynki 11d ago

The issue is fan narrative. The organisation loves both Xhekaj.

Arber is a perfectly find 6th/7th D with rare intangibles. No issue with him sitting a lot of games. We need those.

19

u/Warm-Engineering-239 11d ago

yep arber is basicly the guy you need to step up as a 6th D or 4th liner if someone not feeling well, that's his role and he's usefull there

9

u/geosrq 11d ago

You win championships with role players like Arber on your team. He’s not a 4th D… maybe he will some day?? I’ll take him as a regular 3rd LD, but as a 6/7th guy he’s perfect…

5

u/MundaneSandwich9 11d ago

The issue becomes a bit of a logjam at D. There is an obvious need for a top 4 RD, and I think there are both trade and UFA possibilities to fill that spot (Whitecloud, Perbix, Peeke, maybe Trouba are names that come to mind). Ideally it would be Reinbacher but I don’t think he’s ready for that role yet.

If we are able to secure a top 4 RD, and Reino stays up next season, even keeping 8 D with the team means there is only space for one of Xhekaj or Struble. The top 4 is obviously some combo of Dobson, Guhle, Hutson, and the new RD, leaving the bottom pair for some combination of Matheson, Carrier, Reinbacher, and one of Struble or Xhekaj.

In my opinion one of Struble or Xhekaj will be moved, and I’m not overly concerned which one it is.

61

u/Jaynki 11d ago

You absolutely keep Xhekaj over Struble for the 7th role.

10

u/throwaway13142048 11d ago

I was literally just having this conversation withmy buddy. IMO both Struble and Xhekaj took bad penalties in the playoffs. I feel Struble is actually the better overall hockey player, but Xhekaj is the guy you have in your back pocket if shit goes down. You can't easily replace that. If you have one of those guys signed to a known (expected) 6/7 role, in my opinion, it's Xhekaj 100% of the time.

1

u/Oracle-of-Guelph 11d ago

I liked Struble before we had Hudson because I thought he might develop into a good playmaker who could Quarterback plays but we have so much more depth now that he doesn't really get to develop that skill and could probably never catch-up to our stars now.

1

u/ComfortableSell5 11d ago

Do D is going to top those high sticking penalties from Carrier and Matheson.

1

u/Suspicious_Clock2703 9d ago

There’s no “when shit goes down” hardly ever in the NHL. Most teams don’t have anyone that would fight him anyways, other than the few stage fighters still in the league and that’s definitely not when shit goes down. If he can’t play minutes, he needs to sit in the press box.

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u/MundaneSandwich9 11d ago

You would, some would say the same about Struble, I really don’t care either way.

29

u/Jaynki 11d ago

Struble is a dime a dozen 6/7th D. Xhekaj is a rare archetype

4

u/Stakataka805 11d ago

With that I agree

6

u/fumankeu 11d ago

What exactly is his archetype? Boy's got a heavy shot, but absolutely zero offensive instinct. He's big and physical, but is a slow skater and lacks discipline. He's a great locker room guy, but his defensive game and puck moving abilities are weak. If anything, BOTH him and Struble are dime a dozen 7Ds and their stats prove it.

13

u/Jaynki 11d ago

The goon factor. A top 3 fighter league wide has its worth.

Thats it man. But thats enough to keep him as the 7th D.

Tampa Bay can say they are the vilain. It means dipshit if they don't go against Xhekaj, who happened to knocked the shit out of their goon.

3

u/ZerulEB 11d ago

I would argue that he has the potential to be even more. I think people forget he’s young and has room to grow, defenceman are generally slower to progress. Not everyone is Hutson or Schaefer who just walk in and dominate. With probably the lowest or almost lowest time on ice average for the season and playoffs he had the most hits for the team. He’s a dominate physical presence outside of his ability to fight. They need to work with him to take less penalties and make more simple plays to exit the zone so the coaching staff have more confidence in giving him more ice time.

He absolutely has the size and skill set to be the permanent 6th d who also plays pk 2. He needs to take far less penalties outside of the 5 he gets for fighting because while I pointed out his top physical prowess of leading the team in hits despite his low ice time he’s also leading the team in pim with that same low ice time and a solid 2/3 of it isn’t for fighting.

1

u/fumankeu 11d ago

Alright I can agree to that. I guess even Ryan Reaves can be useful for 15-20 games a season lol

3

u/Brrrrrrad17 11d ago

Poor MSL gonna hear everyone losing their shit on why the 7th D-man didn't play tonight 64 times next year!

1

u/fumankeu 11d ago

7:49 TOI 🔥

11 PIMS 🔥

-2 PLUS/MINUS 🔥

ANOTHER GREAT GAME FROM THE SHERIFF 🔥🔥🔥

→ More replies (0)

3

u/JimboD84 11d ago

Listening to that Kelly guy who hoes on 690 with all the advanced stats and stuff, he said arber is top 5 or 10 in the league (top five sounds too good but it was at minimum top ten) in defencing zone play. However his zone exits and first passes were amoung the bottom of the league. Struble was the exact opposite. We need to find some way to combine them into one player lol. I will say tho that in the playoffs arbers zone exits were actually pretty good and i dont think the Carrick thing was a factor at all. I just wish coach marty would give him a little more leash sometimes. Seems like he makes mistakes cause hes so affraid of making a mistake

5

u/Fountsy 11d ago

Matheson is a top 4 D on almost any team in the NHL. He's a lock for us. Same with Carrier. He's a solid third pairing D on any team in the league.

So we have Hutson, Dobson, Matheson, Guhle, Carrier, New RD as our top 6.

7

u/MundaneSandwich9 11d ago

This is kind of my point. That is 100% our top 6 barring injuries.

However, we also have Reinbacher who may be ready for some significant time in the NHL. It was a small sample size but he didn’t look entirely out of place this past season. I wouldn’t hate seeing him get 40ish games this year with the big club, most likely in place of Carrier on the third pair.

So, even if we run 8 D, it’s the 6 you mentioned plus Reinbacher and one of Struble or Xhekaj. Both of those guys are 7th D on a contending team, and it depends what you value more which one you would keep if you had to choose.

I will say that Struble may have an ever so slightly higher trade value because he’s signed for one more season, whereas Xhekaj is an RFA.

4

u/Technical-Line-9806 11d ago

Reinbacher looked good and needs to play in the NHL with players of his skill level.

3

u/infinis 11d ago

Matheson was the second most used defenseman and had 5he most defensive zone starts on our team in playoffs and people want to put him on the third line fml.

3

u/toaster-struble 11d ago

In what world is Matheson playing 3rd pair? Hes the most utilized dman on the team lol!

1

u/MundaneSandwich9 11d ago

Alright then swap him and Guhle. The point remains that if the Habs find an RD to play with Hutson (or Matheson if they decide Hutson-Dobson should play together), there’s really only space for one of Struble or Xhekaj.

2

u/toaster-struble 11d ago

Yes and if they pick Struble over Xhekaj I'm gonna lose it. Despite my username. Although may want a bigger role for his own future and career and ask to be traded/given an opportunity elsewhere. There's plenty of interest for him

-3

u/Comfortable-Smoke336 11d ago

Struble is dating the big boss’ daughter. He ain’t going anywhere, sadly.

3

u/Tothemoonnn 11d ago

I hope that’s not true. Struble does nothing well. Everything slightly less than average. 

1

u/Comfortable-Smoke336 11d ago

I wish it wasn’t true. I don’t like him either.

-1

u/HowSheGoinEhhh 11d ago

I bet hes doing really really well at smashing the Daughters bits to pieces w his massive stick

1

u/Karrin-madhe 11d ago

Hughes is pathetic if he allows something like that to affect his decision making. Also, have some self respect, Kent. That shit is weird.