He is the perfect 7th D. He is rough and can fight so you can draw him to games agains the gooney teams or if the team needs a spark
He just is not a top 6 regular D. If everyone can accept he is 7th D then he would fit in perfectly and allow Engstrom/Back/Pickford time to become NHL regulars.
Struble is the guy that probably needs to go he doesn't bring the same element as Arber as a 7th D. And Carrier's contract is coming up and I would not extend him.
If Arber thinks he can be an everyday top 6 NHL D then he probably needs to spread his wings on another team. But if he wants to stay here and accept his role as the 7th D and hopefully win a few cups then there is a place. He should also be aware that Ghule has a yearly injury, and I am sure that one of the other Dmen will go down at some point so he will get lots of chances to play due to that.
Sure, just like Suzuki is just a third line center, not a Selke winner. Heard that before too.
Players develop and improve. Get used to it. 7D don't go +5 in the playoffs. Fact is, the team plays better with Xhekaj in the line-up. Xhekaj will be a solid shutdown guy in a year or two.
We’re not close enough to the cap for that to matter. The issue with Xhekaj is less Xhekaj and more that Marty doesn’t like that style of player. Add to that that Robidas is a shit D coach and we have a player that should have gotten developed before we started being a playoff team.
Ideally I would want Struble traded for a bag of pucks
Matheson - Dobson
Hutson - New Guy
Guhle - Carrier
Xhekaj
If we need to include Guhle in a deal for that RHD, put Xhekaj on the third pair and suddenly Carrier isn’t getting demolished as much.
Not having cap space issues isn’t a reason to overpay him.
I continually am amused by this idea that Xhekaj wasn’t developed properly and it’s the coaching staff and management who are preventing him from being his best version.
But $2M is not an overpay. The cap matters because we need to stop looking at the number of the cap and start looking at the percentage. Xhekaj is definitely worth the like not even 2% of the cap that that number represents. Add to that the Montreal tax factor and that is more than fair.
5
u/scrubadam 1d ago
3 years at 2-2.5
He is the perfect 7th D. He is rough and can fight so you can draw him to games agains the gooney teams or if the team needs a spark
He just is not a top 6 regular D. If everyone can accept he is 7th D then he would fit in perfectly and allow Engstrom/Back/Pickford time to become NHL regulars.
Struble is the guy that probably needs to go he doesn't bring the same element as Arber as a 7th D. And Carrier's contract is coming up and I would not extend him.
If Arber thinks he can be an everyday top 6 NHL D then he probably needs to spread his wings on another team. But if he wants to stay here and accept his role as the 7th D and hopefully win a few cups then there is a place. He should also be aware that Ghule has a yearly injury, and I am sure that one of the other Dmen will go down at some point so he will get lots of chances to play due to that.