NHL Off-Season Rankings: No. 25, Montreal Canadiens

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TheHockeyNews.com’s off-season rankings has the Montreal Canadiens slotted in 25th place. Montreal needed help putting them over the top as a Stanley Cup playoff front-runner, but they didn’t get it. What must the Canadiens do to win it all?

Video Transcript

The, the Canadians still have some restricted free agents, left to deal with this off-season.

So Zach Bolduc, Arber Xhekaj, Sasha Pastujov.

I mean, of all of those guys, Corinne, what do you think that the Habs should do with these remaining RFAs?

Because time’s ticking here.

Well, the most interesting case, if you ask me, is Arber Xhekaj.

And what’s interesting about this situation is that there’s interest for him around the league.

He can bring a lot to a team.

He’s got a big physicality factor, but Martin St-Louis just doesn’t trust him.

So, you know, when he played in the playoffs, there was one game, I think, against Buffalo where he played under two minutes.

I mean, that’s, that’s not great.

And Xhekaj could actually have fight for arbitration this summer, but he elected not to.

By choosing not to go for arbitration, he left himself open for offer sheets, and I think that’s a way of saying, “I’d like a new beginning elsewhere,” because he’s not really getting a chance in Montreal.

He’s been there in a dual with Kaiden Guhle for years now, and Adam Engstrom is inviting himself to the table now.

So I think for Montreal, the smart thing to do in considering the coach isn’t trusting Xhekaj much, would be to actually trade him to get something in return, because it, it’s not a sustainable situation.

And his agent was on TSN 690 the other day saying, “At the end of the day, the Canadiens will do what’s best for Canadiens, and Arber Xhekaj will do what’s best for Arber Xhekaj.”

And for a 25-year-old guy, I don’t think staying put and being the seventh defenseman i- is what’s best for you, so.

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