This is the 2025-26 edition — an archived read. Read the 2026-27 report →
Arber Xhekaj
Montreal Canadiens Defense
6-4, 240 pounds, 118 penalty minutes, and on-ice goals of 30-56.
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-23 | MTL | 51 | 5 | 8 | 13 | -9 | 101 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 75 | 6.7 | 15:16 |
| 2023-24 | MTL | 44 | 3 | 7 | 10 | +6 | 81 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 61 | 4.9 | 15:56 |
| 2024-25 | MTL | 70 | 1 | 5 | 6 | -13 | 118 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 69 | 1.5 | 14:37 |
| 2025-26 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 165 | 9 | 20 | 29 | -16 | 300 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 205 | 4.4 | 15:10 |
This Season So Far
The 2025-26 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.
Last Season
1 goal and 5 assists in 70 games for 6 points, minus-13, on 14:37 a night with 118 penalty minutes — the most on the club by 28.
46.1 per cent at five-on-five, the 19th percentile, over 951 minutes. His on-ice goals were 30-56 against an expected 36.8-43.1 — 26 goals against on chances that were bad but not that bad.
The Finesse Game
Almost none. 69 shots and 1 goal, and 5 assists in 70 games at 15 minutes a night is among the lowest offensive returns in this edition.
82 per cent of his attempts come from beyond 40 feet. The first pass goes to the boards and the puck decisions under pressure are the reason the ice time has not grown.
The Physical Game
6-4 and 240, and among the most physically feared defencemen in the league. He fights anybody, he clears his crease by force, and forwards visibly change their route through the slot.
118 penalty minutes is the most on a club that led the league in shorthanded minutes and finished 29th at killing them. That arithmetic is not favourable and it is not close.
The Intangibles
Undrafted, a junior career built on being the toughest man in the league, and an NHL job at 21 on reputation and willingness.
At 24 the projection is a third-pair defenceman who is genuinely useful in a series and expensive across 82 games. On a club with Hutson and Dobson to protect, there is a real argument for him; the penalty minutes are the price and the club is paying it twice.
The numbers underneath
On the ice
Five-on-five, 2024-25 · 951 minutes
- Expected goals
- 46.1%
- 20th pct
- Shot attempts
- 45.6%
- 14th pct
share of the chances while he was out there
share of the attempts while he was out there
Goals while he was on the ice: 30 for, 56 against. Expected: 36.8 and 43.1.
The eye and the numbers
HindsightThe two rank him within 11 points of one another. It was written for a back edition, with the seasons that followed already known. Neither the agreement nor the gap says anything about the eye, and this report is excluded from the club-level comparison for the same reason.
Both bars are percentiles among the 357 skaters in this edition with a report and enough ice time. The report bar ranks the mean of the grades above — 63 on their own scale — against every other report's mean. The numbers bar ranks his share of expected goals. A gap is a disagreement about where he belongs, not two scales talking past each other.
Usual linemates
2024-25 · 951 minutes at five-on-five
- David Savardoff the roster52%
- Lane Hutson10%
Share of his five-on-five ice time spent alongside each player, measured from shift charts. Special teams are excluded: a power-play unit is not a line.
Why the numbers land there
Five-on-five, 2024-25
- The club
- MTL took 48.6% of the expected goals as a club. His own share is 46.1% — 2.5 below the club he did it on.
- The role
- Second pair, 951 minutes at five-on-five — 54th percentile in ice time.
With and without
| Teammate | Together | Him apart | Mate apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| David Savard | 46.9% | 45.1% | 41.1% |
| Christian Dvorak | 45.0% | 46.5% | 50.3% |
| Alex Newhook | 49.5% | 44.6% | 51.4% |
46.9% together, 45.1% for him apart and 41.1% for Savard apart. Savard was worse away from him while his own share held — the pairing was doing more for Savard than for him.
Expected-goal share while both were on the ice, and for each man in the minutes he played without the other. Apart is the pair subtracted from his own totals. It does not settle who was carrying whom — apart from each other, both were still playing with somebody — but it does say whether the share travelled when the pairing broke up.
Where he shoots from
goal on goal missed
106 unblocked shots in 2024-25, 1 of them goals. His median goal came from 38 feet. 6% of his shots came from inside twenty feet, 82% from beyond forty.