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Florian Xhekaj: “The kind of player you hate to face”

 Matthew Garcia
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Florian Xhekaj: “The kind of player you hate to face”
Credit: Capture d'écran / Screenshot

If there’s one Montreal Canadiens prospect who’s enjoyed a meteoric rise through the organization’s ranks since being drafted, it’s Florian Xhekaj.

Arber’s little brother has gone from a player described as having been drafted far too early last summer, to a player who already aspires to be one of the pillars of the Habs’ fourth line in the future.

Florian Xhekaj made incredible progress last season in the OHL, and that now makes him one of the prospects that Habs fans are most excited about.

And why is that?

Well, for one, because he’s the brother of Arber Xhekaj, who’s already a crowd favorite, but mostly because he has a unique style of play that would greatly benefit the Habs.

Florian Xhekaj does absolutely everything on the ice, which is a huge turn-off for opponents.

In fact, Habs prospect Owen Protz, drafted in the fourth round (102ᵉ overall) of the most recent draft, said his entire team hated Xhekaj and hated having to play against him.

That’s what Protz explained, in addition to his comments about Michael Hage, on the latest episode of “The Sick Podcast – Recrutes Draftcast”, when for him, Xhekaj is clearly the type of player every team and player hates to face.

“When I was with Sudbury, we hated him. We hated him so much. He’s big, he’s feisty and he can play really well. He’s the kind of player you hate to face.” – Owen Protz

Fortunately for Protz, who is also an unpleasant player to play against, he joined Florian Xhekaj’s Brantford Bulldogs via a mid-season trade.

Protz was able to start liking Xhekaj rather than hating him now that he was on his side.

And that’s when it became all the more obvious to Protz that Xhekaj was an absolutely essential type of player on a team, because he can do everything on the ice.

“He does everything. He blocks shots, he throws down the gloves, he scores goals. He applies forechecking. A guy like that on your team is essential.” – Owen Protz

In short, Protz’s comments only serve to further enhance Florian Xhekaj’s ever-growing résumé.

With an excellent development camp already under his belt, Xhekaj is likely to leave a very fine calling card at the Habs training camp, and who knows, maybe even force management’s hand and achieve his goal of playing in the NHL in 2024-2025.


Overtime

– What an incredible finish.

– It’s an 8ᵉ gold medal in a row for the Americans in women’s basketball.

– An excellent harvest for Canada. In fact, it’s a record harvest.

– The Fernandez sisters are in the doubles semi-finals in Toronto.

– Interesting.

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