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The Snake says Florian Xhekaj is the Habs’ best forward prospect in Laval
Michaël Petit
The Snake says Florian Xhekaj is the Habs’ best forward prospect in Laval
Credit: As we all know, the Habs have never had a player with pure forward talent. Nick Suzuki is very good overall, but he’s no Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon or Nikita Kucherov. At least the Habs can count on Ivan Demidov at this level to electrify the Bell Centre night after night, but there’s no guarantee […]
As we all know, the Habs have never had a player with pure forward talent.

Nick Suzuki is very good overall, but he’s no Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon or Nikita Kucherov.

At least the Habs can count on Ivan Demidov at this level to electrify the Bell Centre night after night, but there’s no guarantee he’ll reach superstar status.

Michael Hage should also become a good second-line center in the future, but it’s a little too early to say for sure.

Although the Habs already have a talented young core, the fact remains that they lack forward depth for up-and-coming prospects.

If we take the Laval Rocket team, there are a lot of good young players, but who among them really has a chance of establishing themselves in the NHL?

Simon “Snake” Boisvert chatted with Mathias Brunet on the latest episode of Processus.

According to him, Florian Xhekaj is the Rocket’s best forward prospect.

The YouTube video below will take you straight to the clip.

It says a lot about the depth of the prospects up front..

And it’s quite surprising to hear the Snake say this about Florian Xhekaj, who has never been a big fan of his.

But his rookie season in the professional ranks took him by surprise, just as he took us all by surprise with his 24 goals at just 20 years of age. Remember, he got those stats playing mostly on a fourth line and in a slightly more defensive role.

Really, there wasn’t much to say about Arber’s little brother’s first professional season, apart from some dubious and costly penalties to his club.

But all that comes with experience, as does decision-making, which Arber has greatly improved this season.

The Snake also talked about Owen Beck, saying he could see him becoming a 4th line center. But after talking about Xhekaj, he didn’t come back to Beck.

The two players have a completely different profile, but one that could fit very well into a 4th line role in the future.

A defensively responsible center who can bring you an interesting offensive touch, a bit like Jake Evans is doing this year, it’s always good to have that on a fourth line.

And for Florian, a very robust and energetic player who does very well defensively, but who really has skills offensively. How well that translates to the NHL remains to be seen, but I see a player similar to Ridly Greig in Florian, with a little less offensive punch.


Overtime

– Quite surprising, but the rise in ticket prices has definitely changed the minds of some who thought they were in for a treat.

– Would you take a chance on Carter Bear in the Habs lineup if he’s available?

– It would certainly be good for Ivan Demidov’s development.

– This is truly amazing.

– Read more.

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