Hostile Takeover: Kirby Dach and Arber Xhekaj Could Become Ineligible Today

On Friday afternoon, the Flyers stole the show by making a massive hostile offer to Leo Carlsson. Reports suggest a five-year contract worth $18 million per year, aimed at luring the young center away from Anaheim.

Will the Ducks match the offer? We'll find out by next Friday.

But after seeing the hostile offer signed by Carlsson (and the one signed by Barrett Hayton on Wednesday), one wonders if others will follow suit. However, it's important to remember that today is a key date in the hostile offer process.

That's because, in fact, players who are eligible to do so have until 5 p.m. tonight to request salary arbitration. And if we look at the Canadiens, we see that this is the case for Kirby Dach and Arber Xhekaj.

They could therefore become ineligible to sign a hostile offer if they request arbitration by 5 p.m. tonight… and the same goes for Jason Robertson, who is being closely watched throughout the league.

RE Jason Robertson:

He is currently eligible for an offer sheet.

But he can file for arbitration until July 5 at 5 p.m. Filing would then make him ineligible for offer sheets.

Something to watch over the next 48 hours.

— Marco D'Amico (@mndamico) July 3, 2026

Keep in mind that we don't necessarily expect Dach or Xhekaj to sign a hostile offer sheet even if they don't file for arbitration. It's still a possibility… but the Canadiens aren't really in a weak position salary-wise, which would allow them to match such an offer without too much trouble.

Although, at the same time, if a team were to make such an offer to Dach, letting him go might actually solve a lot of problems in Montreal, hehe.

But even if we don't expect this to have a major impact in Montreal, we have to wonder what it means for Robertson. We knew a hostile offer was possible in this case (particularly to speed up negotiations with the Stars), and we'll have to see how the forward's camp handles all of this.

Salary arbitration and the possibility of signing a hostile offer are two different bargaining tools: we'll see which one Robertson's camp considers more important.

Extension

Five other members of the Canadiens' organization are eligible to file for salary arbitration by 5 p.m. tonight. They are Sean Farrell, Jared Davidson, Brett Berard, Hunter McKown, and Maksymilian Szuber.

Will they do so? It seems rather unlikely… but we'll have the answer at 5 p.m. tonight.