Florian Xhekaj: A Few Theories to Explain His Presence

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Florian Xhekaj: A Few Theories to Explain His Presence
Credit: The Canadiens currently have 23 healthy players (unless Ivan Demidov is more injured than we think) on their roster. That doesn’t include Kaiden Guhle and Lucas Condotta, for example. Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky, Anderson, Danault, Bolduc, Dach, Newhook, Evans, Texier, Kreider, Kapanen, Demidov, and F. Xhekaj are the 14 forwards still in camp. Dobson, Hutson, Matheson, […]

The Canadiens currently have 23 healthy players (unless Ivan Demidov is more injured than we think) on their roster. That doesn't include Kaiden Guhle and Lucas Condotta, for example.

Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky, Anderson, Danault, Bolduc, Dach, Newhook, Evans, Texier, Kreider, Kapanen, Demidov, and F. Xhekaj are the 14 forwards still in camp.

Dobson, Hutson, Matheson, Carrier, A. Xhekaj, Struble, and Engstrom are the defensemen. Dobes and Montembeault are Martin St-Louis's goalies.

Seeing that Adam Engstrom is still on the roster, but David Reinbacher has been sent down, came as a surprise to many.

We imagine this has everything to do with the fact that the Canadiens wanted to give Reinbacher—who performed well during training camp—some time on the bottom six.

Will Engstrom be the #7 defenseman? Will he just be a stopgap, and will Kaiden Guhle's eventual return send the rookie back down?

We should start to get some answers at 11:30 a.m. during the Canadiens' practice.

Another surprising development is that Martin St-Louis will have 14 forwards to manage. We know he prefers to rotate 13 players when he can.

Florian Xhekaj would have been an easy choice to send back to Laval, but that didn't happen yesterday. Unlike Jacob Fowler, David Reinbacher, and the rest, Florian has earned his spot.

But why is “The Unicorn” still here? We have some theories. And don't get too worked up: these are just theories.

One plausible scenario is simply that the Canadiens forward has earned his spot outright, and the team would rather have two extras than send a spark plug back down. #Meritocracy

Another potential reason is that Martin St-Louis really only has 13 forwards available. Whether it's because he doesn't want to use one (Kirby Dach?) or because one of them is injured (Ivan Demidov?), it's a scenario worth considering.

Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov didn't play on Saturday, but we know the Russian has a foot injury. Will he be on the second line this morning for practice, given that he's only skated once (on Friday) since the game in Trois-Rivières?

We've also seen the Canadiens start the season as close to the salary cap as possible before making moves right before the first regular-season game. But I don't know if that's what's at play here, since the Habs no longer use the long-term injured list the way they used to.

And our final possible theory is that a trade is on the way…


In a Nutshell

– Can he win the Selke again?

– Must-read.

– Bold prediction: Lane Hutson AND Ivan Demidov at 90 points? [NYT]

– Enjoy the podcast.

facebook icon Share twitter icon Tweet linkedin icon Share
Copied!