Arber Xhekaj
He hasn’t had a good season at all & that’s why they sent him down to Laval. His defensive play hasn’t been very good & he was sent to Laval due to the numbers game in that the team had better players ahead of him, such as Jordan Harris & Jayden Struble. On the team’s depth chart he’s behind Guhle, Savard, Kovacevic, Mathieson, Harris & Struble. This puts him at #7 on the team’s depth chart & instead of having him waste away in the stands the team decided to send him to Laval in order to have him play regularly & learn how to play defence.
He surprised everyone last season by being a walk-in at training camp & making the team. However this season the team started to realize why he had never been drafted by an NHL team. He came back to Earth. He’s back playing like he’s always played. And now that the defence is better than last season his importance on the team isn’t as important as it was last season. If they don’t trade him maybe they should start playing him on the wing in a 4th line role.
However the team will likely try to trade David Savard at the trade deadline so if this happens Xhekaj will move up on the depth chart & see regular playing time on the team’s third pair of defencemen.