Well he has to be more careful & to chose his spots & learn he doesn’t have to fight every game, He suffered a very serious shoulder injury while fighting last season & needed to be operated. That problem will never go away & trust me on this i had the exact same problem forty years ago in a boxing match. The shoulder never feels the same & it’s always tender & the injury can recur if you’re not careful. I quit boxing after my surgery but i was fed up with the constant migraine headaches anyway.Are you guys aware that Arber Xhekaj is 6th in the NHL in penalty minutes with 47, and is 2nd in the NHL in PIM/game? At the tender age of 22, and having played only 17 games, I find this to be quite impressive. He is also the youngest guy in the top 6. It shows lots of chutzpah.
One of my mottoes in life (which has always served me well in court, especially with suck-ass cases) has always been, if you are going down, go down with a fight. For this reason, I am very very impressed by young Xhekaj.
Arber also got his ass kicked by Tanner Jeannot & more fighters will want to try him out. He can’t lose too many more fights or else it’ll start affecting the rest of his game negatively. We’ll start comparing him to Terry Harper.
Let’s face it: he’s sucked this season & has had a rough going since he returned from his recent injury. I’m sure the attention he’s been getting like the McDonald’s commercials & other hype has made it hard for him to remain grounded & focused. Considering that fighting may possibly be totally banned in just a few years (like in the Quebec Junior Hockey League) he needs to improve his defensive game or else one of the many kids waiting for their opportunity will take his job. He needs to show that he can actually be a dependable hockey player & not just there to drop the gloves. He cannot be looked upon as a risk or burden on the team. He needs to be productive because one of these days in the next coupke of years or so the organization will get sick of losing all the time & the emphasis will be on players who can make the team win.