Standing tall at six-foot-four, Montreal Canadiens defenceman Arber Xhekaj plays a physical game.
And while his intimidating, body-checking tendencies are what helped the undrafted 22-year-old land an NHL job in the first place, they’ve also exhausted the Canadiens’ penalty-killing unit from time to time.
With three penalties in his last two games, Xhekaj has been spending a fair bit of time in the box since getting recalled from a seven-week AHL stint on Monday. While he remains a fan favourite, not everyone’s happy about it.
“I don’t like it,” Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis said bluntly when asked about the blueliner’s lack of discipline after Thursday night’s win against the New York Islanders.
With tension in the air, Xhekaj himself addressed the infractions after practice on Friday.
“I was kinda hurting the team a little bit,” he said. “I gotta figure out how to stay out of the box.”
He even admitted to apologizing for them.
“I actually reached out to [the coaching staff]. I said, ‘I apologize for the penalties; there was no need for that,’” Xhekaj explained.
Luckily, there doesn’t appear to be any bad blood, with St. Louis and staff advising him not to dwell on it.
“They were great; they just said, ‘Shake it off, and today’s a new day and have a good practice,’” he added.
Before he was sent down to the Laval Rocket last month, Xhekaj was leading the Canadiens in penalty minutes with 47 over just 17 games.
In his seven-week AHL stint, the Hamilton native succeeded on the Rocket’s top pairing with prospect Logan Mailloux, who helped him boost his offensive production. Xhekaj netted three goals and 11 assists in 17 AHL games before being recalled.
Despite improving other areas of his game, his physicality remained, getting into a handful of fights and logging 34 penalty minutes in the process.
While no one wants him to completely change his playing style, Xhekaj agrees that finding the “balance” is key.
“I’m young, I’m learning, and I’m always looking to improve my game,” he said. “I’m still figuring it out.”