Vincent Compares Habs Prospect to Jets Captain

Vincent saw Florian Xhekaj for the first time last year at the Canadiens rookie camp and said at the time he had no clue if they would even keep him in the AHL or send him back to the OHL for an overager season like his brother Arber did after signing his entry-level contract. However,  Habs management decided that he should play in Laval to see how he plays the pro game. It turned out to be a great decision on the Habs’ part as they may have found a penalty killing centre on their hands.

Vincent claimed that when he first saw Florian during rookie camp that he thought they had to find a way to develop him as a centre, despite being a winger most of his Junior career. Florian has managed to surprise his head coach more and more as the season went on. It seems that nobody really knows how good Xhekaj will become, as even within the organization, he keeps wowing his coaches. Vincent seemed very excited to think about what Florian could become. 

The Rocket’s head coach says that while Lowry and Xhekaj are very different players, they also have a lot of similarities. His main reason is that he got to coach both at 20 years old, and they progressed a lot throughout their rookie AHL campaigns. Both players use their big frames as an advantage to protect the puck and are good at driving the net. Xhekaj may play with a bit more of a physical edge than Lowry, while the Jets captain has more pure skill in his game. Nonetheless, they are still both power forwards, and who knows, maybe Xhekaj does bring more skill as he progresses in both the AHL and NHL. One thing is for sure: the Canadiens need to keep developing Florian Xhekaj because it sounds like nobody knows how good he can become.

If he does improve his game to the point of being a 20-goal scorer in the NHL someday, then that 4th-round pick will be a massive steal. A year ago, I don’t think anyone would have seen just how good Xhekaj would be in his first pro season, but he managed to impress and shock everyone with his improvements as the year went along. The fact that he scored 24 goals from mainly a bottom-six role with no power-play time is incredible and something that is rarely seen in the AHL, much less a rookie.

That’s the thing about being a unicorn prospect, as you really can’t tell how much he will improve. The upcoming season should be fun to see how Xhekaj handles being a centre full-time, with no longer any ice time on the wing.

Do you agree with Pascal Vincent’s comparison for Florian Xhekaj, or do you have a different player in mind?