The Canadiens Can’t Afford to Leave Florian Xhekaj Off the Roster

The Montreal Canadiens earned a convincing 5-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night in a game that tallied 152 penalty minutes but highlighted the importance of a new identity the Canadiens need to take on.

Heading into this matchup, it was evident that the usually hard-hitting game between these two organizations would continue, especially when the Senators penciled in a handful of AHLers in their bottom six — guys looking to make a name for themselves.

As Pierre McGuire mentioned on the Sick Podcast post-game show, Martin St. Louis was aware of the tactics Ottawa would attempt to pull off and countered with his own rough-and-tough guys.

Among them was Florian Xhekaj, who at this point in camp has proven his worth to this roster and needs to be on the opening night roster, as McGuire and Maxim Lapierre echoed in the post-game show.

Xhekaj dropped the gloves in the opening period, taking down Jan Jeník convincingly and continuing to assert his authority amid the unnecessary scrums that ensued.

The point is, Xhekaj brings this team something that no other player under contention for a roster spot brings: extreme grit and physicality. He plays like his brother Arber who, when he is on the ice or in the lineup, has an intimidating presence and makes teams think twice about taking cheap shots at Habs players.

A huge problem that the Canadiens had last year — especially in the playoffs against the Washington Capitals — was that Arber was alone in filling the role. For a team that is already undersized and filling up with young stars (Lane Hutson & Ivan Demidov), they are in desperate need of additional players with an intimidating presence.

What we witnessed on Tuesday night was that the Xhekaj brothers don’t mess around and are willing to do anything for their team and to defend their star players. Arber proved himself on multiple occasions last season, whether it was dropping the gloves following a dirty hit or letting his presence be known, and Florian is following that same blueprint throughout this preseason.

Teams’ game plans against the Canadiens are becoming very apparent, and that plan is to lay the body on them and especially target their crafty young players. And in all honesty, that plan will not stop unless the Canadiens prove to the league that this kind of behaviour has repercussions and Florian would help fulfill that objective without having all the burden on Arber’s shoulders.

You could occasionally throw Florian onto Demidov’s line in a game where things become chippy and have him play the role of regulator, sending a message to the opposing team.

Not to mention, Florian brings a lot more than just his physical style of play. He is an extremely talented offensive player who projects to only improve with age, but like his brother, he is a unicorn in the Habs organization.

If Florian were to start the season with the Laval Rocket, you run the risk of having very little physical presence in your lineup, especially since Arber is not projected to be an everyday player (likely platooning with Jayden Struble).

Both Struble and Arber play a similar game, and in an ideal world they could draw into the lineup together when a nastier team like Ottawa is on the schedule.

In this new era of the Canadiens, and in a season where they have playoff aspirations, they must prove to the league that they have a new identity, that they will not get pushed around — and that begins with ensuring the Xhekaj brothers are in the lineup on a consistent basis.

Will that come at the cost of mistakes? Surely. But their impact between the benches is far more important and will play a bigger role than most think in protecting Montreal’s stars.