Arber Xhekaj's name is back in trade chatter, and the Montreal Canadiens might not control where he lands.
Jeff Marek said it on The Sheet back on July 28, and it resurfaced this morning through NHL Rumour Report.
Marek said Philadelphia has been floated as a landing spot for Xhekaj for a while now. His own preference is different.
He'd rather see Xhekaj shipped to the other conference entirely, not just across the Eastern Conference to a team Montreal will keep facing.
Jeff Marek: Re Arber Xhekaj future/Canadiens: It's been out there for a while that Philadelphia could be that landing spot; my thought on a player like Xhekaj, though, is you send them to the other conference.
Xhekaj is 25, wears number 72, and carries a cap hit of just 1,300,000 dollars. That number alone makes him tradeable to almost anyone.
His regular season line wasn't loud. Sixty-five games, one goal, three assists, four points, and a minus-8 rating.
The playoffs told a different story. Thirteen games, one goal, one assist, two points, and a plus-5 rating.
Why the other conference angle actually makes sense for Montreal
That plus-5 in the postseason matters more than the box score suggests for a physical, stay-at-home defenseman.
Over his last ten games he posted one goal, zero assists, one point, and a plus-3 rating. His last five showed one point and a plus-1.
The steady underlying numbers are why rival executives keep circling him, even without the offensive production teams usually chase.
Montreal finished the season 48-24-10 for 106 points and a plus-27 goal differential, but their most recent result was a 2-4 loss at Philadelphia.
The Flyers, by contrast, are riding a three-game winning streak, finishing 43-27-12 for 98 points under Rick Tocchet.
So here's the question. Why would Kent Hughes hand a useful, cost-controlled body checker to a team Montreal just lost to and might see again?
Trading Xhekaj to Philadelphia would be like giving your neighbor the snowblower right before another storm hits your own driveway.
Marek's instinct to push him west instead isn't just about avoiding a division rival. It's about not arming a conference contender for nothing.
Martin St-Louis hasn't addressed Xhekaj's future publicly, and Daniel Briere hasn't confirmed any interest from the Flyers' side either.
Nothing here is close to a done deal yet. It's one insider's read on where the asking price and the destination could eventually land.
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That gap between rumor and reality is exactly where every offseason story like this one actually lives.
Should the Canadiens keep Arber Xhekaj away from the Flyers no matter the return?
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