Yes, Arber Xhekaj is staying but his new two-year deal means so much more than just that.
Kent Hughes has already proven himself to be a shrewd negotiator in his player agent days, but since taking over as the Montreal Canadiens GM, he has proven he can do it on both sides of the table.
He's established a fantastic salary structure up front with his three first-line players being signed to long-term deals with an annual average value below $8 M. He's also signed Dach and Newhook to smart "prove yourself" deals when he acquired them. They'll be under team control and Hughes will be able to measure their performance against the first liners to establish a fair salary.
On the blueline, his top defenseman Mike Matheson arrived with a long-term deal and he's still under contract for two more years. David Savard is on an expiring deal and the other blueliners will all be coming off their entry-level deal shortly aside from Arber Xhekaj and Justin Barron whose deals expired last month.
Today, the Canadiens announced they had signed Xhekaj to a two-year deal worth $2.6 M with a AAV of $1.3 M. This is a fantastic signing by Hughes, he gives himself a bit of breathing room to assess if the defenseman will be part of the core for years to come. Keeping Xhekaj's AAV low was a must and as expected, Hughes was able to sign Barron for just a little bit less.
In two-years, when the next crop of young blueliners will have graduated, Xhekaj will have had a chance to show he can play at the same level with his two surgically repaired shoulders and that he should be a part of the team long-term. While he's not the defenseman who'll fill up the net for you, he's the kind of player who makes the others feel bigger and stronger on the ice. He's always there to stand up for his teammates and he brings a level of physicality the Canadiens have been lacking for years.
I believe when the dust has settled on Montreal's young blue line, Xhekaj will emerge as a mainstay on the team's bottom pairing. With the likes of Lane Hutson and Logan Mailloux coming off their entry-level deal in two years, the GM will have a much clearer picture of his blueline brigade and he'll know how to make all the pieces of this great puzzle fit in together.
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