Kaiden Guhle will soon return to the Montreal Canadiens, and that means that one of Jayden Struble and Arber Xhekaj will have to make way. It shouldn't be Xhekaj...
With Kaiden Guhle nearing a return, the Montreal Canadiens have reassigned Adam Engstrom to the Laval Rocket in the NHL, but that won’t be the only consequence of his return. For two of the Habs defensemen, it means that they’ll be back to fighting it out for their spot in the lineup. Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble played most of the team’s games since Guhle was injured; one of them made way for Engstrom for nine games (the youngster played 11 games, but in three of those, it was Mike Matheson who wasn’t in the lineup because of an injury).
With Guhle’s imminent return, the bottom-pairing blueliners are back in the hot seat, and Xhekaj clearly doesn’t intend to be the healthy scratch. At times this season, he has looked unsure of how he should play, worried about going over the line and taking costly penalties, but in the last few games, that hasn’t been the case.
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In each of the last two games, the rugged defenseman has landed six hits and has avoided taking bad penalties. He did get a misconduct with less than two minutes left in the duel with the Florida Panthers, but by that time, the win was in the bank, and Donovan Sebrango was looking for someone to pass his frustration on. On Wednesday, in the game against the Calgary Flames, he was assessed a two-minute minor for high-sticking, but it wasn’t a penalty that came from a bad decision; it was purely accidental.
He’s also looked very good in the last two fights he had, against Scott Sabourin, whom he knocked out with one well-placed punch and Nikita Zadorov, who’s a tough customer. In other words, he’s back to being the best at what the Canadiens need him to excel in. Not that he’s only there to fight, but when he’s on his game, his presence has a strong dissuasive element, and it helps keep the opposition in check. One well-placed bone-crushing hit can send a powerful message, and we’ve seen it time and time again.
When Guhle returns, and that could very well be on Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings, Xhekaj has earned the right to be there.
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