The Montreal Canadiens have plenty of young players who fans should pay close attention to in 2025-26. Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj is certainly one of them.

Xhekaj just completed his third NHL season with the Canadiens, and it was a bit of an up-and-down year for the 6-foot-4 blueliner. In a career-high 70 games, he recorded one goal, five assists, 118 penalty minutes, 180 hits, and a minus-13 rating. Overall, he had some growing pains like many young defensemen do, but he also showed signs of improvement at the same time.

With Xhekaj being just 24 years old, it would not be surprising in the slightest if we see the left-shot defenseman take a notable step forward with his development in 2024-25. It can take defensemen some time to truly break out, and this could very well end up being the case with Xhekaj.

The potential for Xhekaj to blossom into a steady stay-at-home defenseman who can play big minutes is certainly there, and it will be intriguing to see if he can become just that for the Canadiens next season. If the hard-nosed defenseman does hit another level with his play, it would be huge for a Canadiens club looking to continue to trend in the right direction.

3 Canadiens Ranked Among Best NHL Players Born In 2000s Recently, the NHL Network <a href="https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-network-top-25-nhl-players-born-this-century">ranked the top 25 players born in the 2000s</a>. With the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens">Montreal Canadiens</a> being one of the NHL's most promising young teams, it is not surprising in the slightest that three of their players have made the cut.

Canadiens' Arber Xhekaj Should Hit New Level