The panel discusses the importance of veterans in Montreal I thought I should update the progress of prospect Florian Xhekaj. The last time I wrote about him some offensive prowess was showing and I wondered if that could stick. So far, so good, and he’s done a few more things to make me think that the 20-year-old is having a surprisingly good season and other parts of his game are improving. His usage is about the same. It’s still 17% in the defense zone and he’s getting 13:46 TOI and that’s still solid. His 1:00 of power-play time seems to be up a bit and I saw him net a nice power-play goal recently, his second of the season. He is a player who can make things happen in the crease in the AHL. We shall see if he ever gets the chance to see that transfer at the next level. It might be too crowded for him to get power play time. His shooting percentage has rocketed up to 22%. He only has 44 shots on the year. That’s the kind of production teams look for in future fourth-line players. He can play the physical game too so that’s a nice package. His hits per game are up to 1.35. Another nice development is happening in the face-off circle. He’s currently at 44% and that’s very solid. You ask for much more than that from a young player and that will get better in the future. Next year, he will win more puck battles and that will make him even more valuable.
