Arber Xhekaj becoming trade target of Metropolitan team
Arber Xhekaj is a guy they've had a lot of interest in for a while in Montreal. He's somebody that they (Flyers) poked around on throughout the summer. I don't know about recent, but that's a player that has been on their radar in the past.
Xhekaj was unsigned for the entire summer as a restricted free agent, so it's not surprising that a team kicked the tires on that. The rugged D-man eventually signed a one-year, $1.5 million deal with the Habs on the eve of training camp. But his spot in the lineup in Montreal is far from assured. He was a healthy scratch for 17 games last season, and averaged a career-low 11:25 ice time per night in the 65 games he did play.
The 6'4", 240-pounder still handed out 178 hits and racked up 116 penalty minutes. But his role was clearly reduced from the fairly regular 15 minutes of ice time per game in his first three years with the Canadiens.
Xhekaj's usage is limited again this season in Montreal, Flyers are interested
Xhekaj has once again averaged only 11:45 TOI through three contests this season.
So far, the youngster Adam Engstrom was the odd man out on the blueline through the first three contests, but he's making his season debut Thursday night. It's Jayden Struble who's taking a seat in the press box for this one, but who knows when Xhekaj's number will come up again to be left out of the lineup.
He'd look right at home in Flyers' orange, and we'll see if they circle back to try to secure him.
We took a look at three other trade targets for Philly on the backline earlier this week.