Introduction

Florian Xhekaj was drafted in 2023 as an over-ager who hadn’t exactly lit up the OHL to that point of his career. The following season, he put up a 34-goal, point-per-game campaign with the Brantford Bulldogs and looked primed to make the jump to the professional ranks.

Joining the Laval Rocket last season, he was a mainstay on a physical fourth line with Luke Tuch and Vincent Arseneau. Before long, it was clear that Xhekaj the Younger was going to be much more than a hard-hitting, fist-throwing, checking-line forward as he finished the season with 24 goals, third amongst all rookies in the league.

He had no problem adapting to the next level of hockey and became a notorious menace in the pros at just 20 years old. He had long-time vets, coaches, officials, and opposing commentary riled up from the first second he stepped on the ice. With a year of experience under his belt, it will only become worse.

Entering year two of his entry-level deal, the expectations are going to be higher for him. He’s proven to be a steady goal-scorer and a nasty checking forward, and has already gained the trust of his coach after a solid performance in one of the game’s top leagues.

Voting

The panel of voters was fairly unanimous in their placement of Xhekaj, ranking him in the late teens to early 20s. His range of eight positions is as small as we’ll see in the countdown outside of the top 10.

Xhekaj had a mere five ballots of the nearly 500 collected that placed him outside of the Top 25.

Top 25 Under 25 History

If he continues to improve, his current ranking may feel grossly unfair, but if he is closing in on his ceiling, 19th overall is appropriate right now.

History of #19

Year
#19

2025
Florian Xhekaj

2024
Oliver Kapanen

2023
Riley Kidney

2022
Jan Mysak

2021
Joël Teasdale

2020
Cam Hillis

2019
Jacob Olofsson

2018
Kerby Rychel

2017
Jeremiah Addison

2016
Victor Mete

2015
Daniel Audette

2014
Zachary Fucale

2013
Christian Thomas

2012
Patrick Holland

2011
Magnus Nygren

2010
David Desharnais

Strengths

At 20 years old, he entered the AHL with a frame and build ready for professional hockey, no more growing or adding weight needed. Standing 6’4″ and 205 pounds, there was little chance that he would suffer the same growing pains that other young players have. He absolutely used that size to his advantage, often planting himself as an immovable object in front of opposing goalies and frequently becoming the cleanup crew on pucks around the net. As the year went on, he added in some deft deflections and the ability to slip defenders to tuck in loose pucks in the crease.

Last year proved that he is more than just a net-front bruiser as he displayed a wide variety of goal-scoring talents and a knack for timely goals. His skating has continued to improve, which allows him to generate more separation from his opponents and open up better looks across the board. He can cut to his backhand or charge forward on his forehand to put a shot just under the crossbar from sharp angles with startling regularity.

Perhaps the part that surprised me the most over the course of this season was the ferocity and skill that he showed as a lead penalty-killer. He tallied as many short-handed goals as he did power-play goals (four), which was good enough for second in the AHL. As a rookie.

He anticipates the opposing power play well and uses his long reach to poke away pass attempts. His skating allows him to create the space needed to get in one-on-one with the opposing goalie. Even when he starts a rush, his hockey sense has improved to allow him to cut to better angles, where he can beat the goalie with a heavy shot.

All the while he’s trusted in every situation, he remains one of the nastiest players in the league. He’s looking to throw hits or throw hands, and is someone players do not want to see coming when the puck is in their corner on the ice.

Weaknesses

Xhekaj is arguably one of the toughest players in the entire Canadiens organization, top to bottom. That is all well and good until you look at how much time he spent in the penalty box and how that impacted the team as a whole. He led the AHL with 175 penalty minutes last season. Only 25 of those were tied to fighting majors, and even if we remove the fights he still would have been in the top four overall. In the playoffs he had 59 penalty minutes, over 4.5 minutes per game on average, and the team not having the player who led so many comebacks in the regular season hampered its play in the conference finals.

Much like older brother Arber, Florian falls victim to his reputation as being the troublemaker on the ice, and while sometimes it is true that officials are too quick to toss them, other times their inability to not be pests comes back to bite them. I would never ask Florian to tone down what makes him an effective player right now, but much like Arber, it is about learning when to pick his spots in order to not do harm to his own team. That goes for picking his actual fights as well, which he did well in his rookie season, but with his reputation established there are going to be many more players gunning for him when he’s on the ice.

Projection

A strong rookie season in the AHL has rapidly accelerated Xhekaj’s ascent to the NHL, which could come this year or next. He went into the 2024-25 season looking like a strong candidate to be a fourth-line checking forward who might chip in a few odd goals here or there. With his great first year in the AHL, his rapid rise, at his size, isn’t so far off the career path of Tom Wilson. Given his propensity for violence and ability to play on multiple lines, there could be something more to that comparison depending on how his trajectory continues.

The goal for this year is to continue to build on what he accomplished with the Laval Rocket. With a swath of bottom-six players having left the Canadiens in free agency or via trade, there is an opportunity for Xhekaj to claim an NHL role if he can put together a strong but disciplined pre-season showing. His growth as a scoring forward, despite playing mainly a bottom-six role with Laval, is a huge plus in his favour, and could open the door for him over Sammy Blais or Joe Veleno.

If he doesn’t crack the NHL roster out of camp, Xhekaj will be a huge factor in the Rocket lineup. He can play anywhere across the three forward spots, allowing flexibility to move him all over the lineup depending on where Pascal Vincent needs him to be.

The main question is whether his rookie season was a flash in the pan or if he is really growing at such an incredible pace. If he is able to stay in the same realm as last year, the calls for him to join the NHL club are going to be numerous and completely valid.

Nick Bobrov was panned for calling Xhekaj a “unicorn” when he was drafted, But if his growth as a player continues like it has since his draft year, the Canadiens may have another impact player for the cost of a fourth-round pick.