BROSSARD, Que. — This was Arber Xhekaj in full flight, executing at high speed and with precision all over the ice. He was decisive, dominant, and, quite frankly, like we’ve never seen him before.
“I definitely did work on my feet, and I lost some body fat as well,” Xhekaj confirmed after his second of two standout performances in scrimmages to start Montreal Canadiens training camp.
“I do feel more mobile out there, like I can move better,” he added.
And then Xhekaj identified that other element that has given him an edge on the ice.
“I think the big thing is just confidence,” Xhekaj said.
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He flashed a lot of it at 21, when he first came up as an undrafted, relatively unknown alpha dog looking to mark his territory. He was big, bad, willing to fight anyone, eager to hit anything in his path, keen to show off skills you wouldn’t expect a player of his profile to have — and he succeeded. At six-foot-four, 240 pounds, with strong skating and an equally powerful shot, he often got past traffic and on net, and with hands that could just as easily bloody his opponents as they could deceive them, Xhekaj immediately established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the NHL.
And then he was less and less of one over each of the next two seasons.
Learning how to really play hockey in the world’s best league humbled Xhekaj, just as it had many young defencemen before him.
There was the demotion to the AHL in 2023-24. And then all those short-shift games that led to no-shift games in 2024-25, with Xhekaj scratched from the stretch run that finally clinched the Canadiens’ playoff berth before being scrubbed from the first two games the team played against the Washington Capitals in Round 1.
All of it was painful for him to go through.
But it was also formative.
It shaped the most productive summer of Xhekaj’s professional career, and it prepared him to tap much further into his massive potential.
We saw the signs at the start of Canadiens camp.
“You can see he’s very, very, very engaged,” the coach said on Saturday. “He’s working hard, and we’re seeing something fun happening with Arber through these first few days.”
We’re seeing an athlete nearing his physical peak. And in a great headspace.
He said not having to rehab a major injury for the first summer since starting his NHL career — he had right shoulder surgery in February 2023 and left shoulder surgery in April 2024 — was a big factor.
“The difference is after the last two summers I came into camp unsure of my shoulder,” Xhekaj continued. “I would have to use camp to get my shoulder back into it instead of just showing up and already being okay and having that confidence going into camp rather than coming in trying to build that confidence through camp.”
“I think my mind is just clear,” Xhekaj said.
Experience has removed the fog.
“It’s just maturity,” said Xhekaj. “You’re learning from Marty, you’re watching guys every day and learning from them, learning from (assistant coach Stéphane Robidas), learning from (David Savard), who was my D partner for the last couple of years. You just learn from guys and learn what you need to do to stick around in this league and become an everyday NHL player. That’s what I’m shooting for.”
It’s what his summer was about. It’s what motivated Xhekaj to make 6 a.m. runs to the rink, to take advantage of every second of ice afforded to him and his brother, Florian, and to push through the gruelling 90-minute workouts that followed. It’s what inspired significant dietary changes. And it’s what enabled him to really sharpen his focus.
“When I would go home in the summers before, I wouldn’t necessarily know specifically what I had to work on. I’d go home and be like, ‘Alright, I’ve gotta get faster, stronger, and get my hands going quicker, shoot pucks,’” Xhekaj said. “But this time, it was like, ‘No, I’ve got to work on specific areas of skating; the corner speed coming out of turns. Work on gapping up and surfing, flipping your feet and your stick, and all that kind of stuff.’
I watched a ton of video (Canadiens director of development) Adam Nicholas sent me this summer to work on my specific game, and I think it’s going to show.”
It is already showing, and it should continue to do so.
Not that there won’t be hiccups along the way.
As St. Louis cautioned, Xhekaj is still a young defenceman. He’s still only 24 years old and just 165 games into his career.
But the Hamilton, Ont., native has entered a new phase of that career. A critical phase all players of his experience must navigate precisely to reach — or even exceed — their potential.
“There’s a maturity both on and off the ice and they really (must) figure out how they need to play to take 150 games to 700, 800 and, in some cases, 1000,” said St. Louis, who entered the NHL undrafted, played 1241 games (regular season and playoffs combined) and retired a Stanley Cup-winning, Art Ross Trophy-lifting Hall of Famer.
“I think that happens during that time where I feel like Arber’s tracking right now,” he continued. “I think maturity’s a big part of it.”
The other part is even bigger.
“The thing I like about Arber is he constantly wants to get better, and I think that’s the most important skill you need to have if you do want to play for a long time,” said St. Louis. “I see it with my own eyes right now. He’s worked on stuff and it’s paying off.”
If the dividends keep coming in, it could pay big for Xhekaj at the end of this final year of his contract for $1.3 million.
And if that happens, it’ll be profitable for the Canadiens, too, because they can really use the player that Xhekaj looks like right now.