{"id":136926,"date":"2025-09-11T20:16:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T20:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/136926\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T20:16:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T20:16:13","slug":"trauma-shaped-florian-xhekajs-resolve-to-make-nhl-dream-come-true-with-canadiens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/136926\/","title":{"rendered":"Trauma shaped Florian Xhekaj’s resolve to make NHL dream come true with Canadiens"},"content":{"rendered":"

BROSSARD, Que. \u2014 The edges of Florian Xhekaj<\/a>\u2019s rugged character were sharpened in a hospital bed, in San Sebastian, Spain, where he lay battling for his 14-year-old life.<\/p>\n

You think the fight the 21-year-old is in for an NHL job right now is tough? It pales in comparison to the one Xhekaj faced after an incident in an international hockey tournament left him in critical condition.<\/p>\n

The trauma, and its terrifying aftermath, may have happened seven-and-a-half years ago. But Xhekaj remembers it like it was yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cA guy came in and hit me with a butt end and ended up rupturing my kidney,\u201d he said Thursday. \u201cIt was a weird experience that I wouldn\u2019t wish upon anyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom wasn\u2019t even there. No one from my family was. I was there with a family friend, and then my mom had to fly out, and I was there for a couple of months. I couldn\u2019t fly home with all that going on. I was in a wheelchair. I couldn\u2019t even walk. It was a crazy experience that I think shaped me into who I am now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who Xhekaj is now makes him a force to be reckoned with. He\u2019s a six-foot-four, 220-pound menace, who\u2019s determined to make his first American Hockey League season \u2014 a 24-goal, 175-penalty-minute, 2024-25 campaign \u2014 his last one.<\/p>\n

A couple of years ago, Florian was just known as Arber\u2019s baby brother \u2014 a middling Ontario Hockey Leaguer who was seemingly drafted 101st overall by the Montreal Canadiens<\/a> just because of his DNA.<\/p>\n

But Florian began emerging from Arber\u2019s six-foot-three, 238-pound shadow immediately after that June day in 2023. He scored 34 goals and 65 points and recorded 81 penalty minutes in the 63 games of his 19-year-old season with the Brantford Bulldogs, and then used that performance as a springboard into professional hockey.<\/p>\n

Xhekaj hasn\u2019t come down since, and has no intention of moving in any other direction but up.<\/p>\n

The player\u2019s enormous resolve was solidified back in that hospital bed in Spain all those years ago.<\/p>\n

It was tested to extremes in that wheelchair<\/a> he was stuck in thereafter, but it was never defeated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had seven or eight surgeries, and it was tough,\u201d Xhekaj said. \u201cBut I learned that I\u2019m a fighter, and that I\u2019ll fight through anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

He fought through having his platform to the OHL swept out from under him by that horrible injury. He went undrafted in the league but still managed to eventually become an impact player in it after clearing the mental and physical hurdles of returning to contact hockey \u2014 and to his specific brand of it, which isn\u2019t for the faint of heart. Xhekaj\u2019s battle was straight uphill, and he never shrunk from it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou overcome that stuff and build up the strength,\u201d he said, \u201cand then it shapes you into the person and player you are today.\u201d<\/p>\n

That person is as kind as they come off the ice.<\/p>\n

Xhekaj is calm, and he describes himself as \u201cvery friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laval Rocket assistant coach Martin Laperierre said during Wednesday\u2019s rookie camp-opening media availability that Xhekaj is \u201creally well-liked in the room,\u201d and is \u201can excellent person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s leadership in him,\u201d Laperierre said to reporters in attendance, and that was after he labeled Xhekaj one of the players who could upset the apple cart in Montreal.<\/p>\n

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Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.<\/p>\n

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Who Xhekaj is on the ice makes that a not-so-bold prediction.<\/p>\n

Sure, there are at least 12 established NHL forwards ahead of him in the Canadiens pecking order. But we can\u2019t think of a single one of them that plays the brand of hockey Xhekaj does.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s got silk-smooth hands, touch, mobility, sense, and a shot that\u2019s good enough to net him goals at any level. And when you combine all that with the edge Xhekaj brings, you get a player made to impact the game in ways few can.<\/p>\n

You think of Sam Bennett with the Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers, or Washington\u2019s Tom Wilson \u2014 not because Xhekaj plays exactly like either one of them, but because his fearlessness and unpredictability on the ice can also make him an intimidating opponent \u2014 and it\u2019s easy to understand the value he potentially possesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone watches playoffs. It\u2019s big-boy hockey. It\u2019s really physical out there and everyone\u2019s trying to hit everything, and you\u2019ve got to be willing to put your body on the line for the team,\u201d he said. \u201cI try to play like that every single game, even in the regular season. I think that\u2019s something I definitely bring.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an edge. I\u2019m a normal guy out here, very friendly. But on the ice, I flip a switch and want to win. I don\u2019t want to lose any puck battle or race. Every shift, I\u2019m trying to prove something.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Xhekaj proved to himself after what happened to him in Spain makes that task seem immediately achievable to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI highly believe in myself,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m a confident guy. I\u2019m coming here to try to make the roster, so I\u2019m going to push myself to the limit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have everything to gain. I can gain my dream. It\u2019s my dream to play in the NHL, and that\u2019s everything I\u2019ve been working for since I was a kid. I\u2019m going to do whatever I can to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BROSSARD, Que. \u2014 The edges of Florian Xhekaj\u2019s rugged character were sharpened in a hospital bed, in San…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-136926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}