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Defenceman says stint with AHL’s Laval Rocket helped his confidence and spending bye week back home with family in Hamilton was a nice break.
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While many of his Canadiens teammates spent the bye week in the schedule last week down south on a sunny beach, Arber Xhekaj went back home to Hamilton.
This has been a challenging season for the 23-year-old defenceman.
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Seventeen games into his second NHL season, Xhekaj suffered an upper-body injury on Nov. 16 that would sideline him for more than two weeks. Once he was healthy, the Canadiens sent him down to the AHL’s Laval Rocket on Dec. 4. Xhekaj would play 17 games with the Rocket — posting 3-8-11 totals and 34 penalty minutes — before getting called back up. He played two games with the Canadiens before being made a healthy scratch for the final game before the bye week — a 3-2 overtime loss to the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Jan. 27.
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“It was good,” Xhekaj said after practice Thursday in Brossard when asked about the bye week. “I went home. I already had enough time off when I got hurt. I think it was best for me to go somewhere where I could use this time wisely and go see my family and spend some time at home.”
Was he jealous seeing photos on social media of his teammates sitting on a beach?
“If you want to go have fun, go have fun,” Xhekaj said. “It’s a long season. But for me, I was just looking at some time where I could get my body back to where I want it to be and stay fresh.”
Xhekaj hit the gym regularly in Hamilton and he also had a chance to watch his younger brother, Florian, play a game with the Brantford Bulldogs. The Bulldogs beat the visiting Sudbury Wolves 5-3 with Xhekaj in attendance and Florian was named the second star after scoring a goal and also getting into a fight.
The Canadiens selected Florian — a 6-foot-4, 190-pound left-winger — in the fourth round (101st overall) of last year’s NHL Draft. In 45 games this season with the Bulldogs, he has 19-18-37 totals and 58 penalty minutes.
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“He’s playing great,” Xhekaj said about his brother. “I really like what he’s doing. It was really good to see him. I haven’t seen him play in many years. Big improvements, man. … He’s pretty much my height now. I haven’t seen him in a little bit. He keeps growing on me. This summer the battles are going to be pretty good between the two of us.”
Xhekaj was also able to spend time with his parents during the bye week. He comes from humble beginnings with both his parents — Simona and Jack — immigrating to Canada from the Czech Republic and Albania, respectively, in the 1990s. The couple met in Hamilton. Simona works in the garage at a Costco in Hamilton changing tires, while Jack is a welder for National Steel Car, building trains.
“She’s always sending me quotes and stuff that she reads on Instagram,” Xhekaj said about his mother. “She just wants us to have fun and stay healthy.”
Is there one quote that stands out?
“She sends a lot,” Xhekaj said with a chuckle. “Every day I’m reading two or three things about a mom and her child or something like that. It’s nice to read … it’s kind of an everyday thing for me now to be looking forward to those.”
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Xhekaj said this season has been difficult for him both physically and mentally. He added that the stint in Laval was good for his confidence and also gave him time to think.
“Just to really take the time to reflect and just be a pro,” he said. “Showing up every day and really focusing on everything you’re doing. Show up 30 minutes early, get in the gym early, get on the ice first, take every drill seriously like a game. I think it really helped me in that aspect. It was definitely good to play 20-plus minutes every game and be kind of the go-to guy down there, playing a lot of minutes. Playing with (Logan) Mailloux, too. Just to get the touches back after sitting out for a while.
“Maybe it’s a learning curve because I never experienced the AHL before that,” added Xhekaj, who was never selected at the NHL Draft and made the jump directly from junior to the Canadiens. “Maybe I took (the NHL) for granted a little bit. Even though I was thinking I wasn’t, maybe I was. You never really know.”
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Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis said Xhekaj needs to work on his consistency, from shift-to-shift and game-to-game. He also needs to work on his defending, using an active stick, while also keeping his physical style of play.
Simply put, Xhekaj continues to be a work in progress.
“We like the potential ceiling that we see for Arber,” St. Louis said. “I think it’s keep raising the floor — and the floor to me is just consistency.
“It’s not an easy position to play for a young player in this league,” the coach added. “Most of the young players, you’re chasing consistency.”
scowan@postmedia.com
twitter.com/StuCowan1
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