On Tuesday night, the Montreal Canadiens had two Xhekajs in the lineup: blueliner Arber and center Florian. Playing on the fourth line and seeing 13:49 of ice time, the youngest made an impact and put the organisation on notice that he deserves a real audition.
He skated on the fourth line alongside Luke Tuch and Tyler Thope, two players who will likely spend the year with the Laval Rocket in the AHL, and he still shone brightly. It’s no secret that there aren’t a lot of empty chairs in the Canadiens’ lineup. The one spot that appears to be up for grabs is on the wing of Zack Bolduc and Alex Newhook.
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On Tuesday night, Joshua Roy got an audition there. He didn’t play poorly; he had an honest game, but he didn’t stand out either. In his best opportunity offensively, he froze on a two-on-one and waited too long to attempt to feed Newhook on a two-on-one, and it was child's play for the defender to intercept the pass.
In both scrimmages, Newhook and Bolduc played alongside Owen Beck. He has been good in the role, played a direct game, as St-Louis would say, but he didn’t exactly stand out. All due respect to Beck, though, he doesn’t bring as much grit and physicality as Xhekaj does.
Beck stands at 6-feet and 197 pounds, while Xhekaj is 6-foot-3 and weighs 217 pounds. The latter gained a significant amount of weight this summer, but he has demonstrated that he can carry it well on the ice and has made himself an even bigger threat in the process.
If training camp serves as a way to evaluate players, then the Canadiens should do their due diligence on Xhekaj and see what he can do playing alongside NHL-level players. Even if he doesn’t manage to crack the opening night lineup and gets sent down to Laval, at least the organization will know what they have in store if they need to call in some reinforcements during the season.
Fallait bin impressionner maman 😌
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) September 23, 2025
That was for @SimonaXhekaj
PHI 0, MTL 2#GoHabsGopic.twitter.com/91fGA2UdrD
Martin St-Louis has said that he wants his team to be harder to play against, not only strategically, but also physically. He quickly added that it’s not just about adding one player who can throw his weight around, but the truth of the matter is, having a player like that in your lineup makes everyone play bigger. That’s something that has always been visible when the older Xhekaj is in the lineup, and the effect would be the same if the younger were there as well.
I’m not saying the Canadiens should pick up fights every time they play, far from it, but we’ve seen in the playoffs against the Washington Capitals just how impactful a player like Tom Wilson will be. The more I watch the youngest Xhekaj, the more I feel like he’s a Wilson in the making. He’s not just a physical threat; he has the skills to put up points as well. He did it last year in the AHL, and he showed it in an exhibition game last night. He deserves a big audition, just as much as Beck and Roy did. There are four preseason games left, that’s ample time to give further auditions. Joe Veleno and Samuel Blais should also get a look.
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