Fourth-round draft pick who caught Nick Bobrov’s attention could become a rare combination of size, skill and scoring ability as a winger.
The Canadiens were able to select Xhekaj in the fourth round (101st overall).
The dictionary does not describe a unicorn as a goal-scorer, but that’s what Xhekaj became last season.
Xhekaj had 13 goals and 12 assists in 68 games with the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs the season before the Canadiens drafted him, to go along with 76 penalty minutes and a minus-17 differential. Last season with the Bulldogs — who moved to Brantford — Xhekaj had 34 goals and 31 assists in 63 games to go along with 81 penalty minutes and a plus-17 differential.
Xhekaj was listed at 6-foot-2 and 175 pounds ahead of last year’s draft. At the Canadiens’ development camp this month in Brossard, he was measured at 6-foot-3 and 196 pounds. Xhekaj stood out with his size and strength during a scrimmage that wrapped up the development camp, scoring two goals and adding another in a shootout that followed the scrimmage.
Ramage and Francis Bouillon, a Canadiens’ player development coach, kept in close contact with Xhekaj throughout last season, visiting him regularly in Brantford. Ramage noted that while the Canadiens didn’t draft Xhekaj as a goal-scorer, that is an added bonus to the rest of his hockey package.
“I got to see him quite a bit this season,” Ramage said. “Very responsible. His hockey sense was way better I think than everybody anticipated and he’s still raw. Very excited about him.”
“It definitely had a lot of benefit for me,” Xhekaj said about playing for the Rocket. “Playing with older guys … I was one of the older guys in the OHL and then going up for three games in the AHL was definitely different. Everyone’s bigger, stronger — older in general. They’ve been playing the game for longer. I took a lot from the game and I’m trying to apply with my game and be ready for wherever I play next year.”
Xhekaj turned 20 on June 27 and could return to the OHL next season as an overage player — but he’s most likely to play in Laval. He said signing his first NHL contract gave him a confidence boost — just like getting drafted by the Canadiens did.
Xhekaj will attend the Canadiens’ main training camp and is hoping he can surprise people like his older brother did two years ago — after not even getting drafted — and make the NHL.
“I’m confident,” Xhekaj said. “I want to make the Montreal Canadiens this year. That’s what I’m here to do. … I’m just trying to work hard every day and hopefully that happens.”
“I don’t know too much about him with his contract,” Xhekaj said about his older brother. “I just kind of do my own thing.”
And his own thing now includes scoring goals.
“I always knew I had skill and a good shot,” Xhekaj said. “It’s just opportunity. I got an opportunity to play with some top players on my team and I just capitalized on it and pucks were going in.
“I think I just got bigger, stronger, more confident in the OHL,” he added. “Confident as a person … off the ice that helped a lot. I think just confidence with the puck — handling the puck, shooting, everything.”
Xhekaj really is looking like a unicorn.