Trevor Timmins finally reveals who's really behind the Arber Xhekaj acquisition
The great story of young Montreal Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj continues to be the talk of the National Hockey League.
We are talking about a defenseman, never drafted (neither in junior nor in the NHL), who instantly made the jump from the OHL to the National League.
That is truly remarkable. He never ceases to surprise and amaze.
The 21 year old continues to make the general managers of the NHL miss him.
In addition to being a fearsome 6-foot-4, 236-pound back who plays very tough and scares his opponents, he is also a very good defender.
As my colleague Nicolas Desrosiers reports, he is mobile, has good game vision, skates fluidly and has a very good shot. His offensive skills are underrated.
On the subject of Xhekaj, former Habs draft director Trevor Timmins, who himself pushed hard for Xhekaj to receive an invitation to the club's 2021 camp, admitted that he has never seen a story like Arber Xhekaj.
Timmins also named the visionary behind the discovery of Xhekaj: Matt Tarek. Matt was a scout with the Montreal Canadiens, while being very familiar with the Hamilton organization.
What's even more incredible about this? Tarek organized a little 4-on-4 league that was played in the summer in the Hamilton area, where Xhekaj played.
This is how he noticed young Arber Xhekaj and Matt Tarek really insisted that the big number 72 be immediately spotted by the Montreal Canadiens decision makers.
In front of this insistence, Marc Bergevin and his men agreed to invite him to the training camp in 2021, to see what he looked like, and as they say, the rest is history.
It turned out to be a great move and we can probably say with confidence that this great find will contribute to the Canadiens' success for many years to come.
For the details, it's here (Timmins had a lot to say and several nice things to mention about Xhekaj) :
| POLL | ||
Do you think Arber Xhekaj will be a regular CH defenseman for many years? | ||
| Yes | 476 | 95.4 % |
| No | 23 | 4.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
