Quoting: Dom1422
He can score a few goals, that isn’t enough to project him as anything more than a 3rd pairing Dman. He has little offense in his game, is an average puck mover at best, and is pretty good defensively. Most of his value comes from his presence on the ice, the intangibles. It’s pretty safe to project him as a bottom pairing guy, as much as I love him.
Florida may be 8th in lottery standings for now, but Barkov and Ekblad are their two best players and they’ve been hurt for a month or so. They are back and that will lead to more wins. I’m not saying they will make the playoffs, because that is incredibly unlikely, but don’t be surprised when they climb a little bit.
You might be able to get away with only giving up the Florida 1st and if so I’d do it in a heart beat, but I wouldn’t be against giving up more.
I can be wrong but I could see Xhekaj being a good 4th or 5th defensemen in the league with number of presence on the powerplay.
He is not only able to fight, to be able to hit hard, he can shoot and move the puck. He don't have the hardest shoot like a Weber or the complete build like an Hedman or Josi but if you took some time and look how he's playing he use more of is wrist shot to put the puck on the net when there are screen infront which provides great offensive opportunities.
Honestly I don't understand why Montreal keep going with 5 forward on power play, you have potential defensemen in Xhekaj and Harris that could be a decent choice to be thean on the blue line.
Montreal powerplay is really bad right now and guest who was able to score the last time, Arber Xhekaj did when he was put on it against Florida.
He won't be the biggest super star or top 2 I will gave it to you, but he could potentially be a good gem to polish and find a spot between top 3 to 5 on Montreal defense.
So in my opinion he should be keep and work on.