Arber Xhekaj

When the Montreal Canadiens opened their 2021 rookie camp, an odd name caught everyone's eye in the world of Habs fandom. Just who was Arber Xhekaj?

From skating when he could between COVID closures and Costco shifts, to playing 30-plus minutes a night for the OHL champions, his path to an NHL has been anything but normal. It was here that Xhekaj made himself a lot of online enemies, and also fully endeared himself to the Habs fanbase. Zachary Massicotte, a big man in his own right, challenged Xhekaj shortly after he exited the box, and despite trading equal blows to start, the Habs defender uncorked two punches that knocked him out. He returned to the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers, and for the next year of hockey he conducted a reign of terror over the league that would have made Robespierre blush. He looked raw in the games he played in, but managed to improve each time, so much so that at the end of the Canadiens’ training camp he was signed to a three-year entry-level contract. It turned out that he was a physically gifted over-ager from the OHL, one who spent the year working at his local Costco because the OHL season was cancelled due to COVID-19.