yeah habs keep wifi ,would have to be a gross trade to get him

Interesting idea from Montreal's standpoint and probably fair enough.
Can't see them moving Xhekaj, but it's the right type of trade for him.

We're good here in montreal, actually we're super.

But if you want to trade us the RHD we can offer you a LHD prospect and you can keep your 2nd round pick

How about

Norlinder
Struble
Fairbrother
And more

I disagree it's fair value and it might be the right type of trade if the habs were looking to trade him, they're not so...

That is an overpayment.

Kings need size and grit on the backend. Hence Xhekaj as the target.

2nd and a prospect in a position of need for a 3rd pairing defenseman is "fair enough".

If you're banking on Xhekaj becoming a 1st/2nd pairing guy, you probably don't make this trade. How many Xhekaj types actually turn out to be reliable 20+ minute defenders though?
You simply can't have a top 4D spending 10% of their time in the penalty box, and if he's not doing that, he's not playing his game. Then there's his favorable deployment and the injury risk.

I love Xhekaj and don't want to trade him. It's nice to have an enforcer that can also play hockey. Realistically however, I expect him to top out as a 4/5 in a position where we have an abundance of prospects. Even if he steadily progresses, he will still likely be surpassed in depth over the next few years and become most expendable when his value is lowest.

I'd be happy to be wrong on this one though.

Dahlin nurse chabot burns sergachev lindholm lindgren seigenthaler weegar dumba hamilton have all taken as many minors or more than arber has this year.

Xhekaj is here to make sure nobody throws dirty hits, look at Montembeault hit by Kassian last year, no one did anything and so Xhekaj made him pay lmao
he's here to protect the stars in the making that we have, Caufield and Suzuki.

I'm more talking about the 8 fighting majors. That's 8 games with a top 4D being unavailable for 5+ minutes and 8 extra chances of suffering a head or hand injury, and we're only halfway through the season.
We need him to improve his play on the ice and fight less if he's going to be a top 4D. It's okay to lose a 3rd pairing guy for a few minutes/games, but you need as much stability as possible in your top 4 to contend.

Hes a rookie its not usual for them to fight more often then settle into a more established role

The thing is, Xhekaj is a rookie and every tough guy in the league is going to challenge him. Next year there will be a significant drop in the players challenging him since they will already know he won't back down. I would say that next year his fighting majors will decrease by half or more.

I am with @ricochetii on this one, I can't see Xhekaj becoming something more than a #5-6 dman

You're just being 'realistic'

Also that's exactly what the Kings would need. A 5-6 damn who is big, hits, and can stick up for his goalie and teammates. I think he'd be a good partner for rookie Brandt Clarke

I hope so, but it also has to be accompanied by development in other areas. He still has to face the challenge of prospects coming up behind him and become more effective at both ends of the ice to maintain a spot. If he can be a big body net protector and work on his shooting more to be a PP threat, it would go a long way. He will need to be more controlled in picking his spots and avoid undisciplined penalties for going over the line as well.

2 2nd rounders isn't considered a gross trade for a bottom pairing gritty defender? I wouldn't trade him because he brings something no others on the team do but that trade is generous.

You can't target something that isn't available, just like you can't hunt a deer when it's not deer hunting season or even when it's deer hunting season you can't shoot a deer that isn't there

Love it, he's hit a scoring drout and still leads all rookie defenseman in goals, btw he's also the 7th youngest defenseman in the league and all 6 guys younger then him were top 7 picks projected to be top pair guys but sure tell me again he's just a bottom pair guy

You have no hockey knowledge … why keep commenting ? He is a bottom pairing dman, even if he would score 20 goals this year
Harris is better than him and you probably consider Xhekaj better than Harris because he has more points

Huh

Ths«hh

Mmmm

On a rebuilding/retooling team, only Caufield, Suzuki, Slafkovski, and Guhle aren't available.