yes

Obviously it’s a overpay but he’s a fan favourite in MTL so like you’re going to have to overpay for a player like him

When is the last time any 6/7 D returned a 1st plus?

MTL even throws in his brother Florian Xhekaj. Have them both @ that price!

Avs aren't trading away another first unless they need to make a BIG gain at the deadline. And that is way too high of a price for Xhekaj. I could see the other trades happening.

I don't think he's that expensive. I reckon that he will get a late 1st if it's to a rival trade, so OTT, TOR, or BOS, and maybe DET, other than that, a mid 2nd should do the trick. However, Harris might be a guy that MTL could get a solid return if they decide to trade him, maybe a 1st in the 20s

Ben Chariot?? Does he count

Haha sure

Oh damn. I really expected to get blown up by MTL fans saying that he’ll never get traded but damn guess I was wrong

Nope, he was pulling top pair minutes in MTL and even now still gets top 4 time. Teams wouldn't keep playing him like that year after year if he was a 6/7 guy.

Also retention was a factor.

Yeah Taht is true. there has to be at least one 6/7 that received a 1st. Right??

Please Wifi is more of a top 4 D man than Chiarot was, Xhekaj can at least skate and pass as well as hit and fight. If not for Guhle and Harris Arber could step right into the 2LD slot and not look out of place.

Advanced stats do not agree with you there. Wi-Fi isn't even good at defense or PK. I'm sure he's exciting to watch for the big hit, but when he's on the ice MTL scores less, gets scored on more, 5v5, PK, or PP.

He's a great story from Costco to the NHL, but the guy is a lot closer to a waivers claim than bringing back a 1st. Only benefit is that he's young and could get better with the right coaching.

But hey he played on one of the worst teams in the league. I’m sure if he was to play on Vegas or Colorado he would do great and improve defensively

The only defenseman I could find with worse adv stats was Simon Benoit who had to play 2nd pairing for the Ducks and had Klingberg as his usual partner, and there wasn't much in it as far as who was worse.

Okay 👍 maybe he does do great with a better team or maybe he doesn’t who knows

Ben Chariot

Advanced stats only tell half the story though, at some point you actually have to watch the players play. Xhekaj isn't Makar and never will be but he is also no slouch either like you make him out to be.

He's difficult to part with as enforcers that are good at their job and still capable of playing a regular shift aren't common.
There's also the fact that his teammates and the fans love him.
If moving him means your young, small, or skilled players have to deal with opposing "goons", that's a consideration as well.

He may not be worth trading in a "fair" deal, simply because he's a 6/7th defenseman with an outside ceiling of 4/5th and therefore doesn't have significant value.
For a 1st (+) however, that would be difficult to turn down. Especially given our glut of burgeoning LHD. For that price you make the trade and then go pick up a forward enforcer for much less if you decide you need one.

No. This trade is absolutely baffling. There have been trades in the past where a team will acquire someone else's second pairing guy and play them on their bottom pair. But grabbing a bottom pair guy from a bad team and giving up this type of return is so extremely stupid lol. I get it, he's fun and a good story. But yeeeesh this is really really bad.

You just traded a 1st and a 4th (and MacDermid, who sucks) for a 6/7 D who has 50 career games. In Colorado, the guy absolutely isn't playing over Makar, Toews, Girard, Byram, or Manson. You can make an argument that he battles Jack Johnson for a spot, but that's not realistic: JJ is used primarily as a penalty killer. Xhekaj has played 13:40 minutes of PK in his NHL career. That's averaging 0:16 per game. And before you say "oh, but he's young!", Justin Barron and Jordan Harris averaged 0:31 and 1:14 respectively.

So realistically, Xhekaj would be competing with Hunt and Malinski for a 7D spot. Also, not sure why you traded Hunt for a 7th? Pointless



He's a fun story and I'm sure he's a good guy! But the dude is not a top 4 defenseman, no matter how hard you try to convince others. His metrics last year sucked even when sheltered. On average, he played less minutes at 5v5 than: Barron, Schueneman, Kovacevic, Edmundson, Harris, Guhle, Matheson, and Savard. On a bad team, he wasn't playing meaningful special teams minutes. From the eye test, he makes big hits and is fun, but that doesn't make you a good NHL defenseman. Based on his usage, it seems clear that the coaching staff recognized that also.

I get it, he's fun and makes big hits and it's cool to see a guy come from Costco to the NHL. But he's much closer to being waived (once eligibility expires) than he is to being a top 4 defenseman.