Canadiens star Cole Caufield defends his teammate.
Xhekaj is in the news for more recent actions than that, though. The Canadiens defenseman delivered a hit to Ottawa Senators star Tim Stutzle on Tuesday. Xhekaj immediately dropped the gloves with Brady Tkachuk, and Stutzle left the game with an upper-body injury. This certainly has garnered some backlash, but Caufield is coming to the defense of his teammate.
“Obviously, there’s no intent to injure, there’s no intent to hurt anybody, but he’s a protector,” said Caufield of Xhekaj, via Sportsnet. “He’s a guy that you want on your team, that everybody respects, and I know he’s respected around the league. He’s physical, and he brings a lot of other things too. There’s right and wrong ways to go about it, but at the end of the day he’s fighting for one of us and he’s always ready to go to war for whatever happens.”
Canadiens have utmost respect for Arber Xhekaj
Arber Xhekaj does not bring the same star power Cole Caufield brings. However, his role on the Canadiens is an important one all the same. The Montreal rearguard plays a physical game and is the player who steps up when opposing players cross a line.
There are some drawbacks to this. For instance, Xhekaj has allowed his emotions to dictate his actions in the past. He is only 23 years old, so it isn't entirely unexpected. Still, Montreal believes with better management of his emotions, he could blossom into a true difference-maker for this team.
