The Montreal Canadiens have gotten their final restricted free agent signed ahead of the 2026-27 season. On the eve of training camp, the Canadiens announced they have signed defenseman Arber Xhekaj to a one-year, $1.5MM contract.
Xhekaj, 25, has been with Montreal for his entire professional career. Despite going undrafted throughout his Major Junior career with the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers and Hamilton Bulldogs, Xhekaj landed with the Canadiens in 2021 after earning an invitation to the team’s training camp.
At the time, Xhekaj impressed Montreal’s staff with his unique combination of being a tough enforcer while also fulfilling his role on the defensive side of the puck.
Under normal circumstances, Xhekaj should have spent the first year, if not several years, of his professional career working his way up from the AHL’s Laval Rocket. Due to injuries to key defensemen Mike Matheson and Joel Edmundson at the start of the 2022-23 season, Xhekaj has been with the Canadiens since then, except for a brief 17-game stint with the Rocket during the 2023-24 campaign.