D · MTL · NHL id 8482964
Arber Xhekaj has played 1 game for the Montreal Canadiens in 2026-27, scoring 0 goals and 0 assists (0 points) on 0 shots while averaging 12:20 a night (10:51 at even strength, 0:00 on the power play and 1:29 shorthanded). At 5v5 he has skated 78% of his 5v5 minutes with Jayden Struble and 37% with Phillip Danault in his only game so far, and the Canadiens have controlled 50% of shot attempts with Xhekaj on the ice (0-0 in goals, 100% offensive-zone starts). In the Canadiens' most recent game against TOR he was on D3 with Jayden Struble and off the power play.
Right now
From the Sep 29 game vs TOR, detected from shift data
Deployment timeline
2026-27 · per-game ice time by strength, with line and power-play unit changes
Usage: 1 games, 12:20 average time on ice, PP1 in 0 games, 0 line changes.
- Even strength
- Power play
- Penalty kill
- 5-game average
- Did not play
- ▲ promoted · ▼ demoted
NHL EDGE tracking
2025-26 percentiles among skaters at his position
Only 1 GP in 2026-27; showing 2025-26 NHL EDGE data.
Season-level NHL EDGE puck and player tracking, refreshed nightly. The percentile is the league rank among skaters this season; the label at the right is the raw value.
Shot map
2026-27 · 0 attempts, 0 on goal, 0 goals · dots are equal size until the xG model lands
Shot map, OPP at MTL: 0 attempts, 0 on goal, 0 goals, 0.00 expected goals.
No shot data for this range yet.
Luck
2025-26 · 65 GP · 4 points vs 7.1 expected
Last 20 games: +8. Positive means running hot (sell), negative running cold (buy).
- 2.5%
- 98.7
- 16.7%
- G vs xG
- 1 / 1.4
- • Role rose over the last 10 games (4 promotion events): some of the heat may be real.
- Actual goals
- Expected
- ±1σ
- Above expected
- Below expected
Player analytics
Compare with another player →2025-26 regular season. Rank is among all qualified players; the bar is his percentile among defencemen. Each stat links to its explainer.
- 2026-27 so far: 1 GP, 0 G, 0 A, 0 PPP, 0 SOG.
Fantasy box score
- Games played65
- Goals1634th of 715
- Assists3651st of 715
- Points4675th of 715
- Power-play points0437th of 715
- Shorthanded points0227th of 715
- Shots on goal40592nd of 715
- Hits17841st of 715
- Blocked shots43304th of 715
- Plus/minus−8523rd of 715
- Penalty minutes1165th of 715
- Faceoffs won0451st of 715
Possession & shot quality (5-on-5 on-ice)
- Corsi (CF%)47.6%494th of 719
- Fenwick (FF%)48.0%466th of 719
- Expected goals (xGF%)45.6%563rd of 719
- Sequence xG (sxGF%)46.2%545th of 719
- High-danger chances (HDCF%)43.0%638th of 719
- Scoring chances (SCF%)44.9%614th of 719
Transition, turnovers & faceoffs
- Transition attempts /600.08699th of 719
- Turnover Ledger /60−0.061495th of 719
- Forecheck xG /60 (on-ice)0.27410th of 719
Usage
- Ice time per game11:25629th of 715
- Power-play time per game0:00691st of 715
- Offensive-zone start %59.5%160th of 719
Special teams & discipline
- Net penalties drawn /60−2.26716th of 719
Luck & trend
- On-ice PDO987476th of 719
- Goals above expected−0.4394th of 715
- Luck Meter−38655th of 828
- Ascension score50210th of 526
NHL EDGE tracking
- Top skating speed21.8526th of 715
- 20+ mph bursts16625th of 715
- Hardest shot99.026th of 715
- Offensive-zone time42.7%275th of 715
Unranked rows are below the sample minimum (20 GP, 200 five-on-five minutes, 100 draws or 10 goalie games).
Beyond the box score
2025-26 regular season · 60 of 65 games through the sequence engine (more fill in as games are reprocessed)
- −0.063
- Season net
- −0.75xG
5-on-5. Each takeaway is credited, and each giveaway charged, at the league xG value of the zone.
- Per 60
- 0.08
- Attempts
- 1
- 0.000
5-on-5 shots within 10 seconds of winning the puck outside the offensive zone.
Role changes
Notable promotions, demotions and ice-time swings from Line Watch
- Moved up to D1 from D3Apr 14, 2026 alerts →
- Moved up to D2 from D3Jan 7, 2026 alerts →
- Played 8:51 less than his 5-game averageMar 28, 2025 alerts →
- Moved up to D2 from D3Nov 4, 2023 alerts →
How the goals happened
6 goals since 2023-24 with NHL EDGE tracking: press Replay to watch the tracking animation
| Game | Play | Entry | Passes | Shot mph | Notes | Replay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 16, 2026 vs BUF | Off the faceoff | — | 0 | 61.3 | — | |
| Dec 13, 2025 @ NYR | Forecheck turnover | — | 2* | 59.7 | — | |
| Dec 20, 2024 @ DET | Forecheck turnover | pass | 1* | 67.4 | — | |
| Feb 21, 2024 vs BUF | Forecheck turnover | — | 0 | 70.4 | — | |
| Feb 17, 2024 vs WSH | Odd-man rush | loose | 2 | 79.7 | 3-on-2 | |
| Nov 12, 2023 vs VAN | Odd-man rush | carry | 2 | 53.9 | 4-on-3 |
* includes a royal-road (cross-slot) pass. Derived from NHL EDGE puck and player tracking.
Linemates
2026-27 · 5v5 time together and how each pairing performs with and without Xhekaj
| Teammate | Pos | GP | Share | CF% together | GF% together | CF% Xhekaj apart | CF% mate apart | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jayden Struble | D | 1 | 8:26 | 78% | 54.5% | — (0-0) | 0.0% 2:25 | 100.0% 2:36 |
| Phillip Danault | C | 1 | 4:00 | 37% | 66.7% | — (0-0) | 44.4% 6:51 | 46.7% 8:36 |
| Kirby Dach | C | 1 | 3:53 | 36% | 50.0% | — (0-0) | 50.0% 6:58 | 50.0% 7:13 |
| Juraj Slafkovský | LW | 1 | 3:49 | 35% | 25.0% | — (0-0) | 62.5% 7:02 | 53.3% 8:58 |
| Alexandre Texier | LW | 1 | 3:38 | 33% | 50.0% | — (0-0) | 50.0% 7:13 | 38.5% 6:42 |
| Ivan Demidov | RW | 1 | 3:20 | 31% | 33.3% | — (0-0) | 55.6% 7:31 | 57.1% 8:16 |
| Alex Newhook | C | 1 | 3:09 | 29% | 25.0% | — (0-0) | 62.5% 7:42 | 61.5% 9:07 |
| Jake Evans | C | 1 | 2:55 | 27% | 60.0% | — (0-0) | 42.9% 7:56 | 52.9% 7:32 |
| Josh Anderson | RW | 1 | 2:51 | 26% | 75.0% | — (0-0) | 37.5% 8:00 | 63.2% 7:14 |
| Zachary Bolduc | RW | 1 | 2:43 | 25% | 75.0% | — (0-0) | 37.5% 8:08 | 62.5% 6:41 |
| Mike Matheson | D | 1 | 1:21 | 12% | 0.0% | — (0-0) | 54.5% 9:30 | 50.0% 16:53 |
| Nick Suzuki | C | 1 | 1:02 | 10% | — | — (0-0) | 50.0% 9:49 | 37.5% 12:48 |
Linemate and opposition quality
2025-26 · 5v5 · 717 min on ice · ranked against 270 defencemen · last season, until this season has enough games to rank
45th percentile · higher = stronger linemates
28th percentile · higher = tougher opponents
Sheltered minutes: mostly faces weaker opposition.
Each value is the ice-time-weighted average season xGF% of the skaters Xhekaj shared the 5v5 ice with. Small samples lean on each skater's previous season (or 50% for newcomers). Most skaters land between about 45% and 55% for QoT and 49% and 51% for QoC, so the percentile is the easier read.
Game log
1 game in 2026-27, newest first
| Date | Opp | Result | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | HIT | BLK | EV | PP | PK | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 29 | @ TOR | W 3-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | — | 12:20 | 10:51 | — | 1:29 |
Season splits by strength
2026-27 regular season · on-ice numbers from shift and play-by-play data
| Strength | GP | TOI/GP | SA | GF | GA | GF% | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All situations | 1 | 12:20 | 12:20 | 6 | 9 | 40.0% | 33.3% | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | — | 0.2 | 0.5 | 100% |
| Even strength | 1 | 10:51 | 10:51 | 6 | 6 | 50.0% | 42.9% | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | 0.2 | 0.4 | 100% |
| 5v5 | 1 | 10:51 | 10:51 | 6 | 6 | 50.0% | 42.9% | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | 0.2 | 0.4 | 100% |
| Penalty kill | 1 | 1:29 | 1:29 | 0 | 3 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | 0.0 | 0.2 | — |
Career by season
Seasons in Edgehalla's data (2025-26 is being backfilled; earlier seasons follow)
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | HIT | BLK | TOI/GP | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | MTL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 1 | 12:20 |
| 2025-26Playoffs | MTL | 13 | 1 | 1 | 2 | +5 | 28 | 8 | 12.5% | 45 | 6 | 8:06 |
| 2025-26 | MTL | 65 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -8 | 116 | 40 | 2.5% | 178 | 43 | 11:25 |
| 2024-25Playoffs | MTL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 4 | 2 | 0.0% | 12 | 0 | 10:58 |
| 2024-25 | MTL | 70 | 1 | 5 | 6 | -13 | 118 | 69 | 1.4% | 180 | 63 | 14:37 |
| 2023-24 | MTL | 44 | 3 | 7 | 10 | +6 | 81 | 61 | 4.9% | 125 | 49 | 15:56 |
| 2022-23 | MTL | 51 | 5 | 8 | 13 | -9 | 101 | 75 | 6.7% | 159 | 46 | 15:16 |
Arber Xhekaj news
- Projecting the Canadiens Opening Night RosterThe Hockey Writers
- Arber Xhekaj reveals what happened after watching Florian's fight from the penalty boxMarkerzone.com
- Canadiens' Arber Xhekaj watches brother Florian's fight on phone mid-game in penalty boxThe New York Times
- After last-minute one-year deal, Canadiens' Arber Xhekaj banking on long-term goalMontreal Gazette
- Why Arber Xhekaj Needs To Have Hot Start To Season With CanadiensYahoo Sports
- Canadiens fans react as Arber Xhekaj opens up about his short-term dealMarqueur.com
- Xhekaj Says His Unfavorable Deal with the Canadiens Presents Unique OpportunityNHL Trade Talk
- Canadiens' Martin St-Louis sends a clear message to Arber XhekajMarkerzone.com
Headlines via LineupExperts. Links open the original publisher.
On-ice and deployment numbers are derived by Edgehalla from NHL play-by-play and shift data. Tracking percentiles are from NHL EDGE. Data updates after every game.