{"id":656883,"date":"2026-09-06T15:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T15:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/656883\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T15:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T15:12:15","slug":"canadiens-reportedly-want-arber-xhekaj-to-make-a-surprising-position-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/656883\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadiens reportedly want Arber Xhekaj to make a surprising position change"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n
\n
\n
\nCanadiens reportedly want Arber Xhekaj to make a surprising position change
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

Montreal Hockey Fanatics has no direct affiliation to the Montreal Canadiens, NHL or NHLPA<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t \"Montreal <\/p>\n

Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tA new possibility may explain the delay in Arber Xhekaj<\/a>‘s contract negotiations.<\/p>\n

The Montreal Canadiens reportedly want to see him play on the wing this season.<\/p>\n

According to Grant McCagg,<\/a> speaking on the \u201cHabsCast\u201d podcast with Liam Maguire, the team has asked the rugged defenseman to consider changing positions.That scenario would make plenty of sense if David Reinbacher<\/a> earns a regular spot this season, creating a surplus of defensemen.<\/p>\n

Moving Xhekaj to forward would allow the Canadiens to keep him in the lineup while preserving his role as a physical presence, while also giving Reinbacher meaningful minutes on defense.<\/p>\n

The club had already tried the experiment on March 29 against the Carolina Hurricanes, when Xhekaj played 5 minutes and 11 seconds on the wing.<\/p>\n

Arber Xhekaj’s possible move to winger adds a new wrinkle to Canadiens contract talks<\/p>\n

The real question is whether Xhekaj wants to play that position full-time, which could help explain the delay in his contract negotiations.<\/p>\n

According to Gilbert Delorme,<\/a> the Canadiens need Xhekaj’s physical presence and have to find a place for him, ideally with significant playing time.<\/p>\n

Some are wondering, though, why that role wouldn’t instead go to his brother Florian, whose natural profile as a winger appears better suited for it.<\/p>\n

It’s a situation that appears to be getting more delicate by the day.<\/p>\n

Would Xhekaj rather play as a winger with the Montreal Canadiens?<\/p>\n

Or would he prefer to remain a regular defenseman with another team, such as the Calgary Flames or Philadelphia Flyers? Those are two clubs that appear ready to give him heavy minutes on defense.<\/p>\n

Previously on Montreal Hockey Fanatics<\/p>\n

POLL<\/p>\n

1 HOUR AGO|79 ANSWERS<\/p>\n

Canadiens reportedly want Arber Xhekaj to make a surprising position change<\/p>\n

Should Arber Xhekaj agree to play on the wing to stay with the Canadiens?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Canadiens reportedly want Arber Xhekaj to make a surprising position change …\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[407,3566,23778,5,21,34995,4,9501],"class_list":["post-656883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-arber-xhekaj","tag-david-reinbacher","tag-grant-mccagg","tag-hockey","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-new-role","tag-nhl","tag-winger"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117224744469371681","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}