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Arber Xhekaj and the Montreal Canadiens have agreed on a two-year contract extension, the staff introduced on Tuesday.
The defenceman, who was a restricted free agent, will earn a mean of US$1.3 million over every of the following two seasons.
Xhekaj performed 44 video games with the Canadiens final season, tallying three objectives and 7 assists — in addition to 81 penalty minutes. He additionally performed 17 video games with the Laval Rocket after being despatched down in December.
The 23-year-old was known as again up by the Canadiens in late January, however for the second yr in a row shoulder surgical procedure minimize his season brief. He’s anticipated to be again in time for the 2024-25 season.
4 years in the past, when the OHL’s 2020-21 season was cancelled because of COVID-19, Xhekaj was working at Costco.
When he went undrafted on the NHL degree — as had occurred within the OHL — the Canadiens invited him to coaching camp in 2021 earlier than signing him to a three-year contract price US$2.485 million.
Xhekaj’s youthful brother, Florian, was drafted by the Canadiens within the fourth spherical of the 2023 NHL Draft.
“That was wonderful. That was the icing on the highest of the cake,” Arber advised The Gazette. “If he finally ends up taking part in with me, that might be a dream come true. We’d play on the road on daily basis and any sport; we’d problem one another one on one.”
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