We're just days away from finding out the Montreal Canadiens' schedule for the 2026-27 regular season and there's still quite a bit of work General Manager Kent Hughes has to do before training camp begins in mid-September.
As things stand on Tuesday morning, the Canadiens have seven restricted free agents that need to be signed to new deals before the 2026-27 season commences including Kirby Dach (who will have an arbitration hearing on July 30th), Zachary Bolduc and Arber Xhekaj.
In the lead up to opening night in late September, we could see some more changes to the Montreal Canadiens' roster and it appears that at least one of the club's defensemen is piquing the interest of teams around the National Hockey League.
Arber Xhekaj reportedly drawing interest on NHL's trade market
While making an appearance on Leafs Morning Take last week, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period revealed that Montreal Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj is generating interest on the National Hockey League's trade market and more than one team have called General Manager Kent Hughes to inquire about the 25-year-old.
David Pagnotta: Re Canadiens: Some teams have been calling about Arber Xhekaj - Leafs Morning Take (7/10)
— NHL Rumour Report (@NHLRumourReport) July 13, 2026
Xhekaj is no stranger to seeing his name floating around on the trade market. A few days before the trade deadline in March, Herb Zurkowsky of the Montreal Gazette reported that the Calgary Flames were showing interest in Arber Xhekaj. Nothing ended up materializing on that front and Xhekaj remained with the Canadiens through the deadline.
It isn't entirely surprising to see Arber Xhekaj drawing interest from other teams. At times throughout the 2025-26 season, it certainly felt like he wasn't in Martin St. Louis' plans and he fell out of the pecking order in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, sitting out the entire Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes in favour of Jayden Struble.
The Canadiens also have a bit of a logjam on the blue line heading into the season. Aside from Xhekaj, the other six defensemen on Montreal's roster from last season are all under contract for the 2026-27 campaign, while two others look to break through at some point this coming season - 2023 fifth overall pick David Reinbacher and Maksymilian Szuber, who was acquired from the Utah Mammoth in late June.
Three potential fits for Arber Xhekaj
As everyone knows by now, depth is key for any National Hockey League franchise and that's exactly what Arber Xhekaj can offer for a team. He's not a flashy top-four defenseman, he's a physical, bottom-pairing blueliner who can also contribute to a team's penalty kill. Depth is always in demand in the NHL and for that reason, if the Canadiens are willing to part with Xhekaj, they won't have an issue trying to find a landing spot for him.
For me, there's three teams that I look to as potential landing spots for Arber Xhekaj, based on pure fit and his ability to get minutes with the club.
Those three clubs are, the Columbus Blue Jackets, Nashville Predators and the St. Louis Blues. All three teams have a surplus in cap space as of July 14th, according to PuckPedia - Columbus ($23.27 million USD), Nashville ($7.54 million USD) & St. Louis ($11.11 million USD).
While two of the three clubs still have prominent restricted free agents to sign - Columbus (Adam Fantilli & Jet Greaves) and St. Louis (Connor McMichael), all of them can more than afford to trade for, get a contract done, with Arber Xhekaj. AFP Analytics projects Arber Xhekaj's next contract to be for one year at $1.482 million.
While it's hard to tell where this situation could go over the next few weeks, the Montreal Canadiens can afford to sit back and be a bit patient until they get an offer they like for Xhekaj. That being said, if the Canadiens do decide they're going to move him, fans shouldn't expect a ton in return, potentially a mid-round pick (fourth or fifth round, to be specific).