MONTREAL – The values of the contracts signed by Arber Zekaj and Justin Baron on Tuesday may be slightly different, but both deals had the same imperative — each player had to prove they were worth a higher price.
With xhekaj due for $2.6 million through 2026 and Baron for $2.3 million over the same period, neither of them was given much more than entry-level deals because neither had established themselves as a sure bet by this point. The former had 95 games of experience in the NHL while the latter had 94. Still, there’s a lot to discover about both players.
Arber Xhekaj’s contract “is the kind to attract attention for a trade
Did the 6-foot-4, 238-pound Zekaj bring his brute physicality and flair to the top four of the Canadiens’ defense? Will he then be able to blend that playmaking ability with a steady defensive game? Will the now offensively talented Baron have the confidence to consistently establish himself on both ends of the ice?
If we had the answers to these questions, we’d be evaluating both players’ contracts these days in the long term instead of the bridge deal the Canadiens signed.
The Canadiens bought themselves some time with each of those players. But neither player should waste a second looking for a bigger piece of the pie.
xhekaj means to take that challenge to show he can be a cornerstone of a championship team in the future. As he said via Zoom two hours after his contract was announced, “There’s clearly a role for a guy like me and a key role for a guy like me on a lot of teams,” and he’s absolutely right.
The Unicorns have a 23-year-old player who offers a rare blend of strength and skill at the back end that every team needs. But he was still raw. It gives Zekaj a platform to work on the flaws in his game and then make some big moves, but he knows that he has to step up.“And then next year will be a big year for me,” Zekaj said, and then he may be underestimating that.
This is his last year to show he can better cross the razor-thin line he must play to be effective, while also taking into account that the NHL no longer crosses that line as often as it did during the first two seasons. This is his last year to refine his defensive game and show he can be relied on more often than he has been. And this is his last year to take advantage of that skill set, which has seen him scratch the surface of his vocal ability in scoring eight goals and 23 points.
And health was a determinant on all fronts.
In the first two sessions, it was not in Xhekaj’s favor, and then both sessions did not go on the ice but ended under the knife.
Now, so many years later and following his second back surgery, Zekaj again feels he is physically ready for the challenges ahead.
“This summer has been great for me,” xhekaj said. “I didn’t take any steps back because the recovery has been great and our rehab team here has been doing an amazing job. Then when I was in Montreal, they all worked amazingly with me. And the surgery went well, so everybody was really happy with that. But now I’m almost ready to go again.”
“I feel stronger and I’m able to lift better weights in the gym now, and I can go back to training camp without any worries.”