Regular season

Arber Xhekaj

Montréal Canadiens · D · #72

Depth DHeavy Hitter?178 hits (14.4/60) - punishes the forecheck

HT: 6'4"
WT: 240 lb
Age: 25
Shoots: L
From: Hamilton, CAN

52Alpha?

Alpha sub-scores

what drives the rating · percentile vs position group

1616pctl

1212pctl

3434pctl

2222pctl

League profile

vs. defensemen with 20+ GP

0.062pctl

0.0214pctl

0.052pctl

0.67pctl

-823pctl

027pctl

HockeyAlpha advanced

event-derived proxies · 1,312 games analyzed

0.8%2pctl

1.2431pctl

0.028pctl

Def Suppression?

0.1819pctl

Defenseman toolkit

vs. defensemen with 20+ GP

0.662pctl

3.4727pctl

Blocks / 100 shifts?

4.627pctl

14.4100pctl

0.061pctl

0:007pctl

0:1913pctl

On-ice impact

shift charts × our xG model · 41 GP tracked · 8h TOI

On-ice xG share (5v5)?

47.1%27pctl

On-ice goal share (5v5)?

43.8%25pctl

O-zone deployment?

56%77pctl

Usage profile

assignment difficulty · higher fill = tougher job

Competition faced?

16.2 min1pctl

Support received?

15.5 min97pctl

D-zone deployment?

44%23pctl

Micro-metrics

Structural Metric Model · sequences, geometry & leverage from every shot

Cross-slot shots / GP?

0.0537pctl

Net-front presence / GP?

0.093pctl

Second-chance touches / GP?

0.117pctl

0.83×1pctl

Cross-slot suppressed?

0.11/gm92pctl

Pressure escape rate?

5.5%8pctl

2025-26 regular season · Percentile beams: fill = league percentile, tick = league median · hockeyalpha.com

The Blueprint

Structural Event Engine · percentile vs defensemen · center = median · 722 EV min

General Offense

3.2442

3.1652

Shot Setups/60?

0.5021

Chance Setups/60?

0.4225

Primary Contributions/60?

3.7436

Rebounds Created/60?

0.2539

Playmaking Sequences

Point Shot Setups/60?

0.0033

Center-Lane Setups/60?

0.4255

High-Danger Setups/60?

0.0018

Deflection Setups/60?

0.0036

One-Timer Setups/60?

0.0021

Offense Types

Cycle Offense/60?

2.2476

Rush Offense/60?

6.3265

Shots off HD Setups/60?

0.0818

0.2552

0.0027

Deflections/60?

0.0025

Zone Entries

Entries Started/60?

0.0033

Entries Finished/60?

0.0015

Entries w/ Chance/60?

0.0021

DZ Retrievals / Exits

DZ Involvements/60?

1.9121

0.0813

1.8333

Retrieval Success %?

4%15

Exit Involvements/60?

0.0038

Exit Success %?

0%38

Forechecking

2.2488

Dump-In Recoveries/60?

0.0048

Derived from event sequences in public play-by-play data - the ? on each metric explains exactly how it's computed. · hockeyalpha.com

Contract & market

Contract value?

beta · cap data: CapWages

$1.30M

cap hit

$0.86M

Alpha-market value

overpaidmarketsurplus

C

Fair market deal (−$0.4M)

Top comparables?

nearest profiles at the same role · match = statistical fit

Player	Alpha	Archetype	Production	Cap hit	Market	Value	Match
Arber Xhekaj	52	Heavy Hitter	4 P · 65 GP	$1.30M	$0.86M	C−$0.4M	this player
Jake Christiansen	55	Depth Defenseman	3 P · 40 GP	$0.97M	$1.18M	C+$0.2M	88%
David Jiricek	52	Depth Defenseman	0 P · 26 GP	$0.92M	$0.86M	C−$0.1M	84%
Zach Metsa	54	Depth Defenseman	6 P · 43 GP	$0.78M	$1.04M	C+$0.3M	81%
Jayden Struble	53	Heavy Hitter	12 P · 59 GP	$1.41M	$0.93M	C−$0.5M	80%

Chemistry

Finishes from

assisters on Arber’s goals

Creates for

goals Arber assisted on

From official goal credits - scorer + assists on every goal, all season.

Recent form · last 10 games

2 pts · 0 G · 2 A · 4 shots in last 10Steady(+0.0 P/GP vs prior 5)

@ CAR

0P

0G 0A

@ CAR 03-29

0G 0A · 0 shots · 5:11 TOI

@ TBL

0P

0G 0A

@ TBL 03-31

0G 0A · 0 shots · 12:57 TOI

@ NYR

0P

0G 0A

@ NYR 04-02

0G 0A · 0 shots · 9:45 TOI

@ NJD

1P

0G 1A

@ NJD 04-04

0G 1A · 0 shots · 10:00 TOI

vs NJD

0P

0G 0A

vs NJD 04-05

0G 0A · 0 shots · 11:58 TOI

vs FLA

0P

0G 0A

vs FLA 04-07

0G 0A · 1 shots · 11:36 TOI

vs TBL

0P

0G 0A

vs TBL 04-09

0G 0A · 0 shots · 8:45 TOI

vs CBJ

0P

0G 0A

vs CBJ 04-11

0G 0A · 1 shots · 19:44 TOI

@ NYI

0P

0G 0A

@ NYI 04-12

0G 0A · 0 shots · 12:41 TOI

@ PHI

1P

0G 1A

@ PHI 04-14

0G 1A · 2 shots · 19:46 TOI

Tile tint = points that night · underline = shot volume (full bar = 8+ shots) · oldest on the left

The Territory

attacking → · every recorded touch, normalized to one end

Goal On goal Missed/blocked▲ takeaway▽ giveaway■ hit＋ block◯ faceoff dot (size = wins)170 events shown

Playmaking gravity: 6 touches that produced a teammate shot within 3s

Defensive floor: 43 blocks · 1 steals inside the d-zone

NHL career · regular season

Season	Team	GP	G	A	P	+/−
2022-23	Montréal Canadiens	51	5	8	13	-9
2023-24	Montréal Canadiens	44	3	7	10	6
2024-25	Montréal Canadiens	70	1	5	6	-13
2025-26	Montréal Canadiens	65	1	3	4	-8
Career	1 team	230	10	23	33	-24