When the Montreal Canadiens opened their 2021 rookie camp, an odd name caught everyone’s eye in the world of Habs fandom. Just who was Arber Xhekaj? It turned out that he was a physically gifted over-ager from the OHL, one who spent the year working at his local Costco because the OHL season was cancelled due to COVID-19. He looked raw in the games he played in, but managed to improve each time, so much so that at the end of the Canadiens’ training camp he was signed to a three-year entry-level contract.
He returned to the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers, and for the next year of hockey he conducted a reign of terror over the league that would have made Robespierre blush.