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Arber Xhekaj’s younger brother Florian is currently playing his first year of professional hockey with the Laval Rocket, and to say the 101st pick at the 2023 draft is having a good season would be an understatement.

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Drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in his second year of eligibility for his hard-nosed play and potential, Xhekaj developed well in the OHL with the Brantford Bulldogs, going from 25 points in his draft year to 65 in the following season. He also upped his penalty minutes from 76 to 81 minutes and came to training camp ready to make an impact. On September 14, during a tilt with the Toronto Maple Leafs' rookies, he dropped the gloves against Chas Sharpe.

The Canadiens assigned him to the Rocket during camp, and he’s done very well under Pascal Vincent's tutelage. On Friday night, in the Rocket’s 4-1 win over the Utica Comets, he scored two goals, including an empty netter, which brought his total to 17 lamplighters on the season.

The goal broke the Rocket’s record for most goals in a season by a rookie player, established by Lucas Condotta in 2022-23. While coach Vincent wasn’t aware of the feat, Xhekaj’s teammates were and collected the puck for him.

Asked about his player after the game, Vincent admitted that all options were considered about Xhekaj before the start of the season. They decided to keep him in Laval and his performance shows it was the right call. The coach explained he has a great capacity to learn and is a significant contributor to the Rocket’s success.

Xhekaj plays on penalty kills but not on power plays, so his goals are scored even at strength. He’s ready to step up for a teammate whenever the situation calls for it and is a great team player.

While he won’t ever be a top-six player in the NHL, he has the potential to be a very good bottom-six forward who can play with an edge. In my opinion, he still needs some seasoning in the AHL, but eventually, he will join the Canadiens and become a success story for development in the organization.

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When we talk about NHL teams that almost certainly are going to make the Stanley Cup playoffs, there are two distinct kinds of teams. There are squads that look like they’re going to be dynamic powerhouses – think of Florida, Washington, Winnipeg, Dallas, Vegas and Colorado – but there are also playoff-bound teams trending downward. And in this column, we will identify three squads trending downward – the New Jersey Devils, Minnesota Wild and Edmonton Oilers.

The Devils have been waylaid by major injuries to crucial stars Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton, but the truth is, they’ve been a disappointing bunch for months now. For example, since Dec. 27, the Devils have been able to string together three wins in a row just once – in their current three-game win streak. But since Jan. 11, New Jersey has gone 11-10-2. There’s been no extended stretch of excellence to point to with the Devils. Once again, they’re the epitome of mediocrity.

It’s no wonder, then, that Devils fans are worried that New Jersey could fall out of third place in the Metropolitan Division and wind up in a wild-card spot squaring off against elite teams like the Capitals or Panthers in the first round. Would anyone other than Devils diehards bet on New Jersey to make it to the second round of the post-season? We sincerely doubt it. And even when New Jersey was at full strength, they weren’t contending for top spot in the Metro, so it’s hard to envision them doing any damage in the playoffs without Hughes and Hamilton. It’s a bleak picture for the Devils, but it’s an accurate one.

#NJDevils Jack Hughes down the tunnel after crashing into the end wall 😬 pic.twitter.com/9GHvOHDh6s

— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) March 3, 2025

Similarly, in the extremely competitive Central Division, the Wild have tumbled out of third place and are now in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Earlier this season, the Wild were second in the Central, but like the Devils, Minnesota has also had significant injuries to key players, including superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov, center Joel Eriksson Ek, and defensemen Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin. And their downward trend is visible in the results of their recent schedule.

To wit: since Jan. 11, the Wild have gone 11-12-1 – and since Jan. 30, they’ve gone 7-7-1. So we’re not talking about one or two bad weeks with this team. We’re talking about sustained mediocrity, and Minnesota is now in a standings position where they’d be playing against the Vegas Golden Knights, Winnipeg Jets or Dallas Stars in the first round. And like the Devils, the Wild are going to be underdogs no matter which of those teams they face in the post-season.

Finally, the Oilers are struggling without any major injuries like the Devils and Wild have had to deal with. Instead, it’s Edmonton’s goaltending and recent all-around funk that is cause for concern for them heading into the playoffs. Since Jan. 27, the Oilers have gone 7-9-1, and after challenging for top spot in the Pacific Division earlier in the season, the Oilers sit just one point ahead of the L.A. Kings for second place in the division.

The Oilers may not fall any further than third in the Pacific, as they’re currently nine points ahead of the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks, but you never know – another couple weeks of disappointing hockey could allow the Flames or Canucks to slip by the Oilers and put Edmonton in a wild-card spot. That would’ve been unthinkable early in the year, but the sub-par play of Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner – who had an .867 save percentage in February and an .876 SP thus far in March – has created uncertainty and doubt in the mind of Oilers fans.

Tough play for Stuart Skinner as Tage Thompson could have gone high glove first but uses his pterodactyl reach to go stick side.

Brilliant move can make a goalie look bad pic.twitter.com/SW8rkQBOHk

— David Staples (@dstaples) March 13, 2025

There’s still time for the Oilers, Wild and Devils to turn things around and salvage their season, but there’s not much time – just about one month on the dot. And it’s important to bear in mind that those three teams aren’t playing in a vacuum. Because of their recent struggles, New Jersey, Edmonton and Minnesota essentially have had control of their destiny taken out of their hands. Not only do they now have to improve significantly, but they have to hope the teams ahead of them or just behind them in the standings - in New Jersey’s case, Carolina and Columbus, in Minnesota’s case, Colorado and Dallas, and in Edmonton’s case, the Kings, Flames and Canucks – wind up struggling the rest of the season.

For those reasons, we’re not feeling confident in the Oilers, Devils or Wild this year. Their faults have come to light, and there’s no easy fix for them. And if they do fall easily in the playoffs, no one will be able to say they never saw it coming.

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The Calgary Flames have recalled forward Dryden Hunt from the Calgary Wranglers, it was announced Friday. 

Hunt, a native of Cranbrook, B.C., has been a key part of the Wranglers this season, collecting 15 goals and 33 assists for 48 points in 48 games. Hunt has also appeared in one game with the Flames, going pointless in the process. 

Having turned pro before the 2016-17 season, Hunt has appeared in 231 career NHL regular season games across parts of eight seasons with the Flames, Florida Panthers, Arizona Coyotes, New York Rangers, Colorado Avalanche, and the Toronto Maple Leafs. In that span, he has scored 18 goals and added 33 assists for 51 points. 

In his second full season with the Flames organization, Hunt has established himself as a reliable depth player. If an NHL regular goes down with an injury, Flames management knows they can rely on Hunt to come in and play his role well. As Hunt gets another recall, he will once again have the chance to show what he is capable of. 

11 days after Carolina smothered the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena, the Hurricanes beat Detroit again Friday in at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh.  The game looked different than the Canes' win at LCA, with the Red Wings posing a more serious and sustained threat than they managed in the previous match-up, but in the end the result was the same, with Carolina playing its way to a 4–2 victory.

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Detroit had to absorb heavy early pressure in the first period, as the Hurricanes flew out of the gate in their signature free-firing, aggressive fashion.  Despite that early push from the home team, it was the visitors who struck first, with Alex DeBrincat nabbing his 31st of the year when the Red Wings forced a turnover on an attempted Carolina zone exit and the diminutive sniper buried a wrister from the outer slot.

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The Detroit lead was short-lived, however.  Taylor Hall tied the game just 22 seconds into the second period, with Jack Roslovic and Jalen Chatfield following it up to send the game to the third at 3–1 after a period in which the Canes held a 12–6 advantage in shots.

Michael Rasmussen cut that lead to 3–2 early in the final frame with an impressive solo effort, lugging the puck from end to end before dipping his shoulder to sashay around Roslovic.  It took three whacks at the puck to beat Frederik Andersen, but Rasmussen eventually forced home the puck, leaving his team with just over 17 minutes to find an equalizer.

The Red Wings continued to threaten down the stretch, and the third was the only period in which they outshot their hosts (14–11), but Detroit couldn't find the goal it needed, before Eric Robinson hit the empty net to make it 4–2 with just over a minute left, sealing the result.

"I thought the second was the period that really hurt us," coach Todd McLellan told reporters in his post-game remarks.  "The first, you have to weather the storm here.  They come out real hard, we got some good saves, I thought we settled in as the period wore on, scoring certainly helped us, but the second period was unacceptable.  It wasn't just Carolina-inflicted; it was self-inflicted.  It started with the very first shift...some really dumb play on our behalf, so that was self-inflicted...If you don't play your full 60 against these top teams, you're likely going to come out on the losing end."

The Red Wings have now lost six straight to the Hurricanes, with their last win coming on March 30, 2023 at LCA.  McLellan likes to talk about a 'race to three' in the modern NHL, and Detroit hasn't made it to three goals in any of those six defeats.

After the loss, the Red Wings remain two points back of the playoff cut line, with an extra game played and the Rangers and Canadiens both between them and the Blue Jackets (present holders of the second wild card berth in the East).  Detroit will be back in action Sunday afternoon at LCA, hosting the Vegas Golden Knights.

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