Though it was already expected, the Montreal Canadiens have officially placed Paul Byron on long-term injured reserve and recalled Arber Xhekaj from the minor leagues. Byron is now out for at least 24 days, though his actual return is still completely indefinite.
The 33-year-old has been crushed by injuries the last several seasons, an unfortunate end to what was a pretty impressive story. Selected in the sixth round in 2007, he was an undersized offensive player from the QMJHL that needed to revamp his game to make it in the NHL. After several years grinding through the minor leagues in the Calgary Flames organization, he found a home and quickly became an NHL regular.
In 2016-17, he reached a career-high with 22 goals and 43 points, becoming a reliable even-strength scoring threat for the Canadiens. Overall, he has 98 goals and 208 points in 521 games. His contract, which carries a $3.4MM cap hit, will expire at the end of the season.
Xhekaj, meanwhile, has been the talk of training camp with the Canadiens. The 21-year-old undrafted defenseman is a mean, physical presence on the ice that seems to have absolutely no fear. The 6’4″ bruiser may not ever be a Norris candidate but with excellent skating ability and NHL size and strength, he quickly became a fan favorite in Montreal.
With the team focused on the future, young players like Xhekaj will get a great opportunity with the Canadiens this season. Byron’s contract gives the team a little more flexibility to work with, at least until he finds a way to get back on the ice.
*JACK-eye
Thank you. Was coming here to ask just that, and I would have guessed wrong.
Thank you, I usually have a decent knack for guessing the pronunciation of hockey players names but this one definitely stumped me.
Some chech names can be hard, Pleckanec was another one that was pronounced different, some times the name get anglicized to spell how they sound other times they dont
His dad is Albanian, his mom is Czech, and he was born in Canada.