Canadiens' Arber Xhekaj Done for the Season

The Montreal Canadiens have announced that defenseman Arber Xhekaj will undergo season-ending left shoulder surgery on Wednesday (April 10). They also noted that the hard-nosed defenseman should be good to go for the start of the 2024-25 season.

Le défenseur Arber Xhekaj subira demain une opération à l’épaule gauche qui mettra un terme à sa saison. Il devrait être prêt pour le début de la saison prochaine.

Defenseman Arber Xhekaj will undergo season-ending surgery to his left shoulder tomorrow. He is expected to be… pic.twitter.com/VT9q3zOsrY
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) April 9, 2024

Xhekaj, 23, missed each of the Canadiens' last two games due to his injury. When they announced that he suffered an upper-body injury, they noted that the left-shot defenseman would need more evaluation before getting an official understanding of how long he would miss. Now, we have an understanding of how much time he is going to miss, and it certainly is not the best news.

However, getting surgery at this point of the season makes sense for Xhekaj. The Canadiens are out of the playoff race, so the rest of the campaign does not carry much importance for them. As a result, it's smart for Xhekaj to get his surgery done now, as he is expected to be ready for the start of next season.

In 44 games this season with the Habs, Xhekaj had four goals, 10 points, and a plus-6 rating.