Montreal Canadiens draft Arber Xhekaj’s brother Florian Xhekaj No. 101 in 2023 NHL Draft

The Montreal Canadiens have selected Hamilton Bulldogs forward Florian Xhekaj with the No. 101 pick of the fourth round in the 2023 NHL Draft.

Xhekaj is the younger brother of Habs defenseman Arber Xhekaj, who made a name for himself this past season as a physically imposing player and had a highlight-reel fight against longtime NHL tough guy Zack Kassian.

Xhekaj spent this past season in the Ontario Hockey League with Hamilton, he notched 13 goals and 12 assists for 25 points in 68 games and added 76 penalty minutes which included seven fighting majors according to our friends at HockeyFights.com. He picked up an additional one goal and two assists in six games during the OHL Playoffs.

During the 2021-22 season, he played Junior B hockey in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL) with the Pelham Panthers, registering 17 goals and 23 assists for 40 points and 62 penalty minutes in 48 games. as a result of his stats, he was named to the GOJHL (Golden Horseshoe) Rookie All-Star Team and was named to the GOJHL Top Prospects Game Roster. He went undrafted in the OHL Draft before signing a contract with Hamilton.

After a huge pick at No. 5 overall during round one of the 2023 NHL Draft yesterday when the Habs took Austrian defenseman David Reinbacher, they now look forward to Day 2 of the NHL Draft, the Canadiens have selected goaltender Jacob Fowler, Russian defenseman Bogdan Konyushkov and Xhekaj.

Xhekaj will return to major junior with the Bulldogs, however, this time the Bulldogs will be playing their 2023-24 home games from Brantford.