MONTREAL — Arber Xhekaj was in a serene mood Saturday morning, knowing he would be playing later that night in what could easily be considered the Montreal Canadiens’ biggest game of the season.

He had long since left the ice after the morning skate, and Xhekaj was chatting with reporters. Jayden Struble was just coming off and entered the locker room because he would not be in the lineup against the Detroit Red Wings, with first place in the Atlantic Division on the line.

Ever since Kaiden Guhle suffered an adductor injury in the fifth game of the season, which he admitted Saturday morning first flared up in the preseason before getting worse, the battle has been on between Xhekaj and Struble for the No. 6 spot on the Canadiens’ blue line.

With Guhle returning to the lineup, the fact that Xhekaj was in shorts and a T-shirt while Struble was taking his equipment off was validation of what Xhekaj has shown over the past few weeks: his maturity and an improvement in his ability to manage games and control his own aggression.

And he was going to get to show that off.

“It’s a big game,” Xhekaj said. “It’s a game to kind of show that we should be at the top. It should be a good one.”

It was a good one, just not for the Canadiens, who lost 4-0 to the Red Wings in a competitive game. But Xhekaj continued building momentum to solidify his spot in the lineup as though he was pouring cement into that spot.

What has held Xhekaj back at times over his career is an inability to focus on the right things at the right times. Knowing he needs to be physical to stay in the lineup, he tended to take bad penalties. Knowing he was taking too many penalties, the physical play that makes him so valuable would begin to disappear. Knowing he needed to be smart with the puck and avoid turning it over, every turnover he made only led to more mistakes.

His desire to stay in the lineup has, in many ways, been his own worst enemy.

Except as soon as Guhle began skating on his own and ramping up his preparation, as soon as Xhekaj’s spot in the lineup appeared to be in imminent danger, as soon as the conditions that previously crippled him were beginning to manifest, his game improved.

And in this game, Xhekaj put all the elements that make him a desirable NHL defenceman together.

Late in the second period, Xhekaj crushed Red Wings centre J.T. Compher against the end boards twice in 20 seconds, two of eight hits he had in the game, the third-highest total of his career. But he didn’t go out of his way to make any of those hits; he just seized the opportunity when it presented itself.

Arber Xhekaj est en GRANDE forme 💥 pic.twitter.com/NDzkGvBbLa

— TVA Sports (@TVASports) January 11, 2026

“It brings a physical element to the game that not a lot of guys can bring,” Guhle said. “It’s fun to play with him, you definitely get a little bit more space when you’re out there with him.”