Several teams reportedly calling on tough Montreal Canadiens defenseman

The reason traces back to a July 5 deadline, not to his trade value.

David Pagnotta, speaking on Leafs Morning Take, said several clubs have checked in on the physical blue liner this week. On the surface it looks like a simple depth squeeze.

The calls are real, but the interesting part is why they are even possible right now. This is less about Xhekaj's modest scoring and more about a box he chose not to tick.

Restricted free agents had until July 5 to elect salary arbitration. Xhekaj declined, while teammate Kirby Dach filed.

That distinction matters more than it looks. A player who files for arbitration is locked out of signing an offer sheet until his case is settled, which effectively removes him from the open market for the summer.

By skipping arbitration, Xhekaj kept his offer-sheet eligibility intact. Dach, by filing, closed his own door the same afternoon.

So the club has two headline RFAs, and only one of them can actually be pried loose by a rival right now. The calls are landing on Xhekaj because he is the one still reachable.

Offer sheets can be signed through December 1, so this pressure does not expire with the calendar flipping to August.

Hughes controls the outcome by matching, but matching still eats cap space he wants for bigger names.

Xhekaj's qualifying number sits around $1.3 million, low enough that a rival could structure an offer with modest draft compensation attached. That is the quiet math turning polite phone calls into a genuine nuisance.

None of this means Xhekaj is leaving. It means a procedural choice, not a trade request, handed rival GMs a small window, and it stays open until he signs.

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