At the Habs' 2021 training camp, there was a surprise guest by the name of Arber Xhekaj. Then 19 years old and coming off a second straight draft year without hearing his name in the bullpen, it's no coincidence that Xhekaj received an invitation. In fact, the Tricolore staff had the defenseman in their sights for two years. In 2020, the CH turned their back on him and in 2021, they really wanted to select him at the end of the draft, but they took the chance of not doing so in order for no team to select him and for them to invite him to camp. <q>At his 19-year-old year, there had been talk of drafting him, but we took a chance and figured that by the sixth or seventh round, there's a good chance the 19-year-old would fall through the cracks. But we talked to Marc (Bergevin) about it and we agreed that if he went through the draft without being drafted, we were definitely going to bring him to development camp. - Martin Lapointe</q> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/MAGodin/status/1588136433990225922?t=0ykBcrmU53nTpryCuCVH6g&s=19'> </a></blockquote></div> However, by Xhekaj's own admission, the Habs weren't the only ones in the running. The Florida Panthers had already invited the defenseman to their training camp when Montreal called and the young defenseman made his decision. <q>I was actually supposed to go to the Florida Panthers camp. But I waited, and then Montreal showed up. - Arber Xhekaj</q> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/DLCoulisses/status/1588260437514223624?t=hy0c5CidXfRY6Kn8FF5yLA&s=19'> </a></blockquote></div> Now we know the rest, as No. 72 continues to impress and is truly earning his place in the NHL. Credit: <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/fanadiens/status/1588866271696879616?t=xxF4TtopMGFOzVqQTuzi2w&s=19'> </a></blockquote></div>