The Montreal Canadiens signed defenceman Arber Xhekaj to a three-year, two-way contract on Monday.

Xhekaj was released from training camps and will return to the OHL's Kitchener Rangers. 

The 20-year-old played in 51 games with Kitchener in 2019-20, recording six goals and 11 assists. He did not play in 2020-21 as the OHL season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Xhekaj was initially invited to rookie camp before being invited to the main training camp.