Major development: Arber Xhekaj is about to leave the Habs' lineup?

In the last few seconds, we just got a major update on defenseman Mike Matheson.

For the first time ever this season, Matheson is sporting a regular jersey, and he's practicing at 100% with his teammates. This is a major milestone for him to return to the game in the next few days.




Seems to confirm that Matheson will be back in his team's lineup as soon as this week.


This is great news, but it could lead to a big disappointment for fans. Arber Xhekaj could really leave the lineup when Matheson returns.

Why? Simply because a defenseman will absolutely have to go.

Let's look at the CH's current defensive squad:

Guhle (Left) - Savard (Right)
Edmundson (Left) - Xhekaj (Left)
Harris (Left Handed) - Kovacevic (Right Handed)

And here we will soon have to add to that the name of Mike Matheson, who will be automatically inserted into the lineup and who is a lefty.

With the performances of Kaiden Guhle and Jordan Harris, unfortunately for "Jacko", they will obviously move ahead of him. Joel Edmundson has his spot secured, as does David Savard.

That leaves Xhekaj or Khovacevic. One of the two will be bailing out and will have to give up his spot to Matheson, and indications are that it will unfortunately be the rugged Xhekaj who will bail out.

First, because Xhekaj is left-handed and it is highly unlikely that Martin St-Louis will dress FIVE left-handers (out of six defensemen).

Second, because we got another major clue this morning:



Please understand us here! We don't want this to happen and we don't think it would be a wise decision to take Xhekaj out of the lineup, but looking at the facts, we have no choice but to talk about this possibility, which is looking more and more likely.

If that were your decision, what would you do?