St-Louis reveals his plan and intentions for Arber Xhekaj and the rest of his defensive squad

In the last few minutes, Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St-Louis was at a press conference.

As we reported, he confirmed that Arber Xhekaj will finally keep his place in the club's lineup for tonight. "Jacko" will be paired with Johnatan Kovacevic, while Jordan Harris will be left out.

St. Louis also confirmed that Mike Matheson will officially return to the lineup.

A plan already in place


Finally, beyond his plan to face the Philadelphia Flyers, Martin agreed to open up about his overall, longer-term plan for what's next and how to handle his surplus of defensemen as the weeks go by.


So don't be surprised if next game we hear that Xhekaj is out of the lineup and left out.

In fact, Xhekaj will definitely be out of the CH lineup eventually, as it will be a simple three-man rotation.

So don't worry about it, it's perfectly normal.

Youngsters forcing the bosses' hand.

From here on out, it will indeed be a rotation between three young defensemen, who will alternate appearances in the stands alongside Chris Wideman.

We shouldn't expect a dismissal in Laval, and the reason is simple. The young guys deserve to stay in Montreal and they deserve to play regularly.

Harris should be back in the lineup fairly quickly.

Martin St-Louis had some very good words for his young backs: