Arber Xhekaj Scratched from Tonight's Lineup as Martin St-Louis Sends him a Message in Press Conference
Photo credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
With the return of defensemen Justin Barron and Kaiden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj is the one who gets bumped and is removed from the lineup by Martin St-Louis.
The Sheriff is immediately sent to the stands, confirming he is indeed the Canadiens' 7th defenseman.
See what Martin St-Louis had to say about the matter just moments ago, before facing the Washington Capitals.
«MSL on pulling #72: We have seven healthy players right now, and we're trying to keep everyone involved.. I'm not upset with Arber; he's working on the things we discuss and will be back, but we want JB and Guhle, who missed some time, to return.»
- Martin St-Louis, who certainly didn't have the same tone as the last time he spoke about Xhekaj in a press conference.
- Martin St-Louis, who certainly didn't have the same tone as the last time he spoke about Xhekaj in a press conference.
This will be a story to watch in the coming days.
Martin St-Louis had some advice for Arber Xhekaj
The Canadiens' head coach mentioned that his rugged defenseman simply needs to be patient, keep working on the things they discussed, continue applying the coaches' directives, and he should be back in the lineup sooner rather than later.
However, it's evident that Montreal's management views Justin Barron as a regular on the defensive squad.
The fact that he's a true right-shot defenseman doesn't hurt, to say the least.
Xhekaj will, therefore, need to go above and beyond if he wants to break out of this role as the Canadiens' 7th defenseman and aim to overtake Jayden Struble or another teammate.
The full press conference from head coach Martin St-Louis can be found here:
In case you missed it, St-Louis also called out the Sheriff last week, he's definitely not on his good side:
Previously on HabsFanatics
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 31 | 1029 ANSWERS Arber Xhekaj Scratched from Tonight's Lineup as Martin St-Louis Sends him a Message in Press Conference In your opinion, what will happen to Arber Xhekaj with the Montreal Canadiens? | ||
| He will be sent down with the Laval Rocket | 88 | 8.6 % |
| He will be traded | 251 | 24.4 % |
| He will eventually be a regular | 539 | 52.4 % |
| He will stay as the 7th defenseman | 151 | 14.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
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