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We have an update regarding the removal of young defenseman Arber Xhekaj from the Montreal Canadiens lineup.

In the last few minutes, head coach Martin St-Louis announced in a press conference that there will be no changes to his lineup for tonight’s game against the Boston Bruins.

That means Samuel Montembeault will be back in net, Michael Pezzetta will once again be in uniform, and it also means two other young players will remain in the stands.

We’re talking here about Joshua Roy and Arber Xhekaj.

Martin St-Louis further explains his decision

In a media scrum earlier today, St-Louis had very positive things to say about Michael Pezzetta, who understands his role and consistently gives the team 5-6 solid minutes, according to MSL.

The head coach also added that he likes the energy Pezzetta brings to the Habs, which is the only reason he’s in the lineup instead of Joshua Roy or Arber Xhekaj as the 7th defenseman.

St-Louis also recently had praise for Jayden Struble on defense here.

So we can take away two things from this:

If Arber Xhekaj and Joshua Roy are being left out, it seems to be solely because of the strong performances from Struble and Pezzetta.

Martin St-Louis is not a fan of the 11 forwards and 7 defensemen setup.

So I’m really wondering what’s going to happen between now and the end of the season, because Struble will be tough to take out of the lineup and Martin St-Louis doesn’t seem in a rush to change his setup.

To be continued, but things are really tightening up for the Sheriff.