Arber Xhekaj faces unfortunate news just before the Canadiens take on the Hurricanes
Arber Xhekaj barely played Monday as Martin St. Louis leaned away from him in Montreal's Game 7 against the Buffalo Sabres.
That wasn't a routine bench management call.
It turned into one of the night's biggest storylines, especially with the Canadiens trying to push through a high-pressure playoff game.
Xhekaj was dressed. He was available.
But for long stretches, he was nowhere near the flow of the game as Montreal effectively worked with only five defensemen.
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That's the part that stands out.
Teams usually need every defenseman engaged in a Game 7, especially when the pace rises and every shift gets heavier.
Instead, the Canadiens put a massive load on the rest of the blue line.
That decision left fans asking why Xhekaj stayed parked after a steady opening stretch.
The ice-time split only added fuel.
After two periods, Lane Hutson sat at 19:03, while Xhekaj had logged just 1:52.
Lane Hutson got the trust, and Arber Xhekaj didn't
By the end of the night, Xhekaj finished with only 1:52 total. Hutson, meanwhile, carried a huge workload at 31:17 as St. Louis clearly narrowed his options.
That tells you exactly where the coach's trust sat in the biggest game of the season.
It also sends a message, fair or not, about where Xhekaj stands right now.
Fans reacted fast. A lot of the pushback centered on the same point: if Xhekaj wasn't hurt and didn't struggle badly, why was he taken out of the equation so early?
That kind of usage can follow a player into the next round.
Confidence matters in the playoffs, and so does knowing a coach will stick with you after one mistake or one rough shift.
It also creates a real workload issue.
When one defenseman is almost fully removed, the rest of the group has to absorb every extra battle, breakout, and defensive-zone sequence.
And the timing matters.
With the Eastern Conference Final starting in two days, Montreal can't afford unnecessary wear on its top defensemen if this run is going to last.
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Now the spotlight shifts back to St. Louis.
Whether Arber Xhekaj gets another real chance may shape more than one lineup card. It could shape the tone inside the locker room.
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MAY 20, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Jack Ahcan | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| Brent Burns | - | - | - | |
| Dylan Coghlan | - | - | - | |
| Ross Colton | - | - | - | |
| Pavel Dorofeyev | - | - | - | |
| Nic Dowd | - | - | - | |
| Jack Drury | - | - | - | |
| Jack Eichel | - | - | - | |
| Noah Hanifin | - | - | - | |
| Carter Hart | - | - | - | |
| Tomas Hertl | - | - | - | |
| Brett Howden | - | - | - | |
| Ben Hutton | - | - | - | |
| Nazem Kadri | - | - | - | |
| William Karlsson | - | - | - | |
| Parker Kelly | - | - | - | |
| Keegan Kolesar | - | - | - | |
| Brett Kulak | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||