Arber Xhekaj is at the centre of an unusual Bell Centre reminder that adds another detail for Martin St-Louis and the Canadiens to monitor.
According to Maxime Truman, the NHL and Montreal Canadiens jointly sent a memo this week to people working at the Bell Centre ahead of the game against the Ottawa Senators.
The message was direct: cell phones are prohibited inside the penalty box, and players who ignore the rule could face consequences.
That's not the kind of reminder players usually have to think about during a game. But one recent scene involving Xhekaj appears to have brought the issue back into focus.
The Canadiens defenceman was spotted using a phone in the penalty box to watch a video involving his brother, Florian Xhekaj, during the same game.
-
The sequence quickly circulated on social media. With broadcast cameras regularly focused on the penalty box, using a phone there isn't exactly something that can stay out of sight.
Xhekaj incident puts penalty box rules in focus
The issue goes beyond a player checking a screen between shifts. The penalty box is part of the playing environment, and the NHL clearly wants distractions kept away from that area.
Truman reported that the memo specifically emphasized that a cell phone cannot be in the penalty box. It also warned that consequences could follow if the directive isn't respected.
"I'm told the NHL and the Canadiens sent a memo to people working at the Bell Centre reminding them what's allowed and prohibited during games.
The memo states: you CANNOT have a cell phone in the penalty box.
It's prohibited and there could be consequences."
-
That puts Bell Centre staff in an unusual position. They'll now have another rule to enforce around players who are serving penalties during games.
For Xhekaj, the moment itself was understandable on a personal level. He wanted to see what had happened with his brother, and the clip caught attention because of that family connection.
But the NHL's response sends a broader message to every player who sits behind that penalty-box door. Phones stay out, regardless of what's happening elsewhere in the building.
It also means there shouldn't be much room for confusion moving forward. Players know the rule, Bell Centre employees have received the reminder, and cameras can capture almost everything happening inside the box.
Xhekaj's phone check may have lasted only a brief moment, but it appears to have produced a much more formal response around Canadiens games.
Did the NHL go too far with its penalty-box phone ban?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
A major development in Nikita Kucherov leaving the Tampa Bay Lightning: He has just made his decision
