Last Monday, along with his clearance to return to play, Arber Xhekaj learned that he had been assigned to the Laval Rocket to continue the season. The Montreal Canadiens didn't indicate that the move was for conditioning purposes, implying it's a regular demotion for the 22-year-old defenseman.
Regarding Xhekaj's move to Laval, head coach Martin St-Louis finally broke his silence, being quite direct in his comments, even making a pointed remark towards the media, asking them to calm down.
Furthermore, the coach asserted that Struble's level of play had nothing to do with the decision to demote Xhekaj to the minors, a point which is debatable. If Struble had not been as effective, especially since Jordan Harris is on the injured list, there would have been no one to replace him on the left side with the club during Xhekaj's assignment to Laval.
