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Department of Player Safety Appears to Have Made an Official Decision on Arber Xhekaj's Punch on NHL Official

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Julien Trekker
December 2, 2024  (5:02 PM)
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Last night, the Montreal Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj hit a referee in the face, and his suspension fate has been officially revealed.

Many believed the NHL Department of Player Safety would act on an incident that occurred last night in a game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins.

During a heated scrum, Arber Xhekaj hit a referee, leaving fans to think he could face consequences.

However, upon watching the replay, we can see that Xhekaj hit the ref accidentally.

It was finally confirmed that Xhekaj won't be punished by the NHL, as the five o'clock deadline came and nothing was announced by the DoPS.

If he had intentionally hit the referee, there's no doubt he would've automatically been suspended.

The Canadiens will now be able to focus on what truly matters: bouncing back.

Comfortably sitting at the last spot in the Eastern Conference with 19 points in 24 games, Montreal is once again poised to get a good lottery pick for the upcoming draft.

Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton, the team's general manager and president of hockey operations, want to see improvement from the players.

They were serious when they said they wanted the team to be in the playoff mix this season.

Even though Patrik Laine is set to come back to the lineup soon, he can't carry the team by himself.

While players such as Mike Matheson, David Savard, Cole Caufield, and Nick Suzuki remain committed at all times on the ice, others will need to do better.

As for Xhekaj, he has been playing great lately following a tough start to the season. His head coach Martin St. Louis entrusts him with a much bigger role than he used to, averaging between 14 and 20 minutes on the ice in his last five games.

The Habs will be back in action tomorrow against their former all-star goaltender Patrick Roy and the New York Islanders.

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Do you think Arber Xhekaj should've been suspended for hitting a referee?

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