Florian Xhekaj Injured: The Canadiens Will Play with Seven Defensemen Tonight

This morning has been full of news.

One of the big surprises this morning is that Jacob Fowler—not Jakub Dobes—will be in goal for the Canadiens this Saturday night.

That's sure to please a lot of people, but it's still a surprise.

Otherwise, we've learned that Kaiden Guhle will be back in the lineup. And naturally, we were wondering who would make way for the defenseman ahead of tonight's game.

Reminder: Since Jayden Struble didn't play on Thursday, Guhle won't be taking his spot.

And finally, here's the answer: he'll take the spot of forward Florian Xhekaj, who's nursing a minor injury. So the Canadiens will go with seven defensemen tonight.

That's what was announced.

11F and 7D tonight for Montreal.

Florian Xhekaj will be out of the lineup with an injury.

— Marco D'Amico (@mndamico) October 10, 2026

It's worth noting that Florian Xhekaj missed today's practice and yesterday's as well. His absence from two consecutive optional practices had raised some eyebrows.

Now it's clearer why he wasn't there. After all, only the veterans and one other injured player—Oliver Kapanen—were absent this morning at the Bell Centre.

Optional practice for the Habs this morning, just a few hours before the game against the Red Wings.

Anderson, Matheson, Carrier, Kapanen, and Florian Xhekaj were absent.

This is actually the second day in a row that Florian has missed an optional practice.

— Patrick Friolet (@PFrioletRDS) October 10, 2026

Florian Xhekaj, Ivan Demidov, Oliver Kapanen, and Samuel Montembeault are currently on the Canadiens' injured list, leaving the team with only 18 healthy skaters following the trade of Jayden Struble and the return of Kaiden Guhle.

The Canadiens, who chose not to recall a forward, therefore opted to go with an 11-7 lineup.

It's also worth noting that TVA Sports released footage of the moment when Xhekaj may have been injured during Thursday's game against the Nashville Predators.

Phew…

Florian Xhekaj will miss tonight's game… and it's likely because of that missed check https://t.co/DT7cBBiji0

— TVA Sports (@TVASports) October 10, 2026

Overtime

One has to wonder if, in reality, Martin St-Louis might choose—at certain points in tonight's game—to go ahead and play a 12th forward named Xhekaj anyway.

After all, Arber could get some playing time on offense here and there during the game, just as he did in a regular-season game last season.

Reminder: The idea of seeing Arber on offense has been the talk of the camp.

It's certainly not the ideal plan, but to ensure that all seven defensemen get playing time, it's undoubtedly a scenario the coach has in mind.