A very disturbing information concerning Arber Xhekaj is currently circulating and it seems to be confirmed

Thanks to the excellent work of my colleague William Nadeau of Habs & NHL, we can see that the defenseman's playing time has been in free fall for the past few games, as he is playing as little as a fourth line player.

Add to this the 10 minutes and 43 seconds of playing time yesterday against the Boston Bruins.

No need to tell you that's really not much, especially for a defenseman.

It is clear that the current situation of the Tricolore which forces Martin St-Louis to use a formation with 11 forwards and seven defensemen does not help the playing time of the defensive brigade, but everything indicates that there is another reason behind this sudden drop in the use of Xhekaj.

It's worth recalling the very revealing remark made by CH game analyst Marc Denis during the game against the Florida Panthers.

The fact that even Marc Denis is noticing it, it's certainly noteworthy, especially since Xhekaj's ice time is getting lower with every game.

Of course, the situation favors the use of seven defensemen, which allows Xhekaj to still play in the games regardless.

However, when injured players return to the lineup in the next few weeks, is it possible that he could be placed on the injured list? It is very plausible.

In any case, let's really hope that this is minor in the case of Xhekaj, it would be a great shame to see another fan favorite sidelined for a while.

Credit: Marc Denis (RDS), ESPN & HabsetLNH.com