Screen Shots: Xhekaj Calls Out Senators' Tkachuk, NBA Penalty Box Idea And Hockey Film Remake

Welcome back to Screen Shots, an ongoing series in which we tackle a few different hockey topics, and break them down in short paragraphs.

Let’s get to it:

In the post-4-Nations Face-Off NHL, there’s already a ratcheting-up of emotions – particularly, in Montreal, where Arber Xhekaj reportedly laid down the gauntlet for Sentors captain Brady Tkachuk in advance of the Habs’ showdown with the Sens Saturday night.

“I’ll butt heads with him. I go right at him. I fire him up. I don’t care,”  Nicolas Cloutier of TVA Sports reportedly quoted what Xhekaj said. “I’ll go hard every shift I have with him and try to make his life (miserable) … try to make him have a tough night. Just bring it to him harder than he brings it to me.”

Although Cloutier downplayed his reports about what Xhekaj said, there is a history between the two players as Tkachuk tackled Xhekaj after a major hit on Senators star Tim Stutzle. And while Xhekaj didn’t exactly put a bounty on Tkachuk’s head, the interactions between the two players will be put under a microscope.

There’s not going to be a level of intensity akin to the 4 Nations Face-Off, but the stakes are high for the Sens and the Canadiens heading into the final third of the regular season, and that is clearly having an effect on the players who are caught up in the rivalry between the two Atlantic Division teams. Both players have robust physical games, and if there is a run-in between the two players, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety may eventually get involved.

Unfortunately, this rivalry will be a bit delayed with Tkachuk out with an injury for Saturday's tilt with the Habs. So for now, we’ll have to see how things play out before we declare this rivalry either over or more intense.

On The Rich Eisen Show, co-host T.J. Jefferson brought up an intriguing point in the wake of the 4 Nations Face-Off: if the NBA was going to copy the NHL in any regard, wouldn’t it be fascinating to use the NHL’s penalty-box system in NBA games? And the answer is a hearty “yes”. 

Let’s say a foul was called in the NBA – what would the games look like if, for two minutes, one team had to put the penalized player on the sidelines and create a 5-on-4 or 4-on-3 situation?

Indeed, at a time when a 3-on-3 professional basketball league is courting attention, wouldn’t it be worth watching to see a different NBA that had more court for players to play with if one or two players were forced out of action after committing a foul? It would be a fundamental change, to be sure, but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. And while we’re sure this idea would have to be experimented with in developmental leagues or pre-season games, there would absolutely be a heightened level of interest in this type of change.

We’re not holding our breath that this change will ever happen, but it was interesting for sure to see Jefferson raise the possibility of the NBA following the NHL’s lead in this regard. One day a good while down the road, it could be a reality, but for now, file this one under “Department Of Wishful Thinking”.

Finally, the cult classic hockey movie “Youngblood” is being remade, with filming currently taking place in Ontario. We weren’t all that crazy about the 1986 original movie starring Rob Lowe, but like many, if not most old Hollywood films, this re-jigged film will be for a new generation to discover.

There’s no question hockey fans have an endless appetite for big-screen films about the sport, but we’d be lying if we told you we were psyched for this “Youngblood” remake to come out. We’ll be happy to be proven wrong if the new movie turns out to be a winner, but until we see the final result, we’re going to approach it with a healthy skepticism.

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