Yes I assume the idea behind that was some sort of compromise so it might not look like his sabre was sticking out when it was supposed to be off.

Despite the awkward angles they are holding those sabres at, I always liked that I could slide the sabres on and off. And I could badly mimic the soyund effect of an igniting sabre aged six. I was a bit disappointed when Luke Bespin came out. Sure, it looked more realistic but a playability feature had gone. And I lost his sabre before dinner time anyway.