The last time I spoke regarding Logan Mailloux on this site, I analyzed the moral and social conscience that his selection had caused at the Montreal Canadiens in July 2021, a text that had anticipated almost in all respects what would happen next for Mailloux and the Habs.
This is the first time that we have offered an analysis of the importance of Logan Mailloux as a hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens as part of our annual list of hopefuls, and to be honest, we would have liked to have had more big sample of matches to put in your mouth to better be able to evaluate it.
But the beauty of the thing, it is that our evaluation does not relate only to the potential, it also relates to the insurance to reach this one as well as value of use and exchange of the player. And it is especially on these last aspects that there are interesting ideas to analyze concerning Mailloux.
Furthermore, I also want to say right away that if my ranking had to be redone, I would most likely place Joshua Roy ahead of Mailloux, Roy impressed me so much during the last CMJ games, in addition to having played well throughout throughout the competition.
For this reason, I will not rate Mailloux higher than Roy. But it’s Roy who should really be 9th in my mind today, a few points ahead of Mailloux.
Logan Mailloux
Potential: 32.5/40
Assurance : 13/20
Use value: 23/30
Trade-in value: 5/10
Total : 73.5 / 100
Potential
Mailloux seems to have physical attributes worthy of a first pair defender. At 6’3, 212 pounds, his skating is powerful and fluid, his throw is exceptional, his hands are flexible and he is as tough as can be. He may still be running around a little too much, but nothing that can’t be corrected with a little coaching and experience.
We would have liked to see him remain healthy in London last winter, because we had the impression that he had the potential to flirt with the point per game until the end of the calendar in the OHL. Before his injuries Mailloux had totaled 8 points in 6 games… As a defender, these kinds of statistics are always impressive.
In fact of all the CH prospects on the blue line, only Lane Hutson seems to have better instincts and better offensive attributes. Mailloux is therefore an excellent candidate to obtain his share of minutes on the power play in the NHL.
In short, as we can see him here when he was only in his 2nd game following his return to the game, with Mailloux it is not the potential that needs to be questioned and analyzed at length. Its ceiling is high, and if it weren’t for sounds story paired with others stories at Hockey Canada, a healthy Mailloux would surely deserve consideration for the next WJC.
Assurance
Before he was injured last winter, people from the London Knights, including his coach Dale Hunter, said that Mailloux was already going to be ready for the NHL in the fall, at 19 years old! You can take it and leave it, but all that already told us a lot regarding the extent of his talent as well as his physical strength.
However, it is probably on the psychological level that the jump in the NHL will be the most demanding for Mailloux, even more if we imagine him in the Montreal environment. It is certainly this aspect that invites us the most to maintain a certain conservatism in the evaluation of the assurance that it reaches its full potential.
That said, injuries shouldn’t be underestimated either!
Major injuries like the one Mailloux suffered in the shoulder, even if they can heal well at this age following an operation, are likely to delay the development of the player when he finds himself in the crucial years of it.
Even if Logan Mailloux is ahead in his rehabilitation program, he should not be at camp → https://t.co/mGC7jFE6OO
— DansLesCoulisses (@DLCoulisses) August 22, 2022
We saw what it ended up doing for Josh Brook. And following multiple injuries over the years, there has also been very little progress for Jayden Struble since his draft.
The list of young players who might have established themselves in the NHL, but were never able to because of injuries would be almost as long to read as the internet!
It is therefore to be hoped that things will recover quickly for Mailloux and that he will not have any consequences from the minor (lower body) and major sores (shoulder) of the last season.
Use value
Given the almost absolute rarity he represented in the prospect bank as a strong, robust, mobile and talented right-handed defenseman, we understand, on the strict hockey level, why Bergevin and Timmins turned to Mailloux. Josh Brook had yet to convince anyone that he would ever make an impact in the NHL and the rest of the interesting blueline prospects were shooting from the left. Add to that the uncertainty (or certainty) that surrounded Weber, the age of Petry (and his possible departure) and some would undoubtedly have been tempted to place Mailloux closer to the top of this bank of hopes.
For their part, Gorton and Hughes have so far been very tight-lipped regarding their assessment of Logan Mailloux, the hockey player. It is therefore difficult to know if the Ontarian is an important prospect in their eyes and especially if thestory surrounding Mailloux is a distraction with which they want Actually negotiate in the months and years to come. Because presenting Mailloux in front of the media, in the middle of July, during the development camp in Brossard with Rob Ramage, essentially to show us that he has learned his little catechesis of good conduct well, a thing, as Gaston Therrien would say. But presenting Logan Mailloux at the Bell Center in front of a crowd of 21,000 spectators, perhaps half of whom are waiting for him with a brick and a beacon is another thing…
But we feel that they will have no choice but to take an official position sooner or later. To this end, we can also wonder if there is a member of management who is sad that Mailloux cannot be on the next camp because he has not yet recovered enough from his shoulder operation…
As life is well done, the dust will still have a little more time to settle…
My take on what Hughes and Gorton (HuGo) will be up to in the next few months?
HuGo will basically just follow the plan laid out by the Canadian who has already invested a million dollars to save face in this story. Even though it’s still a very small sample, the best thing that can happen in this case for CH is for Mailloux to play and produce like a top defenseman in the OHL. That’s exactly what he did when he returned to the game, but a stupid fight came to ruin everything. If Hughes and Gorton had doubts regarding his character, this useless fight for a player who must avoid bad press at all costs and above all who must to play in hockey has certainly not increased his rating with his bosses…
Add to that the judicious fact that the acquisition of Justin Barron has removed a great deal of importance from Mailloux in the organization’s plans, if indeed the new administration has really maintained any in his regard…
Following the arrival of Barron and to a lesser extent that of Harris who can play on the right, the HuGo Canadian might very well decide to cut ties with Mailloux without necessarily unbalancing anything major in its infrastructure.
Hughes and Gorton already owed nothing to Mailloux. It’s as if the arrival of Barron and the almost surprise signing of Harris last spring means that Mailloux owes them even more.
But if I had to bet a few dollars, if Mailloux does not make a mistake this season and recovers well from his injuries, I think the Canadian will agree with him on the terms of a contract next spring.
Trade-in value
Unless you come across an executive who doesn’t care regarding his pre-draft history and who sees Mailloux in his soup, the exchange value of the CH prospect should not exactly be “through the ceiling”, as say the Serbo-Croats. Even following the arrival of Justin Barron, one might think that its use value still far exceeds its exchange value for the Canadian.
Everyone is still a bit skeptical – with good reason – regarding Mailloux’s character and how this whole story might ultimately affect him hockey-wise. And so, everyone wants to know the rest of his career in order to get a clearer idea of his value.
This is why the new management must not appear too cautious regarding placing Mailloux in the team’s entourage and in the Montreal pot. She has everything to gain by continuing to invest in the development of Mailloux the player AND the human, until he signs a contract.
If Mailloux was able to show his credentials, that he didn’t play too badly and that it was the Montreal crowd that would always continue to take a dislike to him despite his fine efforts and his fine progress, HuGo will have a better game in front of his counterparts, a kind of “the guy is okay, the guy is cured!” It is our supporters who are sick! At least the other clubs might then tell themselves that they will not necessarily get their hands on a package of finished and unrepentant trouble, a real crazy head as the other would say. The other GMs would rather think of getting their hands on a starving young man, knife between his teeth, ready to do anything to demonstrate his true value.
So here is a classic case of sit and wait for Hughes and Gorton. Mailloux must be given time to establish his own value both on and off the ice.
And hope the crowd doesn’t fall on him too much…
Conclusion
There are several interesting young players in the CH organization, several of which will be the subject of our next analyses. But Logan Mailloux is a unique case.
Of course he has his story good to him that he wishes forever left in the past.
But, above all, there is the story that he still has to write. This one is in a way much less obvious to analyze than the other, and we can’t wait to see how many chapters will be written in Montreal…
With his intriguing potential, his reputation to rebuild, the resilience he will have to show to achieve his goals, as well as his relationship to solidify with the new administration – including a certain contract to sign! – even if the Caufields, Slafkovsky and Guhle will attract a lot of spotlight to them, there will always be at least one big one to follow step by step, the “other” recent first-round pick, the repentant Logan Mailloux.