Montreal Canadiens defenseman Logan Mailloux is back in the rumor mill
TSN 690 Montreal: Marco D’Amico, when asked about Montreal Canadiens defenseman Logan Mailloux’s name in the rumor mill.
Conor McKenna: “Logan Mallioux’s name won’t stay out of trade rumors. It seems like not a day passes that something doesn’t come up involving him. What do you think? What’s your evaluation of the player, Marco, the, the potential that, that he still has, and maybe most importantly, how attractive of a trade option he might be if, in fact, the Canadians are looking to move him?
D’Amico: “Yeah, well, I mean, players that have Logan Mailoux’s offensive abilities, and they can shoot right, don’t come around very often. And so I can understand fans that very much like him. And in terms of his offensive abilities, I 100% agree.
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I think even this season, when he was called up for the Montreal Canadiens, he looked like he belonged offensively. I think everybody kind of understands that it was more the decision-making, and the defensive positioning, and the gap control that the Canadians wanted him to work on.
So instead this season, instead of giving him the first power play wave and the top offensive utilization, he was, in fact, used in a more defensive manner. Almost the same switch that the Montreal Canadiens did with Mike Matheson from last year to this year, where he was given more of a shutdown role. Well, that’s the exact same thing they tried to do with Mailloux, and to a degree, it really did help him in terms of growing his defensive game.
But in this NHL, you have to give to get. And the thing with Mailloux, and this can go for trading him, and this can go for keeping him, but young right-shot defenseman that are as big as he is, as mean as he is, and have the offensive abilities that he has, there are none on, on the market. There’s maybe Jordan Spence in LA that could be available.
But rarely do these players become available, and when they do, there is the, you know, the core piece of a trade. And so that’s why Anaheim liked him enough last year to trade for him and the Canadians 21st overall pick for, you know, in exchange for Trevor Zegras, an early second-round pick. That deal ultimately fell through because the Canadiens got their man in Ivan Demidov.
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So there is value in Logan Mailloux, absolutely. But unless you’re getting a bona fide number two center that can grow with Ivan Demidov for years and years to come, there’s absolutely no rush to move him right now.
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