Addressing Logan Mailloux’s Past and Present: Why Second Chances are Given to Those who Deserve Them
Day one of free agency and a lot has happened. Some good, some bad, and some honestly annoyed. We’re going to talk about it here on Locked on Blues. Hey, this is Brian Chen. Subscribe to Lock on Blues. You’re Locked on Blues, your daily podcast on the St. Louis Blues, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. And welcome back to Locked On Blues. I am your host of Locked On Blues, Haley Taylor Simon, talking to you all things about our St. Louis Blues here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. Today is July 1st, which means free agency and a lot has happened. Some good, some bad, some ugly. Um, we’re going to dive all into that and just really react to what happened today. Maybe a little bit of the draft, but mostly there was a lot that went down today. And who better than to have Dylan with me. Um, we’ve had such great conversations, him and I, talking all about, you know, the Blues during their playoff run and even honestly the end of the season stuff. But Dylan, let’s talk about today. Most notably, and I just want to start off by saying this, one of my favorite prospects who I really love to watch play with the Thunderbirds, who was then called up to be on the Blues. Um, was Delta in a trade and that was Zach Buluke. I’m infuriated about this. Um, and I just want to give you an example. During the Four Nations phase off when a lot of players went on vacations, Zach went to Springfield to play on the Thunderbirds and he came back from that break playing some of the best hockey I’ve ever seen him play. And for a guy that had such promise, it’s hard for me to process that he was somebody that they were willing to trade away. Can I have your thoughts on what happened?
Yeah. Uh really big fan of Book and what he did this year. You know, before Montgomery took over. He had zero goals. Montgomery took over. He ends the season with 19. Um really got good at getting to the to the tough spots on the ice. Scored a lot of power play goals, checked hard. He played really hard in the playoffs. Uh was a true blue. One of my favorite guys last season, honestly. Uh just effort every night, effort every shift. Uh he was fighting for the crest on the front in the playoffs. I love that for him. Um I I loved him as a player, but at the end of the day, Haley, you know, if you’re going to get a right-hand shot defenseman that can skate and can score in today’s era, you have to give something up. And uh even though the Blues didn’t win a playoff series last year, they do have a plethora of wingers on the team. And if you listen to Doug Armstrong’s interview today, I think it was no, it was it really wasn’t no coincidence that it was a winger that was traded. Um, and there’s more coming, but it sucks to see Buluke go. I wish him all the best in Montreal. He is a a French born player, so or a Canadian Frenchborn player. So, yeah. Uh, you got to give something to to get something in today’s world. But what I found interesting when Doug spoke to the media was that he said in in my opinion in his kind of weird Doug words um that he does sometimes is that he felt like it was like losing a kid that he grew close to Bull Duke and he stated, you know, he’s been at camps like these talking about development camp and he seemed upset about this trade considering he was the one that insinuated this trade and um allowed to go through. Yeah, I think he kind of became a little bit of a fan favorite this season. Um you know, I do think there’s a world where you could have sold a little bit higher on him just taking the emotional side out of things. You have to probably imagine he was involved in the Dobson Dobson talks prior to that deal getting done. Um it it’s a little underwhelming at first when you when you do see it. You know, a player that played seven games in the NHL last year. Um we talked for
Tell me a little more about that because his AHL career was astonishing, but seven games in the NHL, that’s a lot of potential.
Yeah. Um I was looking into it a little earlier. He came up and had a really tough stretch in October. um like analytically it was it was pretty bad and they sent him back down and I’m pretty sure he just never really got got called back up. You know, Montreal kind of caught fire and they were winning games here and there and um so I don’t think he ever got a chance to come back and play and I don’t think Montreal ever gave him a true chance to develop. Doug Armstrong said something super interesting today. He said uh defenseman in the NHL, you need to give him 200 games. Yep.
Um, uh, the player we got today, I don’t even know how to how to pronounce his last name, right? Uh, Ma Mau or whatever. Anyway, he, uh, just call him Logan for now.
Yeah, we’ll just refer to him as Logan. Um, but but yeah, he’s played less than I think 10 NHL games in his career or something like that. Totally lit up the AHL. uh all AHL first team player all age uh then 20 24 25 he had I think uh 65 points or something remotely close to that last year he’s a goal scorer of physical player um you know if if Jim Montgomery can get his hands on him and teach him to play a little bit of defense we could be looking at a legit top four right-hand shot swift skating defenseman and I just keep thinking about him playing with Broberg and you know I’ve kind of been waiting for Broberg to get a D partner pretty much all of last season. Um, and yeah, we got a lot younger on on defense. I mean, all of our right-hand shot defenseman are like 32, so it’s it’s hard to it’s definitely an acquired taste at first when you hear Bull Duke, it’s like, oh, but then you think about it for a little bit and it’s like, all right, this guy could put up 40 points, 45 points next year, you know, if assuming he’s going to play. Armstrong’s comments today were he has a job and and right now. So, you know, we’ll see what happens. Armstrong was never really active on July 1st. Um, but yeah, I’m I’m expecting good things from this player.
Yeah, Logan Maloo. I mean, I kind of want to talk about some statistics with him and kind of break that down really fast. In the 2023 2024 season, he earned AHL all rookie and he did have a good strong beginning to the season actually in the AHL of four points in two games, which did prompt his recall to Montreal. But here’s my takeaway. When Armstrong says I could see him playing in the NHL next season, in my opinion, I would rather him play with the Thunderbirds rather than rush him to the NHL because we saw and I’m not Listen, you know, I love D’vorski and I know we’re comparing two different players here, but he wasn’t ready last year, right? They they brought him up for a little bit and that’s okay. I I I have all the faith in him, but Snuggy was ready. So you
Yes,
it you know, I’m not u as much as I watch a sport and and have opinions and have for a long time, that is a very tough thing to understand. You know, when is a player ready to play in the NHL? Because I think I think most people kind of look at it as, okay, well, if they can do it, you need to get them out there and and find out once and for all. And if they can’t, then you send him back down for a little bit. Let him continue the season. But you’re we’re getting a motivated player who’s been messed around a little bit. He’s obviously had his his hardships, you know. Um talk about that.
Yeah. And and um I just think he’s super motivated. He’s coming off of two good AHL years. Um coming from a kind of a brutal organization. you know, you you play a couple tough games that they’re they’re pretty much Toronto. Um you play a couple tough games and they kind of bury you a little bit. And I don’t know, just like the thought of Jim Montgomery getting his hands on this guy and and him him kind of fitting the mold of what the Blues have in terms of age and and kind of resetting the resetting the what’s going on with the defense. I don’t know. I just I love to see him come in play top four minutes right away, you know, like not be too horrible defensively. That’s what I keep saying it. I keep seeing is that he struggles with defense, but he is physical and can score and obviously a good skater. Um, we’ll see. You know, it could just be Armstrong saying giving him some confidence, but it sounds like they want to give him a shot um right right off the jump here. So, that would be the Blues need help now on defense. I mean, it’s it’s obvious they have for for close to two and a half seasons. So, you know, let’s hope he can come in and play motivated and and, you know, really have a role in the top four.
All right, we’re going to dive into some of the controversy. I’m just going to read some of my bullet points that I wrote down. And I just want to squash this in today’s episode and not have to bring it up again. I think that for me, it would be ignorant on my end if I didn’t address some of the off ice comments because Doug Armstrong did insinuate um that there was some stuff in his past and he didn’t talk about it. Um, but he said, you know, do your research and find out. I knew what it was, but I want everybody just to know what happened. Uh, there’s two different situations. We’re going to talk about it. We’re going to squash it because I truly do believe that second chances are given. And he and from hearing him talk today, he does seem somebody who did take accountability. So, here’s the incident. November 2020. Um he was playing in Sweden and he took and shared an explicit photo of I guess somebody that he was dating seeing um without her consent. He shared the photo with his teammates and uh the situation the act led to criminal charges in Sweden. Um he was fined and uh it was for an invasion of privacy and again that was in 2020. So, like he was a te I’m not excusing it, but he was a teenager. And then there was some controversy at the draft um 2021 where he publicly reannounced himself for being drafted, stating that he didn’t earn the right due to his actions. But despite this, the Montreal Canadians selected him third overall, which was honestly an insane thing, right? Yeah.
Um the Canadians were criticized by this pick. The fans, the media, even the Canadian prime minister spoke about the decision. However, um the Canadian said that they were going to help him with personal development, education, and uh he issued a statement expressing remorse and in 2023, the NHL said that he was not eligible to play in the league, but he was later reinstated with him having a meeting with Gary Bman, who was the commissioner. That was a lot, Bill. Um that was a lot.
It’s a lot. Um, yeah, it’s a lot, you know. Um, I believe I agree with everything you said at the beginning. You know, people need to deserve second chances. Obviously, what he did when he was a little bit younger, not that it matters what age you are if you do something like that. Um, it’s frowned upon. All we can do as fans is hope that he gets continued guidance from the NHL and and from uh the management here in St. Louis, which Armstrong did say today would happen. Y um you know and and just being a fan of people and wanting to see people be happy. I hope he can move on from that and put kind of put it be behind him. You know, come get involved in the community in St. Louis. It’s a great give back. Don’t I’m not saying money fixes what what donate a little bit to some charities or something. Just give back. Show that you’re committed to, you know, writing the wrongs. And at the end of the day, you hit the nail on the head. You know, he was he was reinstated. It’s insane. Totally insane that he was actually drafted. And
that was a crazy moment at that draft. I remember watching it and I was like, “Oh my goodness, what are Yeah, I remember hearing about that. I was a little out of the draft back then. The Blues were, you know, kind of going through it at that time, so I was a little out of touch.” But yeah, uh uh going back on it today and hearing that and it wasn’t the current regime at at Montreal, which kind of makes sense, but but yeah, for him to renounce himself and obviously the the kid felt bad and you know, you just hope for a happy ending, you know, come come on in and and do your thing and get in the gym and work hard and you know, good things will happen for all parties.
Absolutely. And the one thing that I took away from it was his remorse. I mean, for him, he was not expecting to get drafted by the Canadians. And for that to happen, I don’t want to say it made him look bad or worse, I should say. But it definitely didn’t help. I feel like he him saying, “Hey, I don’t want to, you know, come off this year. I don’t deserve it.” That was him giving himself a punishment in a sense, like, “Hey, my actions were not okay.” And the Canadians drafted him. But hearing Doug speak today, it seemed like, and I have to check my notes from back then, that the Blues had interest in him. He seemed like a guy that the Blues wanted from how Doug was speaking. So, it it sucks that Bold Duke um had to be dealt. But it just shows the talent though that Zack Buke has where you don’t have to give away any draft picks, nothing. All you have to give away is Zack Buke. Doug said the one positive thing for Bold Duke is that he’s able to head home. Um, I have to tell you though, we watch a lot of Blues hockey, you and I, and we talk about this all the time. You know, are some of our favorite players and Bul Duke was a fan favorite and he worked hard. He worked so so hard and uh he was one of those guys honestly who I like I didn’t have this on my mind today and I saw the news and
a lot of a lot of the really sharp guys that I follow that are really really tuned in the NHL this guy by the name of Kyle Foxton um may or may not have heard of him but he’s I’ve been following him for like going on 12 years yeah he he’s always pretty right on with with what he says. And um a lot of people seem to believe that it was always Bulldook if Kyrie wasn’t going to get traded. And as
as hard as that is to really fathom right now because it kind of did blindside me to be honest with you, when I saw Zack Balduk, I was like, “Okay, there this guy’s going to have like, you know, 15 goals, played 82 games last year.” Like, and then I see that he played seven games and I’m like, “Okay, like I don’t know about that.” But but yeah, you know, again, going back to what I said originally, you have to give give up something to get something and it you have the ple plethora of wingers. Um you have more coming in the pipeline. It’s just I don’t I don’t think you know you got to remember one thing about the Blues, they have maybe probably the best pro pro scouting
group in the league. Like it’s people will not argue with you on that.
No, they do.
So, you know, there you don’t have a full sample size on Zack Book yet. Who knows? Maybe he comes out and scores 40 and 60 next year with Montreal. I think that’s a little unlikely. He could be a 30 goal scorer. Um, but this
I wouldn’t have asked for that, man. But you’re right. You don’t know.
I mean, the he he had the goal where he was like flexing on the ice. This goal celebration, you know, I’ll never forget that. Yeah. But, um, I think I I will I will tell you that I trust the Blues pro scouting like 100%. So,
we’re on the same page about that one.
Yeah. I mean, and that’s and and that can be a decent segue if you’re ready to talk about Buchad and and some of the other stuff that happened today. Yeah. Well, before we get into that, I’m going to tell everybody about Fandal and then we’re going to dive all into that. That was a good segue on your end. And I like
In this episode, host Haley Taylor Simon addresses the full picture of Logan Mailloux—from the serious off-ice incident that made headlines during his draft year, to his path of accountability, development, and now his fresh start with the St. Louis Blues. With Mailloux officially joining the team via trade from Montreal, we dive into his public remarks, what the Blues are expecting from him on the ice, and how the organization is approaching his past as part of his future. It’s a candid, honest look at growth, opportunity, and responsibility in today’s NHL.
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9 comments
Logan Mailloux is a good player with a lot of promise…share your thoughts..
My thoughts is that we gave up the best player, a player that was NHL proven, a player who is improving , a player that was cost controlled, and a player that showed every reason to believe he would improve. We got a maybe, unproven defensemen who has second line potential, and who has huge question marks. You can make every excuse about position and strength but the bottom line is the best player left, a huge risk is coming back, and the ceiling is second line Krug. Sometimes its better to wait and not make a move you in hindsight may regret. The bottom line is Zac should have brought back more.
I like the channel. You do great work and it's fun to listen to your efforts and opinions. I've been a Blues fan since Bernie Federko was a rookie. I remember MANY trades over the years that didn't please me at the time, but later turned out to be good decisions. There are always a few bad ones too, but they happen less often than the good ones. In short, get used to trades you don't like; especially in the modern commercial era. The NHL is a multi-billion dollar business. At the end of the day, the admins only care about a return on their financial investments. If fans are pleased along the way, that's great, but they don't care too much about us. Look at the soaring income players are receiving. The only way to continue to fuel this is to continue to bolster advertising (on jerseys, helmets, etc.) and to raise ticket and streaming prices. With no cap in sight, how high will all this go?
I apologize for not knowing your guests name which isn’t mentioned in the title or summary, but he summed it up perfectly. I trust Armstrong decision especially with the pool of wingers we have. Everyone is always big on changing the costly D and Doug made the change finally with a young big D man who has big upside and could develop into a PP quarterback.
Habs fan here, I understand the frustration of Blues fans for losing a young player like Bolduc but acquiring young promising RHDs in the NHL comes at a price.
They're very hard to trade for because they are more rare, you have to draft them and as defensemen they take longer to develop.
As for Mailloux (pronounced Maiyou), Bergevin (Habs previous GM) took a LOT of heat from Montreal fans/media for drafting him and its probably one of the many reasons he eventually got fired. It showed a lack of judgment and put a bad light on the historical Habs organization.
The kid made a horrendous mistake but he has worked since then to redeem himself so I wouldn't be too worried about his character for the future. From what I can tell, he seemed well liked by his teammates in Laval.
On the hockey side, he has all the tools to be a successful NHL player … he's very mobile (good skater), he has a great shot and he has the size (with a mean streak). Offensive defenseman.
The reason he was sent back to the AHL is that he needed to work on the defensive aspects of his game (defensive awareness/reading plays). He still has some work to do in that area but I'm sure your coaching staff will take care of that.
I think it's a Win/Win situation for both teams … we each addressed organizational needs.
Habs fan here… We feel the same about Logan Mailloux: "You have to give something to get something." The facts are that the Habs are overstocked in defense and goalies, and the Blues have a of forwards. Your ignorance comes out in that you don't even know how to pronounce Mailloux's name (or even Bolduc's for that matter). You could have done some research BEFORE you made the video, it's all out there for you on YouTube. But you didn't even bother to do that much to figure out what you got. Montreal is NOT pretty much Toronto: you guys are absolutely uninformed.
mailoux made a mistake,he addressed it and did everything to address it ,he was a young 17 year old as for his talent,he is big,mobile and still learning,bolduc was doing nothing till he got with monthy,in the playoffs he was a nonissue,montreal fans are calling this trade a steal by montreal,but wait armstrong does not make many mistakes and this could be a major steal by st louis
Mailloux was never going to stay in Montreal. There is a stink on him related to the manner in which he was drafted. It got tons of negative media in Montreal and that memory does not go away. Montreal new management handled it well, develop the player to make him trade attractive and move him to a city where his past does not follow him.
The only part of Mailloux's "past" that is of note is how it inspires the obsession of bloggers, podcasters, content creators, and other internet cave dwellers who obnoxiously insist on bringing it up, because it's cheap, easy, gossipy content. In terms of character, I think would-be tabloid trolls are far less worthy of "forgiveness" than a young, testosterone-filled man making the same type of "questionable" decisions any of us might be prone to making in the same circumstance. For my part, I'm excited to have him on the team, and I hope this talk of his "past" gets tossed in the crapper where it belongs. The future is a lot more interesting.