St. Louis Blues Acquire Logan Mailloux from Canadiens in Exchange for Zachary Bolduc

St. Louis Blues Acquire Logan Mailloux from Canadiens in Exchange for Zachary Bolduc

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 Bren Chen. Subscribe to Lock on Blues. Your 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 French born 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 Bulldog, 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, 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 Buluke. 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 I
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. 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.
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Okay. So, one thing I want to say and I think this will excite you a little bit. So, take the team that played in the first round this year against Winnipeg. And granted, we know Hella Buck was a PEZ dispenser in that series,
and Winnipeg was was better than us. Let’s face that. But and and the Blues still do have holes as of right now. But if you take out Zack Boo and you insert Dylan Holloway into that series, uh I think they’re especially with the chemistry that him and Jordan Kyru had, and we know that our our guy uh Ru, I like to call him, is locked in for for the season now. More than
like got rid of him now. He’s he’s here. It went into full effect uh I believe last night at midnight.
Yeah. And another thing I’m excited about is they they they haven’t signed they didn’t sign uh Mikuel Granland. Uh there was a lot of mixed reaction on him. I know he had some flash last year, but three times 7 million whenever you think about him being like 32 and you think about some of the players the Blues have up. I’m excited about D’Vorski. Like I’m telling you right now, this guy is a legit player. You have to give him a chance whether it’s at wing or at center.
I’m excited.
Um
I mean who says we can’t have a second line of Kyu D’vorski and Holloway?
Oh my could you imagine?
I mean who that’s not out of the stratosphere of possibilities this year.
That would be a great line.
Shen does not have to be the second line player just because D’Vorski hasn’t proven himself yet. I mean the guy needs to get a chance to do it and he hasn’t really had that
third or fourth line. Yeah. And and I’m not interested in seeing D’Vorski play on the fourth line. And keep in mind, those are the only minutes he’s played so far.
Fourth line. And there’s still Blues fans out here like judging him, telling like, “Oh, this guy’s like a bust.” It’s like, are you joking? Like this guy played with Walker and Jorenko and he’s And then he goes back down to Springfield and just continues to light things up. And keep in mind, we also have Jerus Peekarak who is his country mate and he’s coming up. He should be going pro this year and coming to Springfield. And I’m just super excited about the forwards. Like I think they could have not just a top six but more of a top eight like in
all these prospects like Stencil and like you know Merc Stenberg.
I’m a little dramatic. I’m a little biased but even my man Adam Yurichek I’m excited about him. Like there’s just
Wait, why are you biased about him?
Because I had the draft last year. Um I had a oneonone with him because like I was like one because it was in Vegas. I was like one of the only like media members that did stuff with the Blues.
I remember you telling me this. Yeah. and it was his birthday and like we just had such a nice chat even be like besides like the interview and like you you just root for certain players and he was so excited to wear that blue note Dylan and that gets me excited when a player like Justin when when he was emotional he told me
he was brought to tears when he got drafted by the Blues this past weekend because
oh I’m so excited for that player
so excited about And you know what? That player, that draft pick, a lot of times you don’t hear about picks for a year or two, but this guy seems like he’s ready to like straight up
Yeah, he’ll be ready soon.
I mean, he’s talking about the gym and talking about the training staff and and getting on the ice and
he wasn’t going to do this and meet the staff and get on the ice.
I mean, I don’t know that I don’t know how he got to 19. This dude looks I was watching some of his videos and I’m just like whoa.
You know why we got the 19?
Because all these teams wanted centers and defenseman and the Blues were smart. I mean at the moment I was a little bit confused. I’m like, “Oh, we don’t need a winger.” But now it makes sense because when all of like the centers and defenseman got drafted, you left a guy in my opinion. I thought it was going to go top 10 or at least
what an insane insane insane development. When you first read it, you’re like a winger. But then it’s like you see the guy play, you hear him talk, you see his body. It’s like holy cow, this guy could be ready like next, like maybe not this year, but
next year 2027. Like
like whoa, this dude could play. And his his his tape is just
it’s wicked. He’s a good like beyond good. And this is why I’m so excited about the future because they have so many great guys now in the system, but a guy that the Blues don’t have anymore. And I’m kind of laughing a little bit because this is so ridiculous. Fox uh um goes back to Dallas. Um insane amount of money, a couple millie AAB. Uh I that’s a that’s first off overpay. Secondly, he he was mid, and I don’t like using that word. He did what he needed to do. Was he a standout guy? No. Was he bad? No. But was he worth like I think it was like 2.2 million? No. Yeah. Um, it’s a it’s a good it’s a good point. Um, you know, I don’t know if you know this, but Nick Buchad is like 6’6, so it’s a he’s a big body coming. He’s huge. We didn’t even talk about him.
No. And that’s it. I mean, that’s effectively Fox’s replacement as of now. And Armstrong said today that he got word from Fox’s camp last night that he felt like that that it wasn’t going to work out. So, they started working on a second option, which would explain why Buchad was signed at like I don’t know like what an hour after free agency started today or two hours
right after. Yeah.
So, obviously they probably thought that Fox they could get him done. um it didn’t it didn’t work out and you pivot and you bring in a a player who’s six foot six. His JFresh card,
plug to JFresh, was really good. I think he was like a 65% percentile player, high finishing upside. Um the downside to Buchat is he’s not remotely close to what Fox was defensively. But if you shore up your defense and you know you get a more collective effort from the rest of the forwards, you don’t have to rely so much on your fourth line to to play all those checking minutes against good teams. So, you know, um yeah, Foxa and and again, I mentioned Granlin earlier. F I’m not I’m not losing sleep over Fox. Uh I wanted him back. People are upset about it, but it’s like, you know, you can you can find fourthline centers. I mean, and and Alexandro, too, is ready to come and play and and people forgot. He’s another guy.
Yeah.
Yeah. He’s another that role very seriously. And I’m excited about him. And
the biggest Nathan Walker fan, so it’s like maybe he gets replaced.
I I love him too, but his game
Oh, yeah. No, his game isn’t I agree.
I I’m on the same page. Um, really fast about Boos, I just want to give a couple stats. 32 years old right now. He’s played a total of 760 games. Throughout those 76 games, 157 goals and 173 assists. Again, we talk about him being 66. Huge guy. Um, last season though, he um played with um
Utah.
Utah. You know what’s funny about Utah? I still want to say Arizona. I’m not used to the Utah now.
I was just in Phoenix and all I could think about is like the Coyotes the whole time. I don’t know why.
So last year, um, Akles, um, 19 points total in 66 games. Again, he is probably right now, as I we were talking, third line center. Maybe if the Blues acquire some better talent. Um, no disrespect, maybe fourth line center. Right now, I could see him being fourth line center and Shen being third line center. However, I could also see being third line center and Shenny being fourth line center.
As long as Shen isn’t second line center, I don’t really care.
I’m good. No second, no first. Just keep him in the keep him in the bottom six. He’s still going to get the seat. Um
Yep. You won’t meet a bigger Shen fan, but I’m I’m okay. I’m okay with him.
I love But but keep him down. Um, but another thing that I’m a little upset about, and I talked about this yesterday, um, I had Michael Meyer on, not the Halloween character, Blues Prospect.
That guy is the best, by the way.
That dude is the best. I follow I have his notifications on Twitter, like that dude.
You do? And I’m like, yeah, he’s legit. That dude is awesome. Awesome. Um, so Ryan Sudter, I am so upset about this and I think this is going to lead to him retiring. Like no one’s going to want him. Take him back.
I would too.
Like over like
league minimum. I would send Letty to to like I don’t even know where like Seattle like and I know I know that I love the players and I think Letty’s a good guy even though he’s a former Blackhawk. Um but he has to say that that doesn’t help. No. And um you know we got rid of the other one last year with Brandon Sod. Yeah, it’s Faulk and Lety and you know, I just was like, man, we’re gonna Sudter at one point in time was like carrying the defense almost to a degree.
He was all the first pair. Yeah. And he worked his butt off.
It makes sense, too, because you have Urashek, you have Ralph, you have uh Malu who’s coming, and it’s like, okay, you don’t really want to give term to somebody, but you need a reliable player. And it’s like, man, I’d be very surprised if Sutter did something happen like was there something announced that like with him? What was announced?
So, what happened was Suds was saying, you know, hey, I would love to come back and be a part of the blues, you know, if my wife says yes, then, you know, I’ll play another season. And then Doug said, um, it was a couple pressors ago essentially. Yeah, we’re not going to resign him. Oh, see, I didn’t know that.
And here’s my issue, and this is my quick little vent really fast. Fox’s line, one of the best lines, honestly, in the back half of the season in the playoffs. I’m not going to deny that, okay? Not saying that. Listen, that’s a fact. suitor carry the defense especially that first half like he really stepped up big when Ley was out. My question is you add in these new guys one of them who is not going to be ready until next season on defense. You still have Nick Lety and Justin Faulk. Sorry, call me a hater. They’re not going to help.
Call me one too. I mean,
if I had to watch Justin Faulk give away one more puck whenever we’re uh on a six on five in the last minute of a game, I seriously might I don’t know, like spontaneously combust or something. And and he h I better just stop.
It’s bad. Like, and I and I was I was convinced that Sudter would play one last season here in St. Lewis repping the blue note and then he would call it quits and retire. He would help the younger guys. Um I am so disappointed honestly with that decision.
Yeah. I almost I almost guarantee I mean Cody Cody Cody Cece didn’t he just get like a four-year deal today? I mean you can’t tell me that guy is that much better than Ryan Sutter played Sudter played last year. like like I don’t care that Sudter is is old. Um
he can still play.
He plays better than Fulk and Letty
and he’s old school and he’s tough on the ice and he doesn’t take any and I don’t know. I just he just he’s always just like laughing and having fun. He’s great for the room. Right in the locker room. When I saw him in Philly, I was in the locker room and he said to me jokingly, he’s like, “Hey, where’s the best cheese stakes at?” Like that was because he heard my accent. I guess I said something where it sounded a little bit, you know, non
That’s what I would ask you if I saw you in
and I’m like I was even interviewing him. I think I was um interviewing Kyu and he like said that and I was like this is a funny like I can you can kind of tell players personalities. Um, but I if no one picks him up, I say league minimum. You you can’t go wrong by having somebody that stepped up for your organization big time. And uh if I ask you this right now though, and this is a question I saw circulating on Twitter, and I don’t know who posted it, so I would give credit, but I don’t know who did it. So, if it was your question, whoever is watching or whatever, then my apologies. Do you think the St. Louis Blues as of right now today, and let’s go say theoretically, um, Holloway is healthy and he’s able to play. Are they better than they were a year ago?
Yes,
I am on the same page. So,
most people will tell you no right now, but let it resonate for a few days. Get this kid on the ice. Get him into camp. get him into practice. Uh, and again, trust Doug Armstrong. I think I told you this in the end of season, Haley. I think I told you that I expect one more one more u trick for for Doug Armstrong before he calls it.
I think another offer sheet’s going to happen.
Yeah, they were talking offer sheet for Bowen Byron. You’re you’re thinking of a hockey trade involving either Faulk or Ley. Um, there’s a lot on the table. Uh there there is and again he’s not really a July 1st kind of guy. He never has been.
We saw that with Burber and Holloway. Yeah. I mean we didn’t find that out until what like I don’t even remember when that was finalized.
Very very late July or early August. It was late.
And and can we just take a second to just talk about that one more time before it’s formally put to bed? Also, RIP Edmonton Oilers 2X Stanley Cup champions. So sorry about their fans that totally just bashed Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg for leaving the Oilers because they got more money and more opportunity. Like I saw one Oh, I better not keep going. But I was so sad to see I was so sad to see the Oilers lose twice in a row. Like that was just oh I was that hurt.
You know what I thought about I was like wow and I’m talking about this past Stanley Cup. If only they had a young guy within maybe let’s say a Dylan Holloway a young guy on defense like a Philip Broberg.
Yeah. I mean they just traded Arson. They just traded Arvson today to uh Boston. It’s like imagine if that team last year instead of Wman and Arvidson and Skinner had Holloway and Broberg. That makes you think. And then when you know what gets me though, when Oilers fans commented on my video um after we lost to the Jets and they said, “Wow, look at Holloway not showing up.” I’m like, “Bro, he was out. He didn’t even play. He was injured.”
I remember one guy tweeted, one guy tweeted that night like, “Dylan Holloway uh eliminated from the playoffs.” And I wanted to like I was like, “Dude, like
did you even watch it?”
Like also by the way, your Stanley Cups have dust on them, just so you know. But that’s
ours. You know what’s Oh, you know what I did order though? I ordered um the new note um hat.
Oh my god. I I could spend $1,000.
And then I’ll tell you something crazy that I did because the sweaters are not released yet. This is actually insane. I went on like one of those like custom like um jersey websites. I swear to God. And I like did my best to kind of like do a replica of like the new sweater. It may not look the best, but I did a Robert Thomas one. So, I put like no 18. I
put like the new note. I took a screenshot of it.
I hope it comes out. Okay. I just I was so excited. I’m obsessed. The Heritage Dope was my favorite out of any. So,
which one do you like? Do you like the one or the
Oh, the that is literally a top three jersey in the NHL right now.
We need to do a jersey ranking before the season begins. I am so down.
That would be
That is my favorite. That is I I’ve been obsessed with like uniforms for Vegas has a sick jersey.
I do. I have a Mark Andre Flurry. I don’t like Vegas, but I have one of his. Not I’ve never worn it. It’s a collectible.
I have a bucket line jersey in my collection.
You know the hockey guy on YouTube that has like a bunch.
So I got into this phase where I was like, “Oh my goodness, I want to be like that.” And then after buying the one from um Vegas, I was I was like, “Yeah, I can’t afford to be like him.” So, it just sits in the back of my closet, but I’m like, “Yeah, I have a Mark Andre Flurry uh sweater.” Because uh one of the greats, but Vegas Oh, by the way, with Vegas with them adding Mitch Martyr and the talent that they already have, if they win a freaking Stanley Cup again, I am going to explode. I hate the Golden Knights. They are the most scumbaggy organization. One who LTI’s scumbags. Yeah. I mean, hey, it would be easy to hand out eightyear deals to guys if you know you’re just going to throw them on LTI after their fifth season.
Wait, you know what’s funny about that though? Like honestly, it’s so hilarious to me that with us right now in the Blues and our situation, like we have to worry about cap space. the Knights like they they probably are like, “Oh, LTIR, LTIR.” I know. When you when you get off this pod, if you haven’t seen it yet, look at the video they posted of Mitch Mner like showing up to Vegas today and putting on his jersey. Mitch Mner is like in there just like dancing around with his baby wearing a jersey. And all I can think of is like, oh, Mitch Mner just got paid $12 million to give you like two points in a playoff series against Edmonton next year in the second round. Like, and I think Mner is a good regular season player. He was good for Yeah. Like I just And
I don’t know. Don’t shoot the messenger. Like someone said Mner would be the Blues best forward and I’m like, “All right, well, I’ll take Thomas all day.” Uh, Holloway’s getting up there.
Robert Thomas is better than Mitch Mner.
I agree. I 100% agree. Robert Thomas is the most underrated player in the NHL. One of them.
This is why we get
like 100 100 points this year. If he plays the whole season, I mean, first of all, he gets hurt. They they tell us six weeks. Do you remember that? Last year,
comes back in four weeks. I guess his bones are just made of titanium. And then like still has like 80 points in the season. And oh, I I’m just dreaming of him playing all season with like
Snugger team for the Olympics. He has to be has to be. He’s earned it. He has his defense coming around like talking about watching watching tape of Patrice Berser on last offseason. I mean,
and Montgomery is here. I mean, Thomas is going to be a dog this year. I I He’s just getting better every season. We have him for what, 8 million, 8.2 or something like that. Yeah, it’s the same as Kyu. So, yeah, I want to say it’s
So, yeah, you go ahead and give Mitch Mner 12 million. I’ll take Robert Thomas for 8.2 uh all day every day. Think about it. We have Thomas and Kyu for 16 million and they’re paying Mner 12 million. Steal. And oh, and okay, one last thing before we wrap this up. I have to tell you, there were so many tweets about Jordan Kyu, about how he’s going to get traded. Do fans not realize, and I’m not trying to make anybody sound stupid, but do people not realize that he has a no trade clause that went into effect today? Like, they’re not trading him like,
yeah, guys don’t just like, you know, guys don’t just like wave those things either. No,
I don’t think people really want to get traded. And Kyu has been through a lot with the Blues. Oh, and people question his like compete, you know, and people will will tell you that he wasn’t competing in that Winnipeg series. Miss me with that because if if he had if he had Holloway in that series, I’m sorry, but he was playing with completely different players. Kyu and Holloway were so good last year together. I don’t care that he got hit by Logan Stanley, by the way. Who’s ever heard of Logan Stanley? I haven’t. Um, you know, like I don’t care that he got hit and and was was like I don’t know, didn’t score a lot of points in that series. The Blues weren’t going to win the cup this year anyway. Like I I will ride with Kyu. I don’t care. That that guy’s had like 35 point goals in the last like four years. I mean, and people just can’t wait to trade him
in three seasons. But yeah, let’s trade Kyru. He’s not good. Okay.
I want to ask I want to ask those people what they think. Brett Hall was like because all he did was hang out at the blue line and score just like what Kyu like Kyru is more defensive like he’s at least trying to work on his defense
and
he’s had a better
Yeah it’s improving like last year was really good like 25 30% better than what I’ve seen
last year was his best season
100% and he came around on the defense and he cares about his game and he cares about the note and
he cares about the fans
I don’t understand the fan base sometimes it’s just like I spoke to Kyru last year and he remembered me from the previous year and like he took like Okay, so with the other team that I cover again, not a fan of the other team. It’s just a job. I always have to tell people that like Wait, you’re not a Flyers fan at all? No.
Okay.
I’m a Blues fan. And it’s funny, everybody in Flyers media, they all know that I’m a Blues fan because during the Flyers games, I have up the Blues games and I’m cheering on the Blues. Like, that’s what’s even more funny. If I wasn’t a blues fan, would I be walking around in Philadelphia with my blue note on?
Yeah. How’s that go? Do you get like stuff thrown at you?
No. A lot of people actually come up to me and they say like, “Oh, you’re a Blues fan.” And I’m like, “Yeah.” And they’re like, “Oh, I went to, you know, a Blues game or I’m This girl the other day was like, “Oh, I went to college near um St. Louis.” So, like a lot of cool interactions, but it’s like funny like um I I really do love the blues. So, for me, it’s funny because it’s like one of those things where people get that misconception and I’m like, if I could live in St. Louis, I would. Like, I would. And I’ve said that numerous times and I’ve looked even to living in St. Louis. The problem is my job that I do is here. So, um, and I was trying to go out to a game last year and the plane tickets were like 500 bucks. You need to, uh, follow 101 ESPN and hit them up and see if they would ever, uh, let you on board.
I, but I do, that’s where I listen to the games when I’m driving. So, it’s funny because like I feel like I my whole entire life here is centered around the Blues. So anyways, with the Flyers, when I talk to those guys sometimes, like you can tell that they’re disengaged because it’s such a big media market in Philadelphia, right? That, you know, they’re always getting asked questions.
Got the Eagles going on and all that.
So the Phil, you know, it’s kind of like Flyers look like a small market compared to the Maple Leafs. So with the Blues, um, because we’re not the biggest market, even though we have fans all over the world, which I love. Um, whenever I speak to the players and they know that for me, like this is the one time of the year where I can actually see them in person and talk to them, uh, Ky takes like 5 to 10 minutes. Like he genuinely is a nice human being. And every conversation that we’ve had, he always brings up his love for the fan base in the city. Like I I I’ve talked to a lot of hockey players throughout my life. Um he is the only one that brings it up on his own.
Yeah. No, that you have you you you hell you even talked to John Cordella who I I don’t know about how that how that is like
he shut me down a lot. He talked to me about dogs and like rescues. Um but like when I would talk to him about like the actual game itself, I would be like, “Oh, you know, defense tonight looks slow. PK is still a problem. How we’re going to address this? Is Rocky Thompson coming up with a new plan on, you know, the power play?” Like I would just ask him a bunch of questions. Every single question. No, no, no. I’m not answering that. You guys are making up false narratives.
Yeah, that guy
what?
That guy’s a trip. But yeah, just going back to your original um Kyu is just, you know, 40 goals this year. 100 points for Thomas. Um get Kyu a center. Whether that’s D’vorski or, you know, I never mentioned Pa Sutter. He may have signed while we’re doing this pod. I’m looking now actually to see if that happened. The reason I like him is because he’s a really good penalty killer and the Blues penalty kill was not good last year. Unbelievable. Now,
did he change?
No. Chris Johnston, who does suffer the athletic, he’s posting the pictures of Mitch Marner with his VGK uh sweater, and I’m like, is this like a Mitch Marner fan club over here? like no other player is getting this kind of love on social media from the national people.
Yeah, I mean he’s a he’s always been kind of a popular guy. I remember when he was a prospect. Uh I I right now he is still available. Sutter is still available. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, hey, maybe if we lose one Sutter, maybe you’ll be happy if we get another one. I don’t know if they’re pronouncing.
Nothing’s going to compare to Ryan. No, nothing will compare to him. Um,
I just hope this doesn’t drive him into retirement. I think that’s why I’m so annoyed about it because imagine like you’re like, “Oh, I’ll play one more year. My wife said it was okay.” Like, you know, we love St. Louis. We’re making the sacrifice. All we want to do is live here. And then boom. Yeah. We don’t want to resign this guy. I know. There must be there has to be something more because it would it doesn’t make sense with what the roster looks like right now that play. I suspect within the next month, and I this is my we’re going to leave this episode on a hot take as we’re approaching 45. This is a we we actually spoke a lot today. Um within the next month, I expect both Nick Ley and Justin Folk to be gone and traded. If that happens, uh I don’t know. I might have to like veno you some money or something.
No, please don’t. We can just take a deep breath. nail that we know that a lastm minute goal won’t go in the net. And uh I won’t ever have to watch Nick I won’t ever have to watch the opposition score in front of the net while Nick Ley is standing there with his arms at his side not doing anything. You could you could have done more than I know my dog could have boxed out more than that guy. I mean sorry man. Well, hey, listen. As of today, July 1st, the Blues are a better team. Obviously, we’re going to miss Zack Bold Duke a lot, but Dylan, we’re gonna have to talk later this summer as we always have such great conversations. Again, thank you so much for joining Locked on Blues. And to all of you watching again, right now it is about 750 central. So, these are all the moves that happened today. If anything else happens, do not come for me. We’re only talking about what we were able to process uh throughout the day. But again, if any breaking news um it’s going to be on Twitter, locked on Blues. I will talk to you tomorrow and like always, let’s go Blues.

In this episode of Locked On Blues, host Haley Taylor Simon breaks down the Blues’ latest move—trading forward Zachary Bolduc to the Canadiens in exchange for defenseman Logan Mailloux. What does this trade mean for the future of the blue line? Plus, free agency reactions including the Nick Bjugstad signing and what could come next. Special guest Dylan joins the show to share his thoughts on the trade, the direction of the team, and which moves could still be on the horizon.
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