AMAZING Things Said About THIS Montreal Canadiens Future Star

AMAZING Things Said About THIS Montreal Canadiens Future Star

Now, the Montreal Canadiens have had a massive off season, right? Um, clearly acquiring a stud defenseman and 25-year-old Noah Dobson. You gota in order to get, you got to give. Mil Heineman goes the other way. And the the big dealings weren’t done after Noah Dobson. Let’s go to rg.org where Marco Demo has the latest that came out last week. Logan Mayu expands on the trade to St. Louis. keeps a lot of praise on the shoulders of the Montreal Canadians organization. Appear to embrace local culture, which is something that really moves the needle in Quebec. So, let’s let’s work through this quickly here. When you guys sat down with Logan Mayu, uh what did he have to say about how he was developed within the Montreal Canadians organization from a guy who said, “Please don’t draft me. I’ve burned the right to be drafted. The Canadians draft him. Develop him. Trade him to St. Louis.” H what was the takeaway from Logan’s perspective about how he was treated and developed within the organization? Yeah, he had nothing but good things to say about the development staff and the time they took with them and Laval to to really work on their skills and the communication between the coaching staff and the players and the organization and the players like spent a we spent a good amount of time in terms of how they identified his weaknesses, the conver the hard conversations they had with him, the plans that they set up to improve those weaknesses and you know obviously he said it himself he felt like he significantly improved kind of as the season went on and was one of the most if not the most uh relied upon piece in the playoffs for the Laval Rocket until he sustained that injury. So to me, I think there was a lot of um there was a lot of uh recon like he was he was cognizant of the work that was done with him and uh at the end of the day it’s probably what’s going to allow him to crack the roster in St. Louis is how he went about developing with the Canadians and the Laval Rocket last season. Mhm. And and they get obviously Zachary Boduk uh young player who had worked hard and was a very valued member of that organization and their push towards a playoff birth. Right now, what can you tell us about what St. Louis saw in Logan that they liked that obviously green lit the transaction and what the Canadians liked in Bulldook that made them comfortable giving up a guy? I didn’t want to see them trade Logan Mayu. I really didn’t. I’ve been very consistent on that. But it’s over. done with. So, work me through that. What did the Blues see in Mayu? What did the Habs see in Bulldook that the two teams were able to work this deal out? Yeah. Well, the the Blues were on Mayu’s case for a a while. Um, that organization really feels like he is a surefire top four defenseman in the making. Uh, you heard Jim Montgomery say that he had top 10 talent at the time of his draft. um you know, not something it’s not insane to to to think that based on his body of work as a 16-year-old leading up into his draft year. Um obviously it’s arguable among scouts, but that that’s totally fine in a situation where you just acquire a player, there’s a PRL job that needs to be made. St. Louis is doing a fantastic job of that. So they they were on Montreal’s case uh in regards to Mayu. I think the moment that a guy like Mayu is somewhat made available or his name is out there, I think Chris Johnston was the insider that put out that he he could possibly be available for Treywall. The moment that happens, GMC see that they call Kent Hughes and they’re like, “Hey, you know what’s going on?” And so St. Louis obviously um don’t have a lot of young defenseman uh that are NHL ready, right? It’s basically Philip Broberg uh that is the uh the young aspect of that team. uh you know Tory Krug is now going to have to retire unfortunately. You have Cam Fowler, you have Pereo, you have Faulk all in the all on the wrong side of 32 or about 32. Um so they need to get younger faster and right now the defenseman that they’ve drafted, Adam Urich and Theo Linstein, they’re just not there yet. And so you needed a guy to come in and especially a right shot, we’ve talked about this before, right defenseman, uh, not as uh, easy to come by over the last five drafts as they have as they were in in past years. So obviously there was interest there. And then from the Montreal Canadians perspective, I mean, we kind of discussed this on a previous episode, but it’s the skills that he brings, the dynamic that that Baldick brings, right? obviously being as young as he is with the same age uh Bzuk and and Mayu from the same draft and Bzer was also seen as a guy with top 15 talent that slid a little bit from what I was told potentially also because he played in the QMJHL and some scouts that were picking ahead not a big fan of those leagues so it created a situation where you got a potential two-way sniper in Bulj for a potential top four defenseman On paper, the right shot top four defenseman is generally worth more, but Bulzuk has shown more in the NHL. So, there was less risk in his acquisition. And again, the Canadians, you know, we can get into how the trade went down in a little bit, but the Canadians wanted to identify a guy that brought a different element to their team. So puck retrievals, board battles, physicality, mean um you know has the shooting mechanics to be a threat in at five on five on the penalty kill on the power play can play in all situations. And a guy that has experience playing center uh so that he can assist in taking left shot draws if need be. And ultimately, and I think this is the biggest key, he is the like what you call a forward one on the um on the forche. So he’s the guy that crashes into the net and cause all kinds of K well yeah, he’s the one that causes all kinds of chaos. The Canadians didn’t have that kind of element in their lineup and to draft one for them to get ready for this point didn’t make much sense. Yeah. But let let me take you back to a statement that you made that I didn’t disagree with that if you weigh the winger versus a potential top four RD. I agree. I’ll take the top four RD all day every day. Which brings me back to I think this is I like Zachary Bulldook, but I’m going to take up the other side. I’ll play devil’s advocate for a second and argue that maybe this wasn’t the best move because everything you just described about Bulldog being F1 aggressive on the forch check blah blah blah blah blah the Canadians are still missing that on the back end like I’ll take you back to when they got to the Stanley Cup final with the defenseman they had who’s going to be the nasty so that’s going to clear the crease that’s going to go in the corner I I mean Arbor Jack is the easy answer but he doesn’t have the skill set to be a top four guy today and I don’t think that’s being disrespectful So, okay, walk me through how your brain computes that they’re still missing a tough customer uh defensively that could play top four potentially, right? I feel like a lot of people sleep on how tough Ghoulie could be. Um, okay. The only reason that people are a little low on that is just because of the injury history, and I don’t blame him, but I feel like last season I feel like last season he was exactly that and he came back exactly at the right time and played through injury and was a tough sob in in in those series as well. A little bit too tough in the Chicago game and almost cost the team, but you know, solid solid nonetheless. And so I feel like outside of his, you know, crazy accidental like leg laceration, he was really he was relatively healthy last season. So I feel like outside of insanely bad luck, he should be fine. One guy that I think will answer your question, and I think some fans will kind of roll their eyes, but this is a guy that was actually pointed out by Logan himself was David Rybacker. Uhhuh. David Rybacker in the playoffs was clearing the garbage, was dick checking guys, was boxing them out in the corner. I wouldn’t say he was nasty, but he was there where he was given he was giving it back. I loved it. I loved it. Yeah, I know. I would just I wouldn’t say nasty per se, like he wasn’t like he wasn’t dirty, but man, he plays he plays players hard. And Logan Logan actually took the time to really kind of highlight that and how how you had David get meaner and and stronger against his opponents as the playoffs went on. And he found that the fact that he was able to get into those games is pro that’s probably going to carry over into his game. And so if you have Ghouie, Ryan Bacher, Jackie, and I also state this because you always add certain physical elements to your roster when you’re competitive and you’re in the trade deadline and you throw a second round pick at a a third pair of physical defenseman like so many have done with Luke Shen, for example, that you can just insert into your lineup at that point that the priority should be filling out one, two, and three slots for your defenseman, which the Canadians effectively did this summer in the no adoption acquisition. Now you have Hudson, Dobson, Ghoulie, that’s your one, two, three, and then you eventually have Ryan backer as your four, right? And then after that, your bottom pair, if you if you keep Jackie long term, that’s fantastic. You bring in another physical element and then eventually you can move them up and down your lineup. But the idea is the core four, sorry, for the Canadians defense is set for the future. And I feel like they all bring a different element. And I don’t necessar like there are a lot of people that are that downplay Noah Adoptson’s physicality. I remember Noah Dobson’s physicality in in the queue. Um I think he just needs the right setting to be able to bring that up. And playing for a team like Montreal that gets basically carried into war by Martine St. Louis. I’ll be interested to see what he can do as well in that element. So when you bring in Dobson, when you have a Ryan backer, when you draft a couple of right shot defenseman in the 2025 draft, like Bryce Pigford, for example, who a lot of people are sleeping on, not everyone, but some, um, that you can allow yourself to move a guy like Mayu. And I I made a comment on TSN 690, in fact, where I wouldn’t have traded prior to the Doson trade, I wouldn’t have traded Mayu for anything less than a package for a a top six center. And I’d like to go back to that because that dosson trade changed the dynamic of the situation. Okay. So let’s can we get into the specifics of how the Canadians got Zachary Book because rg.org and the piece that Marco Demo wrote in Logan Mayu speaking with Marco about the transaction Quebec culture developed by the organization how he appreciated how the team gave him reps. that’s the only way to get better is to get out there and do it and do it and do it. Uh rg.org um reporting that the Canadians were dealing with a couple of different teams, but it was the Bulldook that was the more intriguing. So, it was surprising to me. Can you clarify was a center at all talked about whether it’s St. Louis or anybody else? Was anyone else talking to Montreal about here’s a center we want Logan Mayu? walk me through what the Canadians were dealing with and whether or not there was maybe I a bidding war of sorts. [Music] Uh I So the Canadians were obviously looking for a center. They were talking to teams trying to see if they can make a deal. Um you know I don’t think they were interested in Marco Rossi but um I did hear of them trying to poke around and see if there would be any available. Um, obviously no top six center was traded this summer, right, for obvious reasons. Um, and so it creates a it created a situation where I don’t think there was anything available. And the idea was, you know, if there weren’t going to have room for Logan and they were going to just leave him in Laval, there was a risk that his value could potentially drop next season if he doesn’t take the next step, right? a a prospect that stagnates or a prospect that stays at the same level even if there is improvement doesn’t necessarily the value doesn’t necessarily go up because the progression curve isn’t sharp. And so they had a decision to make where it was like, okay, well, we have this trade chip and we have other needs in our lineup and we need to improve in certain elements. And it was definitely getting more top six talent, right? And I feel like they needed young top six talent, but not so young as to have to have to wait three years for them to actually hit their stride. So the Canadians were talking to a few teams, uh, I know a couple of Western Conference teams, uh, that were, you know, hot on his trail for a while now. I know that Anaheim had interest back in the day um as well. Uh they almost traded for uh for Mayu when it came to to Trevor Zris. Um but St. Louis St. Louis had in had made uh the uh the the call that they were interested. Uh they had talked about different elements. Obviously, there was the Jordan Cairo trade uh discussions as well, and they had poked poked a little bit of tires there to see what was going on, but ultimately they, you know, there was no deal to be made at the time with with Cairo before his no trade kicked in. And the interest in Logan Mayu persisted. And so, the Canadians didn’t value uh you know, there’s this thing I saw online that the Canadians valued Bulzik more than they valued Cairo. That’s not the case at all. um they appreciate both players, but I think we can all agree that the consistent 70 point forward is probably Yeah, exactly. So um you know when it comes to the way that the bull thing came around is the Canadians asked for him and the blue said no and ultimately uh you know on July 1st uh Logan told us that his agent had called him in the morning to say you’re going to be traded today. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you’re going to be traded today. Which leads me to believe the Canadians had set themselves that time. They wanted to see on July 1st after teams had, you know, I wouldn’t say struck out on free agency because we’re not supposed to talk about tampering on this channel, but after teams had figured out that they wouldn’t be able to go after certain players because those players were going to sign with other teams or were no longer available. Like for example, Aaron Eblad signing with uh the Florida Panthers, right? There goes a right shot defenseman. Uh Cody Cece ultimately uh ending up to sign with LA. There goes another right shot defenseman. So once that market was kind of zapped, they were like, “Okay, well maybe we go the the young way.” And they had just drafted uh Jiston who impressed greatly at camp. And so you brought you you bring about these elements. And so the can the the the the the Blues had they felt like they had no choice but to pay up for a player that they held in high esteem and the Canadians continued to ask for Zack Bzuk. And so ultimately the call was made from Doug Doug Armstrong going fine, we’ll do it. And that’s what ultimately like that was they were getting a young established uh player that could potentially play center but was more likely going to play wing that brought a different element to their team that would otherwise you know down the line when this player is going to be in his prime would otherwise cost them far more than what Logan Mayu is worth right now with the risk or with the idea that there is a risk that maybe my you know Mayu could be a top four defenseman down the line like he could be a bottom pair defenseman like he could bust and that applies to all prospects. I’m not specifically talking about him, but there is less risk in in Zakayzuk because he can play multiple roles, so young of a player and was already at a what was it? I think it was a 23 goal or 24 goal pace as a rookie. Um, give that consistent power play time throughout the season, more five on five minutes and better general line mates because he mostly played on a on a on a third line. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. and who who himself is going through a little bit of a funk as well after a a good rookie season, you know, and I think there’s potential to continue to evolve and then eventually, you know, him and Deidovv on the same line. Could you imagine Deidov setting up a guy with with the the release that uh that Bzik has? So, the Canadians saw the value. Obviously, there was the the local element as well that that was a bonus, not a prerequisite, but a bonus. And that created a situation where the Canadians were just like, “Hey, what are the chances we get a better offer than this? And if we hold off on this, is it going to create uh, you know, is is Boz not going to become available anymore or are they going to look elsewhere to make a trade?” So, the Canadians felt like this was a solid bang for their buck and eventually made the trade. So, a couple of hours after uh Logan had received a call from his agent, he got a call from Kent Hughes to say that he was traded to St. Correct. And I saw in in the article that you wrote breaking down the Mayu for Book Trade at RG.org, I’ll link it in the video description here, um that he was chilling with friends, having lunch and waiting for the call. Did you ask him what he was having for lunch or like Mandy Salad or like poutine or something? No. These are the questions I want answers to. These are the questions that are interesting to me. That’s fine. It’s Canada Day. What do you think he’s having? Probably Mandy Salad. I would guess a Mandy salad. He’s a professional. He’s uh Yeah, he was in Windsor. Uh so I don’t know that. I have no idea. I’ve never been to Windsor. I know it’s close to Detroit. Um last parting thought on this, last question on this. Um I’m a big fan of infrastructure, having the right people in the right places doing the right work. Obviously Gordon and Hughes, it starts there down to Martine St. Louis, right man at the right time. It looked and it appears that Rob Ramage had quite the impact on Logan Mayu. Can you elaborate on that please? Yeah. So Rob uh Ramage obviously had reached out to Mayu even before the Canadians had drafted him. Yeah. So that goes to that goes to show you. But uh Rob Ramage had his own past obviously that that he had you know come back from and and kind of you know been able to to turn into a positive and you know that that’s fantastic for him. And I feel like, you know, obviously with Logan’s situation at the time, uh, you know, they need he needed kind of a a support person to kind of show him the way to, you know, being able to correct certain wrongs and being able to in in doing so, you know, sustainably make himself a more centered and and understanding person and in what was and what happened. So, what first started off as initial phone call turned into a friendship. And I mean like this is this is a player that was suspended in the OHL. This is a player who got injured in his in his second year in the OL. So he didn’t really get much playing time. And so during those down times there’s a lot of hockey psychology that kind of goes into this. and Ramage was an, you know, a crutch that he was able to lean on in those situations where he was able to give himself a little bit of leeway to kind of understand the situation and, you know, basically reenter himself and and and continue to work through the adversity. So, from that personal perspective, and he’s not the only one that’s said this to me, like Sean Farrell has said this to me, Lane Hudson has said this to me when it comes to a guy like Ramage. So, you know, he’s been influential in helping these players along on the developmental uh side when it comes to the personal aspects of their development. And I feel like that’s a massive boost for the organization and the fact that he’s so available for these players and obviously uh you know, very familiar with the St. Louis area. So, uh, probably someone that’s gonna stop in and see Logan a couple times, but, uh, Logan had nothing but great things to say about him, the development staff with Frankie Bouong and and obviously the skills development coach and Adam Nicholas and all that and uh, you know, your boy Paul Byron as well. And so, what’s up, Paul? And so, obviously, like these are all elements that have done really well for the Canadians youth because he’s not the first one that’s told me this. you know, David Rybacker spoke about it a little bit when I interviewed him in April, but you know, it really goes to show that the Canadians have kind of turned the corner in terms of the investment that they make personally and from a skills perspective in their players. So, like it’s undeniable the impact that Rob Ramage had on Logan Milo’s trajectory. And you know, obviously that development, you know, as in as unemotional as this may sound, uh that development is what allowed the Canadians to bring up a guy like Mayu despite all of that all those lost reps and turn him into an asset like Zack Bzerk who’s going to be able to help the team for years and years and years. That’s Marco Demo. You can follow him at MN Demoiko. And again, I’ll link that uh piece he wrote in the interview with Logan Mayu in the video description down below. And of course uh follow along at M and De Mo with RG Media.

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Shaun Starr and Marco D’Amico talk about former Montreal Canadiens defencemen, Logan Mailloux.

Marco D’Amico had a chance to talk with Mailloux and they breakdown:

Logan Mailloux on Trade to St-Louis, Praise For Canadiens, Embracing Local Culture

Logan Mailloux was traded to the St. Louis Blues earlier this month from the Montreal Canadiens.

The youngster sat down with RG and discussed the move and his development from the junior to pro level.

Mailloux also praised the Habs organization and spoke on embracing Quebec culture.

Source: https://rg.org/news/hockey/logan-mailloux-on-trade-st-louis-blues-praise-canadiens-embracing-local-culture

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