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Writers Weigh In: Mulling the Mailloux Move

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Montreal’s biggest move on the opening day of free agency wasn’t a signing but rather a trade as they sent Logan Mailloux to St. Louis for Zachary Bolduc.  Our writers offer up their thoughts on the swap.

Terry Costaris: This is a win-win trade for the Montreal Canadiens and the St. Louis Blues. From the Habs’ perspective, what’s there not to like about this deal? It once again moves the needle in a positive direction for the Canadiens.

Will this be the last summer transaction for the tandem of Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton? Not likely. As both these men fully know that there are still a few more holes to fill. We fans need to remain patient as a few more transactions are likely coming.

As far as I’m concerned, Bolduc is a better version of Emil Heineman – who, only a few days ago, I was lamenting his loss on our “Writers Weigh In” for Noah Dobson forum. The kid is just 22 years old and is already making a difference in the NHL.

How much of a difference?

Bolduc scored more goals than Juraj Slafkovsky, Alex Newhook, Christian Dvorak, and Josh Anderson. And, he did this despite being given both limited playing time and opportunities in St. Louis.

Bolduc is a human wrecking ball who’s perfect for the playoffs. The kid had slightly over 100 hits in 72 games. He provides plenty of sandpaper – which Montreal desperately needs more of.

And there’s a chance (small as it may be) that Bolduc can become a centre. He’s successfully played this position in the past. He was denied any such opportunities with the Blues given that Robert Thomas, Brayden Schenn, and Oskar Sundqvist were ahead of him in the lineup.

I’m not saying that this is a for sure thing but given Montreal’s weakness in this area, Bolduc, at least now, has a chance – if the Canadiens fail to land a second line centre this summer.

Realistically, Bolduc is a scorer, not a playmaker. Centres should generally be the latter. So, I doubt that he becomes a number two centre for the Habs. Regardless, he has plenty of room to grow in Montreal.

Again, realistically speaking, Bolduc will likely learn his craft (be it as a right winger or centre) as a third liner next season. I would like to see him grow into whatever position he’ll eventually be playing by being slotted here. Some fans are pegging him on the second line. That may be asking and expecting way too much from a 22-year-old. I’ll place some trust in the patient tutelage of coach Martin St. Louis and the Canadiens’ superb development team to get things right with this promising young player.

Now, of course, in order to get, in hockey trades, you gotta give. GMs are not as stupid these days as so many used to be. Logan Mailloux has top-four potential. St. Louis’ very savvy GM, Doug Armstrong, is banking on continued progress from this big, mobile, and offensively gifted defender.

The signing of Dobson made Mailloux superfluous. The Canadiens moved out quality surplus in order to get what they lacked.

There’s a lot to like about Mailloux but I’m not convinced that Montreal was the best market for him to play in. This city is a terrible place to play in if you make mistakes a bit too often. Look at how the fans and some media like to use Mike Matheson as their favourite whipping boy. Psychologically, players can bend under such circumstances. Mailloux is now free to learn his craft free of such judgmental scrutiny.

I could only imagine what they would have done to this young, occasionally error-prone defenceman. One huge blunder, at some crucial point, would likely have been his ultimate demise in crazy Montreal.

Finally, we need to step back and look at this trade and see it in totality with the Dobson trade. That is, over the span of a few days, the managerial tandem of Hughes and Gorton traded Heineman, Mailloux and two first round draft picks (mediocre ones in my estimation based on the quality of this year’s draft class) for a legit first pairing right-shot defenseman in Dobson and a future second line right winger/potential centre in Bolduc.

That’s some pretty impressive general managing. There are still some holes to be filled but I have to say that I’m very impressed with what the Habs have done over the last few days and am excited to see what other rabbit they manage to pull out of their collective hats. We’re in for one interesting summer!

Allan Katz: In acquiring Bolduc, the noise around the deal hid another interesting acquisition by the Habs where they essentially acquired a Bolduc clone. Stay with me for a minute and see if you can guess who it is. Zack the Bold Duck is 22, six feet tall, and weighs 187 lbs. Player X is 6 months younger, six feet tall, and weighs 192. Zacharia was drafted in 2021 and scored 105 goals in his last two years of junior. Player X was drafted in 2021 and scored 97 goals in his last two years in junior.

Zac-Man scored 210 points in his last two years of junior and scored 19 goals last year. Player X scored 218 points in his last two years of junior and scored 20 goals last year. If you haven’t figured it out yet, without cheating, here’s another clue: both are French Canadians. So, here’s my cheat, the Habs acquired Player X in 2021 and Joshua scored his 20 goals with the Laval Rocket. Here’s hoping Roy shows some more grit and makes his move in a similar fashion as Bolduc showed last year.

As far as the trade is concerned, Hab fans are obviously more on board with this trade over Blues’ fans. Nonetheless, the bottom line is Mailloux is a legit prospect who can evolve into a solid top/middle-four defenceman and Bolduc is an exciting addition to the team with the potential of being an elite 200-foot player that should join the core of a very exciting Habs team for the next decade. Great trade for the Habs, decent trade for the Blues and Joshua Roy is about to embark on a very important year which could really decide his future with the Habs and even possibly the NHL. Otherwise, as The Bold Duck circles the ice carrying a Stanley Cup for the fifth time in the early 2030s, Roy could be living the life playing in the Swiss league eating the best chocolate in the world.

Brian La Rose: With the Dobson acquisition, it felt like Mailloux was going to be on the way out at some point and that they’d be able to use him to get some help up front.  I’m a bit surprised that they went for a winger but Bolduc is an intriguing piece and is someone that should be part of the future core for the Habs for a while.

The Habs needed some extra scoring.  Bolduc helps with that, even if I’m not sure his hot streak at the end of last year was sustainable.  They need some grit.  He helps there too.  They need some defensive acumen and while he wasn’t a penalty killer in St. Louis, his defensive game has come a long way since junior and he could be part of the solution at some point.  They even need someone who can properly play the bumper role on the power play.  Guess where Bolduc played on the power play with St. Louis?  No, Bolduc isn’t a centre but he certainly checks a lot of other boxes.

Thanks to COVID, suspensions, and injuries, Mailloux effectively lost a couple of years of development so I think there’s still time for him to work through some of the defensive warts in his game.  But as an offensive defenceman, how many chances would he have gotten on a team with Hutson under team control for six more years and Dobson signed for eight?  If you’re thinking the answer is ‘not much, ’ keeping him would have simply devalued the asset over time.

When you’re dealing a youngster for a youngster, there is always some risk that one pans out a lot better than the other.  But assuming Bolduc pans out, he’ll join a core group of Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky, and Demidov who are all 25 or younger with at least five years of club control remaining.  That’s a solid foundation for forwards while Dach and Newhook are also in that age bracket with less team control.  Bolduc looks like he might be more of a complementary player than the others but he looks like he can be an important piece for quite a while.  That’s a nice pickup.

Peter Longo: I can certainly understand why Montreal would want a player like Bolduc. He’s had a successful rookie season, has lots of potential and could be a good secondary scoring option for years to come. On the flip side, he doesn’t bring much in the way of physicality that the team desperately needs as demonstrated by Washington in the playoffs. And I am concerned about how he will be able to handle the pressure of playing in Montreal as a Quebecois – that’s a wild card to say the least. But he’s definitely a player I would want on my team.

Having said that – does acquiring him actually make the team better? Will he replace any of the wingers on the top two lines (i.e. Caufield, Slafkovsky, Laine, Demidov)? Unlikely for this season. So barring injuries or another trade, Bolduc is likely to see bottom-six deployment. Anderson brings much-needed aggressiveness and physicality and solid penalty killing, and Gallagher is the grinding heart and soul of the team while providing good scoring. Is Bolduc an upgrade on either of them? If Dach and Newhook are centres, where does that leave Bolduc? So, while I like Bolduc, his acquisition raises more questions.  It seems to be there are far more critical positions to upgrade.

On the flip side, Mailloux heads to St. Louis. Most fans know his history and the bad decision he made as a young teenager. Since that point, he’s put in the work both on and off the ice, pushed through injuries and put together strong OHL and AHL seasons.  During this time, the world has thrown nothing but hate and scorn at him. Despite this, Mailloux pushed through winning numerous awards including All-Star and rookie nominations and ultimately getting selected as one of the top AHL prospects. There should be no doubt as to the level of focus, determination, and perseverance this young man carries. Combine this with his size, skating ability, and offensive instincts, I have no doubt Mailloux will become one of the top NHL defencemen.

While I like Bolduc as a player and he has a lot of potential, when the dust settles on this trade years from now, I think St. Louis will be the hands-down winner.

William Shoukri: I’m a big fan of this deal for the Habs. After following Laval for the duration of its playoff run, I gleaned that Mailloux was not ready to start 25/26 in Montreal.

Bolduc has already played an effective season in the NHL. Bolduc can be plugged into the third line immediately and threaten 25 goals. His shot will be a huge asset to PP2, and his forechecking presence will be noticeable night in and night out. Bolduc scored 13 of his 19 goals after the Four Nations tournament, giving him the second-highest Goals per 60 in the NHL (right behind Alex Ovechkin).

I think Mailloux could be a very effective bottom-four defenceman for St. Louis, especially if he improves his defensive game, but I don’t think Montreal needs the kind of player Mailloux projects to be. Mailloux will never be a shutdown guy.

Bolduc addresses multiple needs for the Habs. For years, the Habs have lacked scoring and skating in the bottom six, and Bolduc brings it without sacrificing a physical game. If everything goes right, I can see Bolduc as a second-line winger and a leader on PP2. With standout physical play, his ceiling is at or above 30 goals.

I’ve heard fans questioning the acquisition of a winger over centre and to that I’ll say this: Kirby Dach deserves one more chance; management clearly feels the same way. Additionally, although Bolduc has only played the wing in the NHL, he spent his first two years in the QMJHL playing centre. I’m not saying he could be an NHL centre, but he didn’t seem opposed to the idea when asked.

Dave Woodward: The Bolduc-Mailloux trade may well end up being a trade that helps both teams.  With the departure of Heineman in the Dobson trade and the loss of Armia and Dvorak to free agency, the Canadiens required some reinforcements up front.  The Habs also have an abundance of young defencemen (albeit primarily on the left side) and with the acquisition of the right-handed Dobson and Reinbacher’s place in the back end’s top four only a matter of time, Mailloux’s future on the right side of the Canadiens’ blueline was uncertain.  The Blues’ defence corps is getting older and needed an injection of youth.  Mailloux has the opportunity to provide that.

Having said that, this scribbler has more optimism about Bolduc’s NHL career than that of Mailloux.  In Bolduc, the Canadiens have acquired a twenty-two-year-old winger with a lot of upside.  Bolduc scored 50 goals in the QMJHL for the Quebec Remparts in consecutive seasons and won the Mike Bossy Award in 2023 as the best NHL prospect in the Q.  After a good year in the minors in 2023-24, Bolduc scored 19 goals and 17 assists for the Blues in 2024-25 while playing fourth line minutes, although seven of those goals came on the power play.

While highlights are misleading and may not be representative of his overall play, Bolduc seems to have a talent for finding soft spots in the offensive zone and wastes no time deploying his lethal and accurate shot.  This player could well emerge as a key offensive player for the Canadiens.  The scouting reports on Bolduc mention that his physical play has also improved and, unlike many young players, he is described as defensively responsible.  Bolduc projects to play on the wing initially but he played centre in junior and it is not inconceivable that he could be converted to a centre in the long term.  At a minimum, the Habs have acquired a middle-six forward and he may stake a position in the top six in the future.

Mailloux’s departure is definitely a loss as the right side of the Canadiens’ back end is not as deep as the left side, even after the acquisition of Dobson.  Mailloux had two very impressive seasons in Laval, particularly offensively.  The value of right-handed defencemen in the league is well documented and trading a top prospect like Mailloux will be felt, especially in the event of injuries to their other right-handed defenders.

However, while Mailloux’s shot, skating, and offensive talent is clear, in this writer’s limited opportunities to watch him, Mailloux seemed very raw defensively and some of his turnovers were, quite simply, egregious.  Mailloux missed a lot of development time due to COVID and off-ice issues so this likely has impacted his ability to improve that part of his game.  Of course, he remained in Laval this season to work on his defensive play.  Nonetheless, his ability to defend and avoid turnovers when pressured is certainly a work in progress and one does wonder if that weakness will be part of the package long term.

That said, there are plenty of very good NHL defenders who had similar issues early in their careers (Jeff Petry, for example).   In Mailloux, the Blues receive a well-regarded right-handed NHL defence prospect who has some aspects of his game that must be improved, similar to most NHL prospects.

This was a trade where both teams acquired a good young player who fulfils a need within their rosters.  However, Bolduc will be a better NHL player than Mailloux long-term.  Bolduc is an exciting acquisition for the Canadiens.

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