Logan Mailloux not among Corey Pronman’s top 18 CH prospects

For the past few days, Corey Pronman has been ranking the NHL’s best banks of young players. The under-23s (as of mid-September) are all eligible for inclusion in the rankings.

Nick Suzuki, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Jordan Harris and Jesse Ylönen, to name but a few, are therefore not eligible to be ranked… but they are young nonetheless.

Unsurprisingly, since NHL experience doesn’t matter in the rankings, it’s Cole Caufield who comes out on top. He was the obvious choice, let’s face it.

And as such, the CH youth bank ranks sixth in the NHL in the eyes of the prospect expert.

Juraj Slafkovsky and David Reinbacher, the CH’s two most recent first-round picks, round out the top-3. These are, in terms of potential, fairly logical picks in my eyes.

Some see Reinbacher as a bit high, but I think he’s right where he belongs.

Pronman ranked 18 players and gave honorable mentions to seven others. Several of them are already in the NHL, as is the case with Kirby Dach (4), Kaiden Guhle (5), Alex Newhook (6) and Justin Barron (7).

Six of the first seven picks are in the NHL.

Guys like Owen Beck, Joshua Roy, Sean Farrell, Arber Xhekaj, Riley Kidney, Emil Heineman, Filip Mesar, Jacob Fowler and Adam Engstrom (to name but a few) follow, in no particular order, but nobody expected to see them in the top-7.

That said, there are two names that could be ahead of Justin Barron, but aren’t.

• Rank 8: Lane Hutson
• Not ranked in the top 18: Logan Mailloux

I’m not one of those who think Hutson is ahead of Reinbacher in the prospect hierarchy, but I am one of those who see Hutson ahead of Barron, for example. For me, this is a hot take on the part of the journalist.

After all, he may be small, but the potential is high – which Pronman obviously recognizes, don’t worry. I’d have seen him ahead of Newhook and Barron, I think… although I don’t disagree with the points made for all that.

Hutson is a good skater, but not elite for his size. Size remains the main issue, as well as how he’ll play defensively against NHL speed and size.

Coaches could use him by being careful to see who he plays against in the NHL, but his offensive talent could lead to a great NHL career. – Corey Pronman

Mailloux’s case is also interesting.

After all, many see him in their soup, but let’s just say that Pronman isn’t the first prospect specialist to see deficiencies in the London Knights product’s game.

Above all, it’s Mailloux’s field hockey sense that the journalist takes issue with… and the “situation” surrounding it. He says he ranked Mailloux in the “has a chance to play” category because he didn’t get the green light, when he was ranked, to play in the NHL.

He added that, at the time of publication, there was a chance he would get it. And sure enough: he got the green light from Gary Bettman.

Everyone in the field hockey world suspected he was going to get the green light. I have the feeling that the situation was used as an excuse to set him a little lower.

Basically, he must not like hope that much – and that’s his right, of course. But not to see him in front of Filip Mesar, for example, is special.

In bursts

– Our colleague Mitch Giguère heads for the ECHL. Good luck, Mitch!

– Happy listening.

– It’ll be the talk of the town.

– Obviously, the CH is trying to trade a goalie. [TSN 690]

– Official.

YES, LAFFY. ☑️ pic.twitter.com/ss0piRU5P4

– New York Rangers (@NYRangers) August 24, 2023