No hopeful polarizes like Logan Mailloux

I’m pretty sure we all have the same answer: Matvei Michkov Logan Mailloux.

Some see him as a stud. Stéphane Waite sees Mailloux as the best prospect in the Montreal organization right now, ahead of David Reicbacher and Lane Hutson. Need I remind you that Waite used to work for the CH, that Reinbacher is a fifth overall pick(vs. Mailloux’s 31st) and that Lane Hutson burns up every caliber in which he has the chance to play?

Gaston Therrien is also a big fan of Mailloux. He sees him starting the season with the big club – after Gary Bettman’s almost automatic official blessing – ahead of Jordan Harris, Johnathan Kovacevic, Chris Wideman and Justin Barron.

Renaud Lavoie, Mark Hunther, Grant McCagg, Anthony Martineau, Marc-André Perreault… many have spoken out over the past two years in praise of the young Ontario defenseman.

But Mailloux doesn’t just have admirers.

Nicolas Cloutier finds him overrated and scattered around the rink…

Scott Wheeler and Simon “the Snake” Boisvert, two prospect specialists, see Mailloux only as a “B” quality prospect…

Tony Patoine ranks Mailloux 11th in his list of team prospects…

And Corey Pronman doesn’t even rank him among the Montreal organization’s top 18 prospects…

To say Logan Mailloux is polarizing is an understatement. No prospect is as divisive as Mailloux. The real question is whether he’s polarizing because of his style of play… or because of his reprehensible actions in Sweden?

Mathias Brunet, who has become La Presse’s prospect expert and loves to have fun with prospects on BPM Sports, is not one of Mailloux’s mega-admirers.

“Arguably the most overrated prospect in the organization […] he amassed half his points on the power play and nine defensemen had more points than him, most of them younger, since Mailloux turned 20 in April.” –Mathias Brunet

Still, Brunet is willing to give Mailloux time to make up for the time lost due to the pandemic, his suspension and his major injury… but he doesn’t like his decision-making, his positioning, his explosion when skating from behind and his lateral mobility.

That’s quite a few “minuses” in the column, isn’t it?

That’s why he sees – as I do – Mailloux playing the 2023-24 season in Laval. At best, he’ll be recalled for a few games? We’ll see. There are plenty of defenders ahead of him on the depth chart.

Where do you stand on Logan Mailloux’s potential? And above all, can you get your head around his off-ice past?

In gusto

– Carey Price has the CH at heart.

Carey Price can’t play anymore, but as he said in a press conference (CFMOTO Canada), he still cares about his team ❤️ pic.twitter.com/zqgNFoBTOY

– DansLesCoulisses (@DLCoulisses) September 12, 2023

– He’s going to the AHL.

Kraken gets his way👌🏒https://t.co/iRtYmcb9Ri

– TVA Sports (@TVASports) September 12, 2023

– The Mike Babcock story isn’t making Mike Commodore and Paul Bissonnette happy… even though the main interested party has explained himself.

– On social networks everywhere, the subject is the talk of the town.

– It was expected.