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Logan Mailloux: Martin St-Louis sees him as a future top-4 defenseman
Félix Forget
Logan Mailloux: Martin St-Louis sees him as a future top-4 defenseman
Credit: On Wednesday night, we saw Logan Mailloux “back” in the NHL. The defenseman, who played the last game of the season last year and has played five earlier this season in the NHL, is not exactly a regular in the Bettman circuit… but he was enjoying a third opportunity with the big club. And overall, […]
On Wednesday night, we saw Logan Mailloux “back” in the NHL. The defenseman, who played the last game of the season last year and has played five earlier this season in the NHL, is not exactly a regular in the Bettman circuit… but he was enjoying a third opportunity with the big club.

And overall, what we take away from his game on Wednesday… is that he has a major league shot.

But Mailloux’s offensive play isn’t the big question with him. We know he is capable of creating offensively and being a physical player… but we don’t know if he will be able to play well defensively in the NHL.

During his first five-game stint with the Habs this season, it was quite horrible on that front.

That said, in a press conference today, Martin St-Louis chatted a bit about Mailloux’s case… and he made a rather interesting statement: the coach believes that in the long term, Mailloux has everything to be a member of the top-4 on the Canadiens’ blue line.

He reminded the media that 21 years old is young… and that Mailloux has interesting tools, both offensively and defensively.

Obviously, the Habs would love for Mailloux to be a piece of their top-4 long term. The club is quite thin in terms of right-handed defensemen, and seeing Justin Barron’s experience fail means that guys like Mailloux and David Reinbacher are under a bit more pressure.

Alexandre Carrier and David Savard can hold the fort in the short term… but sooner or later, they will need long-term solutions in terms of right-handed defensemen. And no, playing Kaiden Guhle or Lane Hutson on the right shouldn’t be the plan.

That said, it becomes interesting when we look a bit at the team’s blue line picture. We suspect that Savard won’t be around in a few years, but if Reinbacher reaches his full potential and Carrier spends a few more years in town, we might wonder if Mailloux is destined for a role on a third pair.

That will create internal competition… but the young players will need to play if they want to develop.

Obviously, the Canadiens would prefer to manage the nice problem of having three top-4 caliber right-handed defensemen. Of the three, Mailloux seems to be the one who seems least assured of reaching that caliber… but his coach in Montreal believes in him.

And this is even though Mailloux acknowledges himself that he is having a tough season. He has to adapt to a new role (more focused on defensive play) in Laval… and he is experiencing difficulties related to all of that.

If Mailloux wants to become a top-4 caliber right-handed defenseman as St-Louis believes he can, he will need to learn from these difficulties to become a player capable of holding his own defensively on a top-4 in the NHL.

It has often been mentioned that Lane Hutson and David Reinbacher seem made to play together, but if Mailloux can become the ideal partner for Kaiden Guhle, the Canadiens won’t complain. However, he will need to push Alexandre Carrier out of that seat in a few years… and that won’t happen anytime soon.


In Brief

– Speaking of Mailloux.

– The return to Laval seems to have helped him on that front, at least.

– The guys are having fun.

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