After weeks of speculation that the Montreal Canadiens were in talks to move defenceman Logan Mailloux, the ball finally dropped less than an hour before Free Agency opened. The Canadiens trade Mailloux to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for 22-year-old winger Zachary Bolduc. The trade one was one for one.
Mailloux spent most of last season with the Laval Rockets, recording 12 goals and 33 points in 62 games. He earned a call-up to the Canadiens when the team was facing injuries on their blueline. In seven games with the Canadiens, Mailloux had two goals and four points and looked like he was ready to make the jump as a full-time NHLer. Unfortunately for Mailloux, with the recent addition of Noah Dobson and the development of David Reinbacher, there was not enough room on the team's defence for all of them.
In Bolduc, the Canadiens are getting a winger who can step into the lineup right away, as he played all of last season with the Blues. The Canadiens lost Emil Heineman in the Dobson trade, and this could be his replacement. As a rookie last season, Bolduc had 19 goals and 36 points in 72 games. His season started slowly, but he picked up his game down the final stretch of the season, recording 11 goals and five assists in his final 22 games.
While it sucks to lose a promising young defenceman in Mailloux, the truth is there was not enough room for both him and Reinbacher. The Canadiens turned a surplus into a position of need with Bolduc, who has the potential to be an outstanding goalscorer in the future. It will be interesting to see where Bolduc fits in the lineup when the season kicks off.
