Canadiens Impressively Turn Mailloux Into Bolduc With Another Key Trade

Ex-Montreal Canadiens defenseman Logan Mailloux was going to have a hard time cracking the team’s lineup even before the acquisition of Noah Dobson last week. General manager Kent Hughes put the writing on the wall with the trade for the top-pairing, right-handed defenseman. He added the exclamation mark on the first day of free agency when he dealt the defensive prospect for forward Zachary Bolduc, another 2021 first-round pick who had made inroads to becoming an everyday NHLer this past season with the St. Louis Blues.

The Blues drafted Bolduc at No. 17 in 2021, whereas the Canadiens picked Mailloux at No. 31, after having just lost the Stanley Cup Final. Without getting into the controversial circumstances surrounding his selection, Mailloux has indirectly spent the last four years having to ingratiate himself to a large portion of the fanbase. And, to his credit, he’s been largely successful, getting named to his second straight American Hockey League All-Star Classic this past season, while also being named to the league’s Top Prospects Team.

Canadiens Replace Savard with Dobson

Whereas Mailloux has upped his stock in that regard, he has yet to prove himself as capable at the NHL level. And, with his waiver-exempt status expiring in 2026, the Canadiens found themselves in a position where they may have to rush him to the show as primarily a power-play specialist or risk losing him for nothing, which they probably would have, considering how in demand right-handed defensemen are.

Critics can choose to put that on the Canadiens for not finding room for him in the lineup, but the facts say the general consensus is Mailloux isn’t ready yet defensively. And, while, that’s not all on him, because defensemen do traditionally take longer to develop, it’s telling the Habs chose to effectively replace the retiring David Savard by acquiring Dobson, who has his own issues defensively, and then signing him to a rich eight-year, $76-million deal, rather than give Mailloux a chance to earn it in training camp.

Now, Dobson is a star defenseman, having scored 70 points with the New York Islanders in 2023-24. It’s admittedly hard to make a direct comparison between him and Mailloux. No one can realistically expect Mailloux to jump right into the NHL and do what Dobson did then or what Lane Hutson just did on the left side to capture the Calder Memorial Trophy, by scoring 66 points to lead all rookies. Looking at it that way, Hughes clearly believes an established Dobson was more likely to help the Canadiens take the next step in the rebuild.

There’s no shame in that, from Mailloux’s perspective. It’s not giving up on him. It’s good asset management, to use him to acquire a player the Canadiens will presumably have room for next season, especially with winger Emil Heineman having been included in the Dobson trade. Instead of risking Mailloux not being ready in 2026 and potentially being left with nothing, they acquired a 22-year-old coming off a hugely successful 19-goal rookie season.

Bolduc More of a Fit than Mailloux

There are no ifs, ands or buts. That is a huge win, regardless of any suggestions Mailloux could turn into the next Ryan McDonagh or Mikhail Sergachev, Canadiens defensive prospects they ill-advisedly and prematurely traded in 2009 and 2017 respectively, before they each went on to successful, still-ongoing NHL careers. Even if Mailloux does with the Blues, it’s inherently unlikely he was going to with the Habs.

Not for nothing, but it’s clear in retrospect that trading away a prospect like McDonagh as part of a package to acquire a soon-to-be 30-year-old Scott Gomez to play centre was a mistake. It was clear at the time that trading Sergachev, a defenseman the Habs absolutely needed to complement Shea Weber on the top pairing, to acquire Jonathan Drouin, a winger through and through, to play centre, was also a mistake. While there are some parallels, Bolduc isn’t necessarily being acquired to play centre, although he does project as a potential two-way pivot, which, if he pans out as such, would solve all kinds of problems.

It’s more likely that Hughes acquired Bolduc to fill out the bottom six on the wing, with the hope that he eventually moves up the lineup. However, the point is, Bolduc is not in decline. He’s the same age as Mailloux. In fact, as mentioned previously, he was drafted 14 picks earlier. Had he somehow fallen those 14 spots to fall into ex-GM Marc Bergevin’s lap, Canadiens fans would have near-universally rejoiced at having been so lucky to get him instead.