The Montreal Canadiens made a controversial decision at the 2021 NHL Draft with their first round pick.
The team chose Logan Mailloux, a big, two-way right shooting defenseman from the London Knights organization. The controversial part was, of course, that he had renounced himself from the draft, asking not to be selected.
The reason for that was he had been fined in Sweden for defamation and offensive photography. He asked to not be selected and allow time for him to prove his character before a team drafted him. Instead, the Habs took him in the first round with the 31st overall pick.
Mailloux had been playing in Sweden in the 2020-21 season because the OHL was shut down due to covid restrictions. He was suspended from the OHL the following season due to the charges against him in Sweden and he was reinstated about halfway through the season.
To date, he has not been officially made eligible to join the NHL, but it didn’t really matter from an on-ice perspective as he was nowhere near playing in the league anyway. Mailloux played 59 games for the London Knights in the OHL last season, scoring 25 goals and 53 points.
Now, as a 20 year old, Mailloux is ready to turn pro this season, and it sounds like he is eligible to play in the NHL. The conversation came up when he signed his entry-level contract at the beginning of the season, but no resolution was ever publicized.
Canadiens vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton was speaking to the media at the team’s annual golf tournament yesterday and said Mailloux is expected to be cleared for NHL action, if he does make the team.
There are no guarantees Mailloux is on the NHL roster when the season begins, but this is the first official word we have received from the team about Mailloux’s eligibility. It would stand to reason if he is eligible to play in the NHL, that he would also be eligible to join the Laval Rocket and play in the AHL this season, which is a far more likely scenario.
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