Logan Mailloux: traded for the same reasons as Alexander Romanov?

Wednesday mornings are when I listen to Processus. And I love listening to the duo (Mathias Brunet and Simon Boisvert) talk about hockey.

Because the Habs are banking on youth and Simon Boisvert specializes in youth analysis, it helps to put things in perspective when it comes to projecting the future. And why is that? Because the Snake isn’t biased.

The man who doesn’t want to rely on preparatory games to judge the progress of prospects (he’s made this clear many times since the start of season 2 of the podcast) isn’t afraid of his opinions, and he’s often sharp.

One prospect who isn’t his favorite is Logan Mailloux. He sees him as a third-pair defenseman with a good club.

In fact, the subject of Mailloux came up again during today’s episode, which was recorded before Tuesday’s game. And even if he didn’t come out intensely on the ice, that’s not necessarily a bad thing in the Serpent’s eyes.

Then he started talking about his offensive game.

He questioned whether his offensive game was all that good, before adding that, in his eyes, he won’t necessarily be playing for five or ten years in Montreal. This is shown in a cut-out excerpt from the show.

It was Boisvert who brought up the Alexander Romanov comparison afterwards, wondering whether the Habs might not use Mailloux as a trade chip on the market, as had been the case with the Russian.

And Mathias Brunet didn’t seem to disagree.

I have the impression that Mailloux can be a bargaining chip.

You know, a club like Calgary (…) who like this type of defender. – Mathias Brunet

The rest is interesting. After all, the La Presse journalist mentioned having had indications that Romanov might have been traded before it was too late. Brunet is referring to his process with the puck.

And the excerpt ends like this, creating a link between the situation of the two defensemen.

My understanding is that some people don’t necessarily trust Mailloux’s puck handling. And since that’s one of his strengths…

I don’t think the Habs, who seem to trust Mailloux, are actively looking to trade him right now. And if they do, it’s going to take a very high-quality offer. More than Trevor Zegras, then?

With all the defensemen in town, I don’t think Mailloux, even if he does shoot from the right, is an untouchable. That said, if management really has doubts about certain aspects of his game…

The question is whether the club thinks he can really take off in Montreal.

And if they don’t, maybe Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton won’t give Mailloux’s detractors time to get their facts right, and they’ll get in on the action sooner rather than later.

I don’t believe it right now, but who knows? After all, these aren’t the first doubts raised about the Ontarian.

Let’s remember that since the start of camp, Mailloux has been in Lane Hutson’s shadow. This isn’t necessarily all negative, but it’s clear that between the two, it’s the smaller man who has the advantage right now.

Remember, too, that camp is not everything.