Over the course of the ongoing, injury-riddled season, the Montreal Canadiens have called up plenty of players from the Laval Rocket.
With that said, it may finally be time for the Canadiens to give defenceman Logan Mailloux a chance.
The Habs announced three new injuries on Monday. Two of them were suffered by defencemen Kaiden Guhle and Jordan Harris, who both left Sunday’s game after being on the receiving end of body checks.
Neither Guhle nor Harris have been given a timeline for an official return. But if both blueliners are unable to play in tonight’s home matchup against the Anaheim Ducks, the Canadiens may have to go the call-up route once again.
That leaves Montreal with a few options.
They can recall Justin Barron, who was sent down to the AHL in January and has netted four points over eight games in Laval.
Perhaps they go with Tobie Paquette, who, for the past four seasons has been a physical and intimidating force for opponents throughout the AHL.
Finally, there’s Mailloux, a 20-year-old in the midst of a breakout year in his introductory AHL campaign.
Mailloux, who was Laval’s sole representative at the AHL All-Star Classic earlier this month, is having a very productive season on the scoresheet, netting 11 goals and 32 points over 45 games.
Finding chemistry with Arber Xhekaj during his respective AHL stint also saw the Belle River native use his 6-foot-3, 200-pound frame to his defensive advantage.
After Xhekaj was recalled by the Canadiens at the end of January, Mailloux, who was drafted 31st overall by Montreal in 2021, told reporters he was in no rush to receive the call.
“Obviously, that’s the goal is to get the call, but there’s no rush at the end of the day,” he said. “I’m not going home every day hoping or worrying that I get the call.”
As for who he’d like to play with at the NHL level, Mailloux seems very keen on the idea of reuniting with The Sheriff.
“That’d be pretty cool,” he said when asked about potentially being paired with Xhekaj for his NHL debut. “That’s the goal… And I think we’d be able to play the same way up there.”
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