Why the Blues traded Zack Bolduc for Logan Mailloux and what they said about his past

New York Times

4 days ago

As they prepared for the 2021 NHL Draft, the St. Louis Blues had the No. 17 pick and liked defensive prospect Logan Mailloux.
'His draft year, he was dealing with things off-ice,' Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said Tuesday, referring to charges that he shared intimate photos of a woman without her consent. 'There was a request by the player not to be drafted, so we didn't take him with our pick. And then Montreal did.'
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Instead, the Blues took forward Zack Bolduc with their pick.
Four years later, St. Louis and the Montreal Canadiens swapped the players in what Armstrong called 'an old-fashioned hockey trade' on the first day of free agency.
The Blues sent the Canadiens a forward who finished eighth in balloting for the Calder Trophy (rookie of the year) in 2024-25, and the Canadiens sent the Blues a defenseman who was named to the AHL's Top Prospects team this season.
It was a bit of a surprising trade, but maybe it shouldn't have been as St. Louis and Montreal have been linked the past couple of weeks as potential partners. That speculation centered on Blues' leading scorer Jordan Kyrou — not Bolduc and Mailloux — before his no-trade kicked in at 11 p.m. Central on Monday.
The Blues were happy with Bolduc's progress in his first full NHL season, breaking out with 19 goals and 36 points in 72 games. But with Kyrou, Pavel Buchnevich, Dylan Holloway and Jimmy Snuggerud anchoring the wings on their top two lines, it was an area of surplus.
'It was very difficult to trade Bolduc, but when I look at our depth on the wing, there's only so much ice time, and we were able to take a player that we have very, very high expectations for in Bolduc and turn that into a defenseman,' Armstrong said. 'Then you look at our depth on the right side of defense, and our top players are into their 30s. We said, 'If we don't get involved in something like this, when is the next player like (Mailloux) going to be available?'
'We used a No. 1 pick last year to get (Adam) Jiricek, but adding Mailloux fills a void for us in our group today and tomorrow. In a league where you have to give something to get something, we gave something that we had, and Montreal gave something on the right defense that they have a surplus of. Time will tell how it works out, but I think both sides are excited.'
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The Blues also attempted to get right-shot defenseman Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders last week, but Montreal made the deal instead and signed an eight-year, $76 million contract ($9.5 million average annual value). So the Canadiens suddenly had some depth in the area, which gave them the flexibility to move Mailloux.
Mailloux, 22, was the No. 31 pick in 2021 and has played just eight games in the NHL, in which he has two goals and five points. He's played 135 games with the AHL's Laval Rocket, with 26 goals and 80 points.
'He's an excellent skater, and he's got an excellent shot,' Armstrong said. 'He's learning the game from a defending standpoint, but we think he's NHL-ready now. I talked to him and I told him he has a job now and it's his job to come into camp and keep it.
'We're going to bring him in and we're going to grow with him. During the year, we always rate prospects, and we felt that he's a top-four-talented NHL defenseman and maybe a little bit higher. Time is going to tell our scouting skills.'
Montreal GM Kent Hughes had high praise for Mailloux, even after trading him Tuesday.
'He had an exceptional rookie season in the AHL,' Hughes said. 'We sent him back to the AHL to work on the defensive side of his game and continue his preparation for his NHL career. The trade is just, with the acquisition of Dobson, we had depth on defense and we need forwards.'
Mailloux was thrilled to hear from Armstrong that the Blues believe he's NHL-ready.
'I think I'm NHL ready, as well,' he said. 'I'm ready to make that jump full time and hopefully be able to contribute to some wins and some success next year. It's pretty exciting to see what they have going on. They've got a bunch of young talent — some guys who've put up some really good seasons and some young guys who are up-and-coming. Hopefully I fit right in with that age group as well.'
The Blues' young core just got a new addition on defense. #stlblues
Watch Logan Mailloux's full media availability following Tuesday's trade ➡️ https://t.co/4wAJmL0bXY pic.twitter.com/U4IWKI63s1
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) July 1, 2025
Mailloux said that spending the majority of his two-year pro career in the AHL so far has helped his play on both sides of the puck, and it showed when he was called up to Montreal for seven games this season. He had two goals and four points.
'It was just a few games here and there, but it was definitely eye-opening,' Mailloux said. 'I saw how my game can translate and what I have to do to be able to be productive night in, night out. That's one of the main things about playing in the NHL. You've got to be able to bring your game every single match. That's definitely something that I've learned.'
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Mailloux also on Tuesday addressed the legal issues that led him to attempt to withdraw from the NHL Draft.
In 2020, then an NHL prospect, Maillioux was issued a fine by Swedish authorities for offensive photography constituting an invasion of privacy. He secretly took a picture of an 18-year-old woman who was engaged in a sexual act with him and shared the image with teammates without her consent.
Montreal took him anyway, but he was then suspended indefinitely by the OHL, where he was playing at the time. After participation in the Canadiens' Respect and Consent program, he was reinstated by the OHL and eventually worked his way up the ranks.
The NHL also declared itself satisfied with the measures he'd taken before his NHL debut.
'We have met with Logan Mailloux multiple times over the course of the last eight to 10 months,' the league announced at the time. 'We are comfortable that he recognizes the gravity of his prior conduct and is committed to making better and more responsible decisions in the future.'
Mailloux didn't sidestep his past on Tuesday, though he also didn't go into specifics about his process.
'To be honest with you, I think it's something that, it's not just in the rear view for me,' he said. 'It's something that I've carried with me every day. It's something that I want to be able to make a positive impact. I think when I dealt with all of that, in the past few years, I've felt I've grown a lot, as a person, off the ice.
'I've been around the community in Montreal, and I look forward to getting to St. Louis and being able to make a positive impact around the community there. Just turning my whole situation, which was a negative situation, being able to turn that into a positive is something I've really tried to do.'
The Blues say they are comfortable with Mailloux's past and the person he is now, though they also didn't elaborate on what he's done to prove that to them.
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'We've done our research on that,' Armstrong said. 'The league has obviously done its due diligence and allowed him into the league. We understand what he did. We also understand that everyone makes mistakes, and he's paid for it, and he'll continue to pay for it.
'We'll continue to work with him. Like all of our players, we're here to support them in any way that we can.'
(Photo of Logan Mailloux: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)