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Dear Montreal Canadiens, Why Logan Mailloux?

A simple message to Marc Bergevin and Montreal

by Chris Wassel

July 25, 2021

in Atlantic Division, Featured, Montreal Canadiens, NHL, NHL Draft, Prospects

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Some thoughts on Logan Mailloux

For the last four-plus months, I have been privileged to cover the Montreal Canadiens for Full Press Hockey. In that time, the learning curve and support from media and fans alike have been incredible.

It is why this hurts so much.

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One watches a team build up such an amount of goodwill from a deep playoff run that launched Montreal into the Stanley Cup Final. Yes, they were nearly swept but the Canadiens got there.

In one moment, that goodwill was erased.

When Logan Mailloux was drafted, against his wishes, it began to unravel a disturbing pattern with Marc Bergevin. In reality, this has lurked for some time. Some of this was bad for optics and some were considerably worse.

The general manager of the Montreal Canadiens maintained from day one that he knew nothing on the sexual assault case with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010. There were rumors about trying to acquire Slava Voynov and even Anthony DeAngelo. For better or for worse, the drafting of Mailloux raises some questions at the least.

Bergevin may be right but he may be wrong too. There are so many things wrong with the Mailloux pick. Why do it on day one of the NHL Draft? The adage of any press is good press does not always apply. This is a glaring case of that!

Mailloux read his statement on Saturday in both English and French. Again, it is true that he apologized to his victim but not nearly as profusely as claimed.

It was a three-line text. All the victim wanted was a heartfelt apology.

I guess there are interpretations to that but a much longer text or email (not three lines) would likely have sufficed.

The media grilled Mailloux, Bergevin, and Montreal rightfully so.

Calling this a mistake arguably was even more of a mistake.

Logan Mailloux “Renounced” his drafting rights…

Mailloux said no one from Montreal had spoken with him for a week. He had talked to Marc Bergevin on multiple occasions in the last 6-12 months.

It is that sentence right there. That points to many red flags for anyone.

Why? Several times during the zoom press conference “a plan” was mentioned but kind of waffled on.

There is no legal right for Mailloux to renounce his rights. The NHL can force teams to forfeit picks (see Arizona).

Mailloux gave no specific timeline even with his therapy. Mentioning “multiple months” can mean anything. There were no concrete details on an action plan or course of action.

This will be a forever process. Many do wonder if Mailloux even realizes this.

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Actions speak louder than words

Mailloux will have a long road to tow if he expects to earn back trust with anyone. A heartfelt apology to the victim would be a welcome step — via email of course. Then, there has to be an extensive amount of therapy. Mailloux must show within the community and especially a toxic hockey community that this is never acceptable.

The hockey player was shown leniency in the Swedish courts but will not be in the court of public opinion.

No one is perfect but now this is 100% on Logan Mailloux and the Montreal Canadiens.

And no one so far has looked like they can fully handle this.

Trevor Timmins was asked why they did the opposite and drafted a sex offender even after he asked not to be and he sat in stunned silence for a good 20 seconds before asking for clarification on the question…#Habs

— Matt Campbell (@mattCH_) July 24, 2021

It was this silence alone that raised so many more questions.

Again, actions speak louder than words. That silence was far from golden. It was more damning than anything else over the last few days. Can one trust Montreal here? That answer is at best a pessimistic I do not know. At worst, it is no.

The most important person here is the victim.

Hopefully, she can learn to cope with all of this. Seeing her accuser basically get gifted a second chance this soon has to hurt. Few can even imagine the continual cycle and process.

I humbly apologize to readers that they have to read this.

All I can say is be better humans.