{"id":272308,"date":"2025-11-09T15:21:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T15:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/272308\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T15:21:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T15:21:11","slug":"st-louis-blues-reassign-logan-mailloux-recall-hunter-skinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/272308\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Louis Blues Reassign Logan Mailloux, Recall Hunter Skinner"},"content":{"rendered":"

The St. Louis Blues announced this morning<\/a> that defenseman Logan Mailloux<\/a> has been reassigned to the team\u2019s AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds. In a corresponding move, the team recalled defenseman Hunter Skinner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The move comes amid what has been an extremely difficult start to the 2025-26 season at the NHL level for Mailloux. Blues GM Doug Armstrong spoke to The Athletic\u2019s Jeremy Rutherford<\/a> about the move. Armstrong said Mailloux \u201cneeds a reset\u201d but refused to place all the blame for Mailloux\u2019s tough start on the player himself. He noted that St. Louis is, as a whole, \u201cnot functioning at a high level right now\u201d and that Mailloux\u2019s struggles have been a small part of that.<\/p>\n

In explaining the motivations behind this move, Armstrong said the team wants Mailloux to be able to play without the level of \u201canxiety\u201d and pressure that exists at the NHL level. The Blues believe, Armstrong said, that sending Mailloux back to the AHL will help him \u201cget his game back\u201d and \u201cunlock his mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

St. Louis acquired Mailloux, who is a 2021 first-round pick, from the Montreal Canadiens over the summer in a one-for-one trade, sacrificing forward Zachary Bolduc<\/a> after his promising rookie year in the NHL. Trading away a rookie forward right after a 19-goal, 36-point rookie season that saw him earn down-ballot Calder Trophy consideration certainly isn\u2019t a decision a team takes lightly. But the Blues saw an opportunity to acquire a young right-handed defenseman with a rare combination of size and dynamic offensive ability.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Big right-shot defensemen who can skate and play a quality offensive game are one of the hardest-to-find commodities in the NHL, yet players of that archetype remain extremely in-demand among NHL teams.<\/p>\n

That supply-and-demand consideration had to have played a role in making Mailloux a first-round pick despite the off-ice issues surrounding him<\/a>, and without question motivated the Blues\u2019 decision to trade Bolduc in order to acquire him.<\/p>\n

So far, Mailloux hasn\u2019t been able to reward the Blues\u2019 faith in him with quality play at the NHL level.<\/p>\n

Through two professional seasons in the Canadiens organization, Mailloux proved to be an exceptional offensive weapon on the back end, but also a defenseman who at times struggled mightily with decision-making and reading the play in his own end. Those issues have resurfaced in the NHL this season.<\/p>\n

He was never able to reach a level of reliability in the defensive zone to earn a consistent NHL role in Montreal, playing with the Canadiens only on a sporadic basis. But he did manage to make his presence felt at the AHL level, playing in two AHL All-Star games and landing on the 2023-24 All-Rookie team.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that previous success he has at the AHL level that has likely led to the Blues\u2019 belief that a stint in the AHL could go a long way in helping Mailloux \u201creset\u201d his game.<\/p>\n

Through nine NHL contests this season, Mailloux has failed to register a point and has logged a -12 plus\/minus rating despite averaging the second-fewest minutes per game of any Blues defenseman.<\/p>\n

The Blues\u2019 season as a whole has not gone to plan, and surrendering a game-tying goal with a second left and then losing in overtime last night cannot have helped matters. This transaction is unlikely to be the only move the Blues make in order to try to spark a turnaround in results.<\/p>\n

From Mailloux\u2019s perspective, it would be understandable to be discouraged by a return to the AHL after making the NHL roster out of training camp. But getting the chance to rediscover his game and build some confidence in a league he\u2019s largely starred in could genuinely make a difference in helping him stay in the NHL on a more permanent basis the next time he\u2019s called up.<\/p>\n

This move is a disappointing development for one young defenseman but a significant opportunity for another. Skinner, 24, has yet to make his NHL debut and this recall positions him to do exactly that, with his first opportunity coming Nov. 11 against the Calgary Flames.<\/p>\n

The 6\u20193\u2033 right-shot defenseman was originally acquired in 2023 as part of the trade that sent Vladimir Tarasenko<\/a> to the New York Rangers, and he has worked his way up to the NHL all the way from the ECHL. While he\u2019s not considered a top prospect by any stretch, Skinner offers the Blues a physical edge they could find useful.<\/p>\n

Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The St. Louis Blues announced this morning that defenseman Logan Mailloux has been reassigned to the team\u2019s AHL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,124851,11583,448,82,759],"class_list":["post-272308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-hunter-skinner","tag-logan-mailloux","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-st-louis-blues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}