MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- In a sense, Tyler Tucker knows what Logan Mailloux is dealing with right now.
In his attempt to secure a spot on the St. Louis Blues blue line, Tucker had a pipeline between St. Louis and Springfield, Mass; he would have been well-served to have his own private jet at his disposal.
Mailloux, who was assigned to Springfield of the American Hockey League on Sunday, isn’t at that point, but there are certain similarities. And who better to lean on than one of his defensive partners through his early career here in St. Louis than Tucker, who didn’t really have to tall him what the 22-year-old has to do.
“I think he knows what he’s got to do obviously,” Tucker said of Mailloux, who had 80 points the past two seasons in 135 regular-season games with Laval of the AHL. “He’s played a couple years now down there. He knows how good he can be down there. I think he’s just got to go down there, get his confidence back, play the way he knows he can play, and they know he can play and things will trend in the right direction for him obviously. As a young guy, that’s really not what you want to hear getting sent down, but I think there’s two ways to go about it, and that’s go down there and work hard or go down there and pout. I spoke with him last night after the game and he’s in the right mindset. I think he’ll do a good job.”
Mailloux, acquired in a July 1 trade with the Montreal Canadiens for Zack Bolduc, played in nine games this season with no points and tied for a team-worst minus-12. His promising preseason has turned into a tough start to his Blues career. But what the Blues want everyone to remember: they said this was a long-term project, not a quick fix/insertion. They were hoping to catch lightning in a bottle and have Mailloux fill in seamlessly at this level, but it’s obvious that they want to get him a ton of minutes, work on both special teams sides and playing in all situations.
“A player that has all the tools,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “Right now, he’s lost his confidence a little bit. This is an opportunity for him to go down, play a lot of minutes, get his game in order, come back up here and help us.”
Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said that this isn’t a demotion or something that would last the entire season, but it’s apparent that there’s a need to recapture some confidence.
“I think for him especially, he comes in with high expectations, I feel like,” Tucker said. “Obviously he feels that. But I think for him, the biggest thing (for) himself is being able to trust himself, knowing how good he can be. I think going down there I think will help him. He’ll play in all situations, power play, penalty kill. They’re obviously struggling down there (1-8-1-1), so hopefully he can go in there and help them out a bit and turn it around.”
Mailloux has played a grand total of 17 games at the NHL level, including eight games with the Canadiens, but when he was given the keys to run with a job here, Armstrong at the time said, “It’s his job to lose,” perhaps he felt some pressure there and need to perhaps be too perfect.
“Maybe. I’m not too sure to be honest,” Tucker said. “I know I speak with him almost every day. He lives two doors down from me. I spend a lot of time with him. He’s a good kid. I’m sure he’ll be back here soon. He does a lot of the right things and he tries to be the best guy he can be. He’ll be just fine. I expect to see him back soon.
“I think he’s a really good puck mover. He’s able to make really nice plays, but he’s also able to keep it simple. Just move pucks, get them out of his hands. He’s got a little bit of everything. I’ve seen him be really skilled, I’ve seen him play on the first power play unit. I’ve played against him where he’s probably scored on us. I know he can make plays, I think everyone knows he can make plays. Just putting it all together in this league, I think going down there will help him because he’ll be able to do that down there, put everything together and come back a better player I think.”
This isn’t the Blues’ first rodeo with sending a player down to the minors to spruce and polish up his game before feeling said player is ready for full-time NHL duty. One of these was just recently last year, and a familiar name.
“Bolduc’s a great example of last year, right,” Montgomery said. “He was struggling right before the 4 Nations break. Went down, played four games. I don’t think he lit the world on fire when he went down there, but he came back with just a new appreciation and I think gratitude for how hard it is to be an everyday player in the NHL.
“It’s hard to replicate it here, right? There’s four guys ahead of him that are going to log the most important minutes and he’s got to be able to take the minutes he gets there and bring that confidence and assimilate it into the role that he’s going to have here.”
And in the meantime, Tucker said the lines of communication are open for whenever Mailloux needs it.
“Of course. Obviously I feel like we’ve got a lot of young guys here,” Tucker said. “I think we all do a really good job by keeping in touch and just checking in with each other. I have no doubt in my mind that I’ll be talking to him here shortly.”
As for Hunter Skinner, who was recalled to fill the role of seventh defenseman, Montgomery goes back to a player’s strong training camp and willingness to push for a job out of camp.
“His energy’s really good,” Montgomery said. “He has that enthusiasm that permeates into the dressing room because of how much he loves being at the rink. He seems like a rink rat. I don’t know him well enough to know if he’s a rink rat, but I know he loves being on the ice. He loves being around the locker room and he’s got a smile on his face.”
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