As usual, Corey Pronman of The Athletic has ranked the best young player banks of the NHL.
This Wednesday, it was the turn of the Canadiens' youth to be under the journalist's scrutiny. While most of his ranking is beyond dispute, there are a few surprises, one of which involves young Logan Mailloux.
First, it's important to note that Pronman ranks all prospects under the age of 23 (as of mid-September). With this in mind, it's no surprise that the top of the list is none other than Cole Caufield, followed by the organization's two most recent first-round picks: Juraj Slafkovsky and David Reinbacher.
Here's the rest of the ranking:
4 - Kirby Dach,
5 - Kaiden Guhle
6 - Alex Newhook
7 - Justin Barron
8 - Lane Hutson
9 - Owen Beck
10 - Joshua Roy
11 - Sean Farrell
12 - Arber Xhekaj
13 - Jan Mysak
14 - Riley Kidney
15 - Emil Heineman
16 - William Trudeau
17 - Filip Mesar
18 - Jacob Fowler
Notice anything missing? There's no mention of Logan Mailloux. He only finds himself in the honorable mentions at the end, with those who theoretically have a shot at the big league.
You can imagine the chatter... Logan Mailloux clearly deserves a higher rank than players like Jan Mysak and Filip Mesar, at the very least.
From what we understand, Pronman made this ranking before the news about the young defenseman getting the green light to play in the NHL came out. Knowing this, Mailloux would surely have been in the journalist's main ranking. We'll never know where he would have placed, though.
Another little surprise, in my opinion, is seeing Justin Barron at 7th place ahead of Lane Hutson who's at 8th. I believe the young American, along with Mailloux, have greater potential than Barron and should therefore rank higher. But that's just my two cents!
Here's what Pronman says about Hutson:
One player I'm happy to see in the main ranking is William Trudeau. Not often mentioned by fans, he made significant progress last year with Laval Rocket. He will definitely be on the first pair of defense this season with Justin Barron in the CH's farm club. Pronman captures my sentiment in his analysis:
POLL | ||
AOUT 26 | 700 ANSWERS A list in which Logan Mailloux is completely overlooked is causing a significant reaction Which one is the best prospect, in your opinion? | ||
Logan Mailloux | 648 | 92.6 % |
Jan Mysak | 52 | 7.4 % |
List of polls |