Logan Mailloux’s next season with the St. Louis Blues comes with a hard edge to it: produce, or risk being out of the picture.
Mailloux is set to enter the 2026-27 season after a rookie year that never really got rolling. His first NHL campaign was marked by repeated benchings, though he did show signs of settling in a bit as the year wound down. The Blues will be hoping that version of No. 23 shows up again, and that it sticks.
The leash is short. Mailloux signed a one-year deal worth $850,000, and that makes this season feel like a straight-up audition for General Manager Alexander Steen.
If he plays well enough, he stays. If not, the door could close quickly.
A big part of that will come down to whether head coach Jim Montgomery trusts him. Philip Broberg has taken over as the club’s top defenseman, pushing Colton Parayko out of that role. Mailloux needs to work his way into that first defensive pairing and make it impossible to move him off it.
A 6-23 pairing could be a fit now and down the line. Both players are part of the young core, and if the Blues really are building toward something bigger, that duo could end up looking like the next version of what the Chicago Blackhawks had with Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith. For that to happen, the chemistry between Mailloux and Broberg has to start developing now.
The other piece is accountability. Mailloux does not have to be flawless, but he does have to be better than he was last season. The Blues may not be a Stanley Cup threat any time soon, but when that window opens, they need him to be part of the group driving it.
That is why this year carries so much weight. It is a one-year tryout, and there is no safety net attached to it. Adam Jiricek and Colin Ralph are already waiting in the wings as the next wave of Blues defensemen.
For Mailloux, 2026-27 has to be the year he breaks through. No exceptions.
In Other News...
Blues Could Be Headed For A Brutal Goalie Decision
A hypothetical 2027 expansion draft would force the Blues to start thinking well ahead about how they would handle their goaltending, and the conversation gets complicated fast under a 7-3-1 protection setup. St. Louis would already be juggling difficult decisions at several spots on the roster, but the net is where the tension really sharpens because both Joel Hofer and Jordan Binnington would be part of the calculation.
Jordan Binningtons age and contract timeline make this more than a simple depth-chart debate, and the Blues could find themselves facing a choice between protecting short-term stability and preserving long-term value. If an expansion draft ever does land on that schedule, the front office may have to decide whether to move on from Binnington earlier rather than risk a scenario where he is left exposed and the Blues get nothing back. [Read more 🡒]
Blues May Have A Center Debate That Changes Their Future
The Blues have spent the offseason reshaping their forward group, and the additions of Mason McTavish and Connor McMichael give them a different kind of center depth than they had before. With Robert Thomas already anchoring the middle, the possibility of keeping Dalibor Dvorsky at center instead of sliding him to the wing suddenly looks less like a developmental footnote and more like a roster decision with real long-term value.
St. Louis wants a lineup that can flex through the middle with Thomas, McTavish and Dvorsky, rather than forcing one of its young pieces out of position just to make the puzzle fit. That approach would also let the Blues keep prospect Tynan Lawrence on a slower developmental track, while the bigger question remains whether Dvorsky is best served by staying where he is or taking on a new role for the sake of balance elsewhere on the roster. [Read more 🡒]
Blues Entering A New Era With One Huge Leadership Decision Ahead
The Blues are heading into a rare stretch of uncertainty at the top of the organizational ladder, and it is one of the bigger signs that a new era is taking shape. For the first time since 1996-97, St. Louis will begin a season without a captain, forcing the club to decide how it wants to define its next leadership core as the roster continues to evolve.
Several names are in the mix, including Robert Thomas, Jake Neighbours, Philip Broberg, Jimmy Snuggerud and Colton Parayko, with a few others still lingering as long shots. The bigger question now is not just who gets the job, but when the Blues decide to make it official, since there is a growing sense around the team that a pre-season announcement would make sense if the choice is clear enough. [Read more 🡒]