Logan Mailloux has one of his best OHL games to date

Finishing a natural hat trick off with a Michigan certainly helped.

Saturday night’s tilt between the London Knights and Erie Otters was a close affair until the final frame. Both teams posted first-period markers to head into intermission all tied up, and Sean McGurn’s shorthanded goal for the Knights in the second was the only other offense to speak of.

It looked like the game would be going down to the wire until the Otters ran into penalty trouble in the third period. Enter Logan Mailloux, the Montreal Canadiens prospect who is beyond lethal on the man advantage.

He possesses a pro-ready shot, and there is really no debate about that. Typically he likes to one-time passes when he’s at the top of the circle like that, but with the pass going a little behind him, he makes the adjustment and lets go his patented heavy wrister.

He has a variety of releases he can use, but the wrister is perhaps his best tool. He gets insane velocity, and can place it better than he can with one-timed slap shots. On multiple occasions, he has taken goalie masks clean off when they happen to get their head in the way. Sometimes, that is all they can really hope to do with how well he shoots the puck.

And when London got a five-on-three later in the period, the kind of space that he got to use that shot was bound to yield another.

This time, the pass is in his skates, but he makes the adjustment, loads up the wrister, and snipes from nearly the exact same spot.

And of course, la pièce de résistance…

Natural hat tricks are rather impressive on their own, but finishing one off with a Michigan is something else entirely. Not only does he possess a pure sniper’s shot from the perimeter, he can get into the offensive zone and pull off highlight reel plays like this. All of this against Erie, mind you, was done without him showcasing much of his elite skating.

But the offensive talent was never in doubt with Mailloux. The main impediment to his NHL aspirations has always been with respect to his decision making, and his defensive zone play.

He was a -1 against the Otters, but that is more a reflection of the ineffectiveness of that stat in evaluating a player’s impact, than it is something to criticize him for. The goal against that he was on the ice for was the result of an ill-advised pass by Jackson Edward in his own zone during a power play, while the Knights were changing. Mailloux had his skates on the ice for all of two seconds when the puck crossed the line, and had no opportunity to get back and make a play.

Add in the fact that you’re not awarded a plus for power play productivity, and you can see how the plus/minus stat is rather ineffective, particularly in one-game samples. Mailloux was the well-deserved first star of the game, and not only because of his hat trick that allowed his team to run away with the game in the third.

He actually had one of the better overall performances I’ve seen from him in his own zone. He wasn’t chasing opposing puck carriers as he sometimes does, which kept him in better position to defend and allowed him to make more plays on the puck, anticipating passes and using his reach to disrupt his opponents. His physicality was more of an asset to him while playing more reserved, rather than trying to go for highlight reel body checks.

This is just one game, but lately in my viewings I feel like he’s trending in the right direction defensively. This should be very welcome news for Canadiens fans, because his offensive talent will only be able to shine at the next level if he can also play responsibly in his own zone.

Though he could undoubtedly help the Habs power play immediately, the best route for him is likely to join the Laval Rocket next season. There, he’ll get a chance to adjust to the speed of pro hockey while continuing to work on his defensive abilities.

If he can continue becoming more responsible in his own zone, those offensive skills will make him a legitimate top-four defender for the Habs in the future.