Quoting: ColonelX
He was everywhere around veterans of the team this summer, this signing isn't a surprise to me. By signing him the Canadiens are blowing away the dark cloud over his head so he can now focus on playing hockey and not thinking whether or not he's part of a team's future. I guess he's proven to the team he's worthy of it and the team faces little to no risks considering he's only starting his D+2 season.
I mean is a dark cloud removed simply by signing him? I don't think so. I think based on what we know right now, If there is something we fans don't know, than obviously that changes things but, there was very little to gain from signing him now. If they already knew they were going to sign him, then they are signing him based on what exactly? The 16 games he's played as a junior thus far in his career? They gain more by simply telling him they'll sign him in a year and waiting till next year to officially sign him. That way he gets the confirmation AND the added time to do "X".
The simple truth is regardless of what opinion anyone has of his off ice situation, his on ice results haven't warranted a contract yet. We're not talking about the next Cale Makar here. If Mailloux had a Makar like repertoire, you could at least begrudgingly (or not) appreciate why they would want to offer him a contract right now. He doesn't, not even close. So why not take the extra time to see him progress in a full season and continue to watch him from a far like they were already doing?
The thing that annoys me is that, if they took that extra time to evaluate him and lets just say he sucks and or gets injured again and they decide alright we won't sign him, they would have received a 2nd round pick in 2023/24 as compensation for not coming to terms with a former 1st round pick on an ELC. At least from a hockey ops perpsective, they've hedged their bet a little. Considering Mailloux was taken with the 31st pick, it basically was already a 2nd round pick anyway. If that happened, they would have gotten themselves out of a contract, got a compensatory pick to replace him, gained brownie points with the people who automatically dislike him by not resigning him, let time pass to potentially let negative public opinion die down on him a little, etc etc etc....What did they gain now? Mailloux feels a bit better about his contract future despite not actually earning it yet? Like I said, if he plays well in London this year, just sign him next year but at least you have something to base that opinion on that ppl can understand.
There is very little upside to signing him right now. There is actually tons of upside to waiting till next year to make that decision. Strictly from a risk management perspective, it makes more sense to wait to sign him too.