Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Canadiens chairman Geoff Molson released a statement on Wednesday supporting his club's decision to select Logan Mailloux No. 31 overall in last week's draft while attempting to assure fans the franchise takes seriously the defenseman's criminal conviction in Sweden during his time playing club hockey abroad. 

According to Katie Strang and Corey Pronman of The Athletic, the 18-year-old was "investigated and issued a fine for 'Kränkande fotografering' (photographic activity constituting an invasion of privacy) and 'Förtal' (defamation)" after a woman reported Mailloux to local police for sharing a photo taken without her consent while engaging in a sexual act.

Molson said:

Our selection of Logan was never intended to be disrespectful towards [the woman] or her family, or more generally towards women or other victims of similar situations. Our decision was not intended, in any shape or form, to be an endorsement of the culture of violence against women.  

Logan is a young man who committed a serious transgression. He is genuinely remorseful about the pain he has caused. He is committed to becoming a better person and we will work with him through this process." 

The chairman's comments were published on the team's website 30 minutes before NHL free agency opened.

The 50-year-old Molson laid out three immediate steps the franchise will take in the wake of the draft. First, the Habs will spend the next few months working with local experts to develop a "comprehensive plan to raise awareness and educate young men and women about this serious issue." The defenseman will not report to rookie training camp this summer or main training camp this fall. Montreal is not guaranteeing Mailloux a spot in the organization, explaining he will have to earn the privilege to play in the NHL. Finally, the Canadiens said they will oversee and support Mailloux's commitment to "becoming a better person." 

No steps or concrete actions were laid out explaining how the club will help him or how the front office will determine if he's cleared to join the organization. 

In an email to The Athletic, the woman said she has not forgiven Mailloux and does not believe he has shown remorse for his actions. 

"I do not think that Logan has understood the seriousness of his behavior," the woman wrote. "... Logan says that I want to ruin his career. I have never said that. All I have wanted is to get justice for the actions he has taken against me. If his actions ruin his career, it’s up to him. It’s not my fault."

The woman added that despite seeking a written "heartfelt apology," Mailloux responded with a text message containing three sentences. Subsequent apology attempts, she said, were made "at the behest" of Mailloux's former club, SK Lejon. 

As news of Mailloux's conviction made its way to NHL scouts, The Athletic reported that at least 11 teams took him off their draft boards. Not long after, the defenseman put out a statement renouncing himself from the NHL Draft.

https://twitter.com/loganmailloux_/status/1417454073582850048

The Canadiens drafted him anyway, reportedly believing another team would do so if they passed:

Multiple NHL teams had indicated they might pick Logan Mailloux in the 2nd round of the 2021 Draft despite his renouncing himself from being selected, source tells ESPN.

Given that @CanadiensMTL didn't pick again to No. 63, imagine that's why they took him at No. 31.

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) July 24, 2021

The pick received near-immediate negative reaction, including from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau—a Montreal fan—who chimed in during a press conference Tuesday.

"I think it was a lack of judgment by the Canadiens organization," Trudeau said. "I think they have a lot of explaining to do to Montrealers and fans right across the country."

It's also the second consecutive season an NHL team has drafted a player with a significant criminal conviction. In 2020, the Arizona Coyotes selected Mitchell Miller No. 111 overall despite a prior conviction in juvenile court of bullying and abusing a Black developmentally disabled classmate. After initially defending the pick, mounting public backlash led to the team renouncing Miller's draft rights. 

Montreal's selection of Mailloux also comes amid an investigation into the Chicago Blackhawks after two players claimed the team's front office covered up sexual abuse by then-video coach Bradley Aldrich in 2010. Chicago is facing two lawsuits related to Aldrich, one from a former player who alleged the team refused to report Aldrich to local police in 2010 and another from a former high school player in Michigan who Aldrich plead guilty to sexually abusing in 2013. The second lawsuit alleges the Blackhawks gave Aldrich positive references to the Michigan high school where the coach was later convicted of sexual assault. 

In a post-draft press conference last week, Mailloux said the Canadiens have committed to helping him grow as a person. Molson reiterated that notion in his Wednesday statement just before the team announced it signed David Savard and Mike Hoffman in free agency. 

"We gave Logan a second chance but in doing so, we failed to properly assess the impact of our decision on the victim and on anyone who have suffered in similar circumstances," Molson said. "Once again, I want to apologize to everyone impacted by our decision. I repeat, our actions will speak louder than our words. We will work to continue proving we are an organization this community and our fans can be proud of."  

Marc Bergevin made a hockey decision Friday night. The Montreal Canadiens general manager got up in a room full of his employees during the NHL's virtual draft and announced the club's first-round pick at No. 31: defenseman Logan Mailloux.

I'm not sure what the mood was like in Montreal, but those of us watching the broadcast watched in horror as Bergevin chose a player who was fined for a crime of a sexual nature and asked teams not to pick him as a result.

Mailloux, at 17 years old, took a photo of a woman he was engaged in a consensual sexual act with in Sweden without her consent and showed his teammates on Snapchat without her knowledge. He was not arrested but fined for offensive photography constituting an invasion of privacy and defamation.

There was quite a bit of consternation about it in the NHL, and Mailloux was asked about it in his predraft interviews. He received backlash in the Swedish press and eventually decided to renounce his draft rights.

"The NHL draft should be one of the most exciting landmark moments in a player's career, and given the circumstances, I don't feel I have demonstrated strong enough maturity or character to earn that privilege in the 2021 draft," he wrote in a statement on Twitter. "I know it will take time for society to build back the trust I have lost, and that is why I think it is best that I renounce myself from the 2021 NHL draft and ask that no one select me this upcoming weekend."

There is no formal mechanism in place to withdraw from consideration in the NHL draft. Once the paperwork is submitted to the NHL's central registry, he is free to be drafted, so the Habs were always free to make this pick.

"You cannot remove yourself from the draft," Bergevin said after selecting Mailloux. "Even if he said so, you're eligible to be drafted, so that was clear with the league."

But there is an easy way to get around that: Take him off your draft board, as 11 teams did, according to The Athletic.

Instead, Bergevin and his director of amateur scouting, Martin Lapointe, chose to do the opposite. It was more than just tone-deaf, it was an insult to every woman in the organization, every woman in Montreal and every female NHL fan who has ever experienced sexual assault or harassment. The Habs made a calculated decision that Mailloux was worth the backlash, indicating they don't really care about his behavior off the ice and what kind of message that sends to their fans and their community.

The club quickly released a statement after the selection. The statement said the club will not minimize Mailloux's actions and that he had admitted to a serious mistake. Bergevin doubled down on this "mistake" narrative in his press conference following the draft.

Canadiens statement on selecting Logan Mailloux.https://t.co/g04PZd2sF8

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) July 24, 2021

"We understand, and we're fully aware and we as an organization think it's very unacceptable," Bergevin said. "But also, it's a young man that made a terrible mistake. He's 17 years old and he's willing and he understands and he's remorseful and he has a lot of work to do, but he already started to put it behind him and have a hockey career."

Really, if you have to release a statement like this, then you should probably realize it's the wrong pick. The Canadiens seem to think this is just a mistake that can be undone if Mailloux just gets a chance to get on with his life and play some hockey. But it can never be undone for the woman in Sweden, who told The Athletic she doesn't "think that Logan has understood the seriousness of his behavior" and that all she has "wanted is to get justice for the actions he has taken against me."

"I know I caused a lot of harm to this person and their family, and I regret doing this stupid and egotistical act," Mailloux told reporters Saturday morning. "I deeply regret it. What I did now is unfortunately a part of both her life and mine. I've apologized to her but, nonetheless, this will follow her for the rest of her life. And for that, I deeply and sincerely regret it."

Mailloux said he is attending counseling, and he expressed remorse. But this entire incident further exposes how broken this culture is.

It's not just hockey culture that is broken, it's sports culture in general. For too long the men in charge of sports have been willing to overlook these things as long as elite athletes remain elite.

In one example among many, Trevor Bauer is under criminal investigation after a woman filed a restraining order against him. The Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander, who won the National League Cy Young Award with the Cincinnati Reds last season, has been accused of choking the woman until she lost consciousness on multiple occasions, punching her in several areas and injuring her to the point of hospitalization over the course of two sexual encounters earlier this year.

Bauer's co-agents, Jon Fetterolf and Rachel Luba, have refuted the allegations and deny the woman's account of what happened.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred acted slowly in placing Bauer on administrative leave. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the league recommended the team let Bauer make his regularly scheduled start on July 4 against the Washington Nationals. The Dodgers, not wanting to get slapped with a grievance from the MLBPA, complied and said they would not skip his start.

After Roberts told reporters the issue was "out of [the Dodgers'] hands," the wife of an MLB player messaged me. Being a victim of sexual assault herself, she asked how she was supposed to feel going to her husband's games. The issue itself was triggering, and she felt as if MLB were giving a big middle finger to all of the women who had experienced similar atrocities and was essentially saying "it's not our problem."

What can they do about serious allegations against their players? It's out of their hands!

Bergevin is sending a similar message. But if you look at his track record, he always has.

This is the general manager of a team that was reportedly interested in Slava Voynov after he was suspended indefinitely after pleading no-contest to misdemeanor corporal injury to a spouse in 2015. His wife told police that Voynov choked her, pushed her to the ground and kicked her multiple times, and shoved her into a television screen on Halloween in 2014.

This is the general manager of a team that reportedly had an interest in signing problematic defenseman Tony DeAngelo a few months ago. Among other issues, in 2014, DeAngelo was suspended in the OHL for directing slurs at a teammate.

This is the same general manager who recently hired Sean Burke, who pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife in 1997, as the Habs' director of goaltending.

It wouldn't have been hard to pass on Mailloux. A lot of other teams did it.

There were rumors that Mailloux might be taken in a later round, and Bergevin was likely worried he would lose his guy. By selecting him in the first round and being "proud" to do so, Bergevin might as well have gotten on Zoom and told all of the women on the call that they don't matter and that he doesn't care if he's alienating an important part of the fanbase.

Hockey is not safer with Bergevin in it, and the sad thing is, he isn't alone. It's the culture. Look at the lawsuits against the Chicago Blackhawks, the team he previously worked for.

Their former skills coach, Paul Vincent, told TSN that in a 2010 meeting, he shared with then-president John McDonough, vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac, general manager Stan Bowman and team sports psychologist James Gary that two players had told him then-video coach Bradley Aldrich had sexually assaulted them. Vincent said the executives chose not to go to the police.

Bergevin, the Blackhawks' director of player personnel at the time, has said he was unaware of the allegations and will participate in the independent investigation.

Mailloux said publicly the right things, but Montreal did the wrong thing. The hockey rationale that he was the best player available doesn't hold up in this instance. There were other defensemen they could have taken at No. 31. Lots of them. Bergevin and the Habs gave Mailloux a free pass, excused his actions and showed others that they too can behave badly and still be chosen in the first round of the NHL draft.

This was never just a simple hockey decision because it's not simple for the victim on the other end of this. It's incredibly complex. It's a mess, but it's a mess of hockey's own creation.

Logan Mailloux apologized for taking and sharing a photo of a woman without consent while she was performing a sex act after the Montreal Canadiens selected the defenseman with the No. 31 pick in the NHL draft on Friday.

Mailloux was convicted in a Swedish court of offensive photography constituting an invasion of privacy and defamation while playing overseas, per The Athletic's Katie Strang and Corey Pronman.

Despite Mailloux's asking for his name to be withdrawn from consideration, the Canadiens still picked him in the first round.

"I know I had said that I didn't want to be drafted this year," Mailloux said, per Greg Wyshynski of ESPN. "But as a young man who wants to become a better person, I feel that being accompanied by the Canadiens organization will help me greatly. They've committed to helping me grow as a person."

"I hope the fans there do learn to accept me," he added. "I do feel remorseful. I hope that not only the girl, but the whole fan base knows that as well. It was a stupid, immature mistake to make."

After the selection, the Canadiens released a statement, per David Quadrelli of Daily Faceoff:

By drafting prospect Logan Mailloux with the 31st overall pick, the Montreal Canadiens organization not only selected a promising hockey player, but also a young man who recently admitted to making a serious mistake. The Canadiens are aware of the situation and by no means minimize the severity of Logan's actions. Logan understands the impact of his actions. His recent public statement is a genuine acknowledgement of his poor behaviour and the first step on his personal journey.

We are making a commitment to accompany Logan on his journey by providing him with the tools to mature and the necessary support to guide him in his development. We are also committed to raising awareness among our players about the repercussions of their actions on the lives of others.

Wyshynski noted Mailloux was fined by Swedish authorities for taking and sharing the photo without the woman's consent.

Wyshynski also reported that the defenseman was not aware Montreal was going to draft him until it was announced.

Despite renouncing himself from the 2021 NHL draft, Logan Mailloux was selected in the first round by the Montreal Canadiens. 

Mailloux was taken No. 31 overall on Friday night. The Canadiens said in a statement they "are aware of the situation" he's involved in and they are "by no means" minimizing the severity of his actions. 

The #habs released a statement explaining their decision to draft Logan Mailloux tonight. pic.twitter.com/Bmo3Ux9TE0

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) July 24, 2021

The 18-year-old issued a statement on social media earlier this week asking not to be drafted by any team:

https://twitter.com/loganmailloux_/status/1417454073582850048

Mailloux's statement came in the wake of a report by Katie Strang and Corey Pronman of The Athletic reporting that he took a photograph of a woman performing a sexual act without her consent and circulated it among some of his teammates. 

“I do not think that Logan has understood the seriousness of his behavior,” the woman told Strang and Pronman in an email.

The woman also said she previously asked Mailloux to issue "a heartfelt apology for his behavior," but he responded with “a text that was no longer than three sentences.”

Frank Seravalli of DailyFaceoff.com reported "multiple teams" put Mailloux on their do-not-draft list as a result of his summary fine of roughly $4,300 for charges of offensive photography and defamation. 

Per ESPN's Greg Wyshynski, there were multiple teams that indicated they might select Mailloux in the second round before the Canadiens made their next pick at No. 63. 

Mailloux spent the 2020-21 season on loan to SK Lejon in Sweden's Hockeyettan. He previously played for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. 

The Montreal Canadiens announced Friday that star goaltender Carey Price underwent knee surgery.

He's expected to be out for 10 to 12 weeks and should be back to full health when the team opens the 2021-22 NHL season on Oct. 13 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

News of the procedure doesn't come as a surprise. TSN's Pierre LeBrun reported July 18 that Price was going to solicit medical guidance for an unspecified knee injury.

General manager Marc Bergevin also downplayed the severity of the situation.

"Nothing alarming as we speak," he told reporters Thursday. "As you know, Carey played every minute of the playoffs and he performed very well. ... He's seeing the doctor the end of this week. We're not expecting anything major."

Ahead of the expansion draft, LeBrun reported Price waived his no-movement clause, thus becoming eligible for the Seattle Kraken. Seattle passed on the 33-year-old and instead agreed to a three-year, $10.5 million deal with Chris Driedger.

The knee injury and impending surgery may have been considerations for the Kraken, as was Price's contract. He earns $10.5 million annually for the next five seasons.

That the 2015 Vezina Trophy winner is expected to be ready for opening night is obviously good news for the Canadiens. He's coming off a 2020-21 campaign in which he finished with a .901 save percentage and 2.64 goals-against average.

Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price reportedly wasn't selected by the Seattle Kraken as part of the 2021 NHL expansion draft.

Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reported the Habs will retain Price, who's under contract through the 2025-26 season as part of an eight-year, $84 million deal. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff Hockey reported Montreal is "likely to lose" defenseman Cale Fleury instead.

The Kraken's selections will be announced Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.

Price's $10.5 million cap hit for the next five seasons was likely a crucial factor in Seattle's decision. Financial flexibility is perhaps the most valuable commodity an expansion franchise has, and committing that much of the $81.5 million salary cap to a 33-year-old netminder would have come with risk.

The 2005 first-round pick was terrific during Montreal's underdog run to this year's Stanley Cup Final, where it lost to the reigning champion Tampa Bay Lightning. He posted a 2.28 goals against average and .924 save percentage across 22 playoff games.

His regular-season performance over the past two years hasn't lived up to that standard or the one he set in 2014-15 en route to winning the Hart Trophy as the NHL's MVP and the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltender.

Price has compiled a 2.74 GAA and .907 SV% across 83 regular-season appearances since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. His goals saved above average (GSAA) over that span is minus-4.9, per Hockey Reference.

Those numbers combined with the high number of potentially valuable goalies available led the Kraken in a different direction.

Seattle has agreed to a three-year, $10.5 million contract with goalie Chris Driedger, an impending unrestricted free agent who will count toward the team's pick from the Florida Panthers, per Tim Booth and Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, the Kraken are likely to select a more cost-effective option from Montreal in Fleury, a restricted free agent who carried a $771,666 cap hit in 2020-21.

Fleury, 22, tallied just one goal in 41 games during his rookie season with the Habs, but he projects as a reliable defensive blueliner in the coming years.

It's possible his 25-year-old brother, Haydn Fleury, will also end up with Seattle after being left exposed for the expansion draft by the Anaheim Ducks.

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price has reportedly waived his no-move clause in advance of the NHL expansion draft, which will be held Wednesday to fill the Seattle Kraken roster.

Pierre LeBrun of TSN, who broke the news, explained why Price did so.

"Hearing that Carey Price has waived his no-move for purpose of exposure in the expansion draft so that the Habs could protect Jake Allen in the expansion draft," LeBrun wrote.

"The thought is that Seattle wouldn't want to pick up the rest of Price's hefty contract. But I guess we will see."

Chris Johnston of Hockey Night in Canada also provided some thoughts:

Of note on the Carey Price situation: He's owed an $11M signing bonus in September -- a big upfront payout if #seakraken claim him.

Price also only waived his NMC for expansion purposes. So he can't be claimed and flipped in a subsequent trade without his consent.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) July 18, 2021

NHL teams are allowed to protect either seven forwards, three defenseman and one goalie or eight skaters (forwards or defensemen) and one goalie, per NHL.com. In turn, Seattle must pick at least 20 players from the unprotected player pool.

With teams only allowed to protect one goaltender, it appears that Montreal will protect 30-year-old backup goalie Jake Allen in an attempt to keep both of its netminders.

Price's contract could certainly be a deterrent for Seattle. In addition to the aforementioned $11 million signing bonus, Price has five seasons left on an eight-year,  $84 million contract.

Price, who turns 34 years old in August, just helped the Canadiens reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1993. He starred in the playoffs with a 2.28 GAA and .924 save percentage.

The Montreal Canadiens reportedly will not protect defenseman Shea Weber, who turns 36 in August, in the expansion draft due to injuries that may cost him the entirety of the 2021-22 campaign and more, per Renaud Lavoie of NHL Network.

According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, "Weber, the Canadiens, the NHL and the NHLPA are doing their due diligence on the captain's medical situation and future."

Friedman noted left foot and ankle injuries could cost Weber the rest of his career, but he also underwent knee surgery in July 2018 and played the most recent postseason with a thumb injury. The league is attempting to decide whether he will go on long-term injured reserve if he cannot play again.

His contract, which has five years at a $7.9 million annual value, is a key sticking point.

"That deal, signed via offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers, was heavily front-loaded," Friedmann wrote. "There is $12M of actual cash remaining. Nashville, which matched and was where Weber played the next four years, would have a 'cap recapture' penalty of slightly more than $4.9M per season through 2025-26 if the defenceman retires."

Weber is a seven-time All-Star with two gold medals for Team Canada on his resume.

He has been in the NHL since the 2005-06 campaign and played his first 11 seasons on the Nashville Predators and the last five for the Montreal Canadiens. He helped lead Montreal to the Stanley Cup Final this past season, where it lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Weber is known for his physical style of play, but he has also gotten involved on the offensive end throughout his career.

He has nine seasons with 40 or more points, although he had just six goals and 13 assists in 48 games during the 2020-21 campaign.

While his future is in question, Weber is someone who could provide veteran leadership for the Seattle Kraken if Montreal doesn't protect him in the expansion draft.

The Montreal Canadiens have removed the interim tag from coach Dominique Ducharme by agreeing to a three-year extension to make him the permanent replacement for Claude Julien.

"Dominique has managed to set his system in place and establish himself as a head coach in a very unusual season with challenging circumstances," general manager Marc Bergevin said in Tuesday's announcement.

"While our team has gone through its fair share of adversity, he has shown a lot of control over the situation as well as showing calm and great leadership. These are important qualities that we look for in a head coach and he fully deserves the chance to lead our team and take it to the next level."

According to TSN's Pierre LeBrun, Ducharme's deal will average $1.7 million annually.

A long-term contract felt inevitable given how the Canadiens performed in the postseason under his watch.

They went 15-16-7 with him in the regular season, which was good enough to finish fourth in the North Division and qualify for the playoffs. Montreal then made an improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final, losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games.

Some, however, will question whether the franchise's postseason outcome obscured what came before it.

Hard to argue with this. Montreal started the season with a 9-9 record, 57% xG Share and a +11 goal difference. Once Ducharme took over, he turned them around and led them to a 28-32 record, 50% xG Share and a -21 goal difference. Worthy of a long-term commitment. https://t.co/NfrrYAs1gA

— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) July 13, 2021

Bergevin may have pointed to one of the bigger reasons behind this decision when he highlighted Ducharme's "calm and leadership."

By the numbers, the Canadiens weren't a vastly different team with the 48-year-old at the helm compared to Julien.

But Bergevin and the front office will have seen his day-to-day interactions with the players. Beyond the challenges of a typical season, Montreal saw four games postponed in March due to the NHL's COVID-19 protocols.

Ducharme seems to have been a steady hand on the bench, and now he'll have a chance to prove his skeptics wrong in 2021-22.

Montreal Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry provided more context behind his bloodshot eyes that created quite the visual during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Petry told reporters Friday that he had medical personnel reset his pinky finger after it was caught in the glass. During that process, he "basically passed out and popped all the blood vessels in my eyes."

The 33-year-old missed Montreal's Game 4 victory over the Winnipeg Jets in the second round and the team's 4-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights to open the Stanley Cup semifinals.

When he returned to the ice, fans were immediately drawn to his significantly bloodshot eyes.

Montreal's Jeff Petry is seeing red ahead of Game 2 👀#Habs #ItsOn pic.twitter.com/9xEkOE0Vb2

— Tim and Friends (@timandfriends) June 17, 2021

He has suffered a subconjunctival hemorrhage, which is when blood vessels in the eye burst. The injury often looks far worse than its practical effects are.

Based on Petry's comments, the worst appears to have transpired before his eye injury occurred. The pain from resetting his pinky must have been significant for him to react in such a visceral manner.

Doctors told him the pinky would require surgery, a step that would've ruled him out for the remainder of the playoffs. He opted instead to tape the pinky to his ring finger to continue suiting up for the Canadiens.