After stepping up for his fellow linemate Philip Broberg in the final preseason game, Logan Mailloux left the game with an upper-body injury. Now, we know exactly what happened and what it means for the start of the St. Louis Blues' 2026-27 season.
#stlblues announce Logan Mailloux had surgery on his right hand and will be re-evaluated in 8 weeks; Tyler Tucker (lower-body injury) is considered week-to-week
— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) September 28, 2026
The news regarding Tyler Tucker is also not great as well, as now this team is down essentially two full-time defensemen. Oh, and the season starts in just a few days down in Dallas.
What happens now?
Now, the importance of the Adam Jiricek call-up and the waiver signing of Justin Barron has just shown. They will be stepping into pretty significant roles, but it will be interesting to see where head coach Jim Montgomery puts either of them.
The loss of Tucker is substantial, but Mailloux is a killer on several levels. With the season preparing to start, this team was all put together after a quick preseason. No. 23 looked as though the end-of-season improvements carried over the summer, and he was worthy of the first-pairing minutes.
After all of the trials and tribulations of making the right moves this summer to get help on the blue line, it all comes crashing down before the season can even begin. These two losses are seriously bad for the Blues' morale at this point.
8 Weeks is a long time
Mailloux will be looked at once again in eight weeks' time. There is a very good chance that he could come back before that, much like Jimmy Snuggerud returned from his hand surgery last season relatively early. The season is going to be in full swing by the time the right-handed shot gets back on the ice, and he is going to be back to playing catch-up, much like his rookie campaign last season.
Jiricek and Barron are going to get their reps in now, much sooner than General Manager Alexander Steen might have hoped. But this is a necessary step, as both defensive losses are going to be a massive strain on the rest of that core group. Broberg is going to have to lift even more as the top defenseman, and Colton Parayko has every eyeball on him to return to form.
The Blues got some seriously bad news just a few days before the start of the 2026-27 season. Let's just hope that this is not a bad omen for how the rest of the season is going to go.
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