The St. Louis Blues have recalled defenseman Logan Mailloux from his conditioning stint with the Springfield Thunderbirds in the AHL.
Logan Mailloux has been recalled from his conditioning assignment in Springfield and has joined the team in Nashville. https://t.co/kJydV3GHE2 #stlblues
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) November 6, 2026
Mailloux was injured in the final preseason game of the 2026-27 season, and the injury necessitated surgery on September 28. After struggling for the first half of last year, Mailloux became a critical part of the Blues' defense group after the Winter Olympics in Milan, and his presence has been missed over the first month of the season. Now, head coach Jim Montgomery has a tough decision to make: who comes out of the lineup for Mailloux's return.
The obvious choice
The Blues are, per PuckPedia, sitting on 22 of a maximum 23 active roster players--they do not need to send anyone to the AHL to activate Mailloux from injured reserve. There are, however, only six spots available on the defense (unless Montgomery makes the odd decision to roll 11 forwards and seven defensemen, but don't count on it). Someone has to sit.
Against the New Jersey Devils last night, the Blues' six defensemen were Philip Broberg, Brandon Carlo, Justin Barron, Colton Parayko, Cam Fowler, and Adam Jiricek. One of these players is not like the others: a waivers exempt rookie defenseman.
Jiricek has been pretty darn good to start his NHL career. He didn't make the team out of camp, but was promptly called up when it became clear that injuries to Mailloux and Tyler Tucker created a vacancy on the backend. He may only have three points through 16 games, but he has the second highest expected goals share of all Blues defensemen with 51.84 xGF%, per Natural Stat Trick. That's good stuff for a 20-year old.
However, because he is so young, he needs to play--and play a lot. Rotating in and out of the Blues' lineup is not conducive to development, so Jiricek is the obvious candidate to not only come out of the lineup, but be sent down to the AHL to play top-pair minutes. It's all part of the process, and the path of least resistance for management and the coaching staff.
Alternative options
All that said, Jiricek has been one of the Blues' best play-driving defensemen--taking him out of the lineup would be actively detrimental to the rest of the team. That would mean scratching one of the veteran defensemen which, while probably the better choice, could rub some of the players the wrong way.
Justin Barron has been an outstanding surprise for the Blues, putting up nine points in 13 games and a 55.24 xGF%, the best of all Blues defenders. He may've been a late addition, but taking him out would seriously hamper the Blues' second pair. No way he's coming out.
Parayko and Broberg are, arguably, the team's best defensemen, as well as key members of the leadership group. They won't be sitting, either.
That leaves one of Fowler or Carlo. Both have been pretty pedestrian, though Fowler's 50.49 xGF% slightly leads Carlo's 49.28 xGF%; Fowler's got a few more points, too. There's also handedness to consider and Carlo, a righty like Mailloux, could be replaced on the top pair opposite Broberg.
Neither player is likely to sit when the ability to send Jiricek back to the Thunderbirds is right there, but a healthy scratch for Carlo could be in the cards if the coaches want to ice the best possible defense squad.
Projecting the defense pairs
We're going to assume Jiricek is the player taken out for Mailloux's return. If things play out that way, we're expecting a top pair of Broberg and Parayko, a second pair of Barron and Carlo, and a third pair of Fowler and Mailloux--to start, at least.
Mailloux might not be on the third pair long. If he comes back into the lineup and starts crushing it immediately, he'll probably swap places with Carlo; the only reason not to hand Mailloux a heavy workload out the gate is to ease him back into the NHL after missing so much time. Heck, if he's playing that well, maybe he jumps to the first pair with Broberg, bumping Parayko to the second and Carlo to the third. We'll just have to see when he takes the ice against the Nashville Predators tomorrow.
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