When looking at the misfortunes and failures regarding the St. Louis Blues this season, there are a couple things to point out. Lack of goalscoring and defending seem to be the two that jump out the most.
So, what if there was a way to at least help both of those areas in one fell swoop. As evident in the Team USA overtime win against Sweden on Wednesday, the Blues are falling behind because they do not have a top-tier offensive defenseman.
Minnesota's Quinn Hughes scored that goal to send the United States team to the semifinals. He alongside the likes of Cale Makar, Adam Fox and Zach Werenski can change the entire game with the puck on their stick. Often times, they charge up the ice and use their insane combination of speed and skill to almost be used as a fourth-forward on the ice.
The Blues do not have that kind of player, whatsoever.
Lack of generational talent like Hughes
Colton Parayko was supposed to be that kind of player, especially after his career-year in 2024-25. He went from flirting with his first 20-goal season of his career, which he finished with 16 in 64 games, to having one single goal this season.
Right now, the most amount of offense contributed from the defense is Justin Faulk. He has 11 goals on the season, which is the most he has scored since 2022-23. As he is facing a new contract at the end of this season, and reaching the twilight of his career at nearly 34-years-old, the Blues are likely going to move on from No. 72.
Cam Fowler is getting older on in his career as well, and this season has seen him revert back to his underperformance as a part of the Anaheim Ducks. He came to the Blues last season and turned his whole career around, but this 2025-26 campaign has been flawed on the offensive and defensive ends.
Philip Broberg could be a top-end talent, but it is still too early to tell what his ceiling could be. Obviously, the Blues are dead-set on his talents, as they just locked him up for the next six seasons at $8 million AAV.
Mailloux could be “that guy”
That leaves the curious case of Logan Mailloux. Brought in prior to this season for a blossoming and heavily fan-favorited Zack Bolduc, the young defenseman was supposed to be the next big thing. Before this season, he did not have a lot of NHL experience, but he excelled in all of the other areas of competition.
Enter this season, and Mailloux really disappointed everyone. His season started with a slew of benchings, horrific play on the ice and a fanbase already calling him a bust after a handful of games. After 42 games this season, he has a goal and two assists, which is not remotely close to an offensive defenseman, and his defense has been horrendous. All of that leads up to a tie for team-worst +/- for defenseman, with Fowler, at -23.
Looking into the future however, there is a chance that Mailloux could be a dependable offensive defenseman. This is his first full go-around at the NHL level, and this Blues defense as a whole has not been good. Parayko has not been up to par, and Fowler has had a rough go of it.
This franchise expected him to just jump right in and be a solid defenseman, but it is taking him some more time than anticipated. Time, luckily, could be on his side should the Blues wave the white flag and look toward a re-tooling period.
Can Mailloux eventually become the next great offensive blueliner for the Blues?