Logan Mailloux didn’t apologize in his statement this week to the woman he admitted violating with a “stupid mistake.” He apologized in an interview with Daily Faceoff, but not in the statement he released to the world.
But after his admission to a sex crime in Sweden — nonconsensually photographing, and then sharing photos of, an 18-year-old he had a consensual encounter with — Mailloux was very clear about his status for the NHL draft:
“I think it is best that I renounce myself from the 2021 NHL Draft and ask that no one select me this upcoming weekend. I feel that this would allow me the opportunity to demonstrate an adequate level of maturity and character next Season with the London Knights in the OHL, and provide all the NHL Teams the opportunity to reassess my character towards the 2022 NHL Draft.”
Naturally, Mailloux got drafted anyway.
“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 said in a statement after making the pick. “The Canadiens are aware of the situation and by no means minimize the severity of Logan’s actions.”
Bull. Shit.
The Canadiens, it should not be forgotten, are general managed by Marc Bergevin, who was the director of player personnel in Chicago — basically the No. 3 man in the front office — in 2010, when Brad Aldrich’s alleged abuse was being ignored. The Montreal organization absolutely minimizes the severity of Mailloux’s actions by saying he “recently admitted to making a serious mistake” rather than that he “recently was ordered to pay a fine by a Swedish court to resolve the sex crime that he admitted to committing.”
The Montreal Canadiens “not only selected a promising hockey player,” they reminded everyone, once again, that so long as “promising hockey player” is part of your bio, nothing else matters. There’s no “cancel culture.” There’s not even “not drafting the guy who said to please not draft him because he wanted to take a year to demonstrate personal growth.”
Polar thaw
40 percent of Pete Alonso’s home runs in Queens this season came in Friday night’s game, including a 450-foot tank that put the exclamation point on the Mets’ 3-0 win over the Blue Jays.
Alonso has four homers in seven games since the All-Star break, where he won his second straight Home Run Derby. Can we please, now, once and for all, retire the silly notion that participating in the Derby is somehow detrimental to sluggers?