2021 Daily Faceoff Top 10: #1 — NHL Draft prospect Logan Mailloux faces uncertain future after criminal charge in Sweden

And then there was one.

After a week of recapping the most read articles on Daily Faceoff, we’ve landed on number one: an article by Frank Seravalli delving into charges levied against draft prospect Logan Mailloux.

Seravalli wrote multiple teams took Mailloux, who was touted as a mid-range, first-round talent, right off their draft list. Weeks after the article broke, the Montreal Canadiens shocked the hockey world by using their first-round pick on the rearguard.

Here’s some of what Seravalli wrote at the time:

With days to go until the NHL Draft, Daily Faceoff has learned multiple teams have placed prospect Logan Mailloux on their ‘Do Not Draft’ list, after he was charged in Sweden for taking and distributing an offensive photo without consent during a consensual sexual encounter last November.

Multiple other teams rank Mailloux as a first-round talent, ranging anywhere from as high as top 15 to 33rd to 72nd on a random sampling of team draft boards, leaving many to wonder when – if at all – an NHL club will select the London Knights defenseman.

The incident occurred on Nov. 7 in Skelleftea, Sweden, where Mailloux was playing on loan with SK Lejon in Sweden’s third division while the Ontario Hockey League was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mailloux, now 18, was 17 and a minor at the time of the incident. Because he was a minor, Mailloux has given Daily Faceoff permission to publish details of the case – which was not a secret in the hockey world. Though he was not publicly identified until now, Mailloux’s offense did make news in Sweden. He says he was interviewed by 26 NHL teams in the lead up to the Draft and each one of them asked him about the incident.

The victim, then an 18-year-old female, was not a minor at the time of the incident. Daily Faceoff does not identify victims in sex-related crimes.

According to a 48-page investigation report from Sweden’s North Region Polisen, which was obtained by Daily Faceoff, Mailloux secretly photographed the victim without her consent or knowledge while engaging in oral sex.