The Kraken are landing arguably the top defenseman on the free agent market. Brandon Montour will sign in Seattle on a seven-year deal worth roughly $50MM in total, reports TSN’s Pierre LeBrun. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirms the contract value, which translates to a $7.14MM cap hit.
Montour will remain in Seattle through the 2030-31 season. He’ll be 37 years old when his deal expires, meaning this pact will cover the remainder of his prime – and perhaps his career.
After spending the first few years of his career with up and down results through stops with the Ducks and Sabres, Montour has emerged as a bonafide top-pairing threat in Florida over the past two seasons. He broke out in a big way in 2022-23, putting up a monster offensive season with 16 goals, 57 assists and 73 points in 80 games while posting a +9 rating and 107 PIMs. That earned him 12th place in Norris Trophy voting, as his performance from the blue line was a key reason why the Panthers advanced to the 2023 Stanley Cup Final, only their second in franchise history.
This year was a step back for Montour, who began the season on injured reserve after sustaining a shoulder injury in the playoffs. Upon his return, he was still effective, although the points didn’t come with the same ferocity. He finished the year with 33 points in 66 games, a 41-point pace. It was much more in line with his career average, but the key difference was the minutes he logged. Like last season, he remained above average while shouldering heavy usage, averaging 23:27 per game.
Montour will now form an exceptional one-two punch on the right side of Seattle’s defense along with Adam Larsson. He’s unlikely to see first-pairing minutes at even strength alongside Vince Dunn, their primary power-play man and offensive threat from the blue line. That role will stay with Larsson, but Montour could still see heavy minutes in a second-pairing role alongside Jamie Oleksiak on his left flank.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Bill Zito has some work to do patching up that back end.
Already has Mahura, Balinskis and Bjornfot
Wow, that Stanley Cup halo effect is in full force on this day. Yikes.
As a Kraken fan I hate this. But I hate all big free agent signings. I wish they would just take the day off and let other teams sign players to contracts they will soon regret.
As a Panthers Dan, it sucks to see him go but he underperformed in the cup and that’s way too much for the panthers to pay him. Glad he got his bag but that’s a huge number for him
Bit of an overpay but a nice piece for the Kraken
Considering they still need to add and upgrade the forward group, I’ve got to think someone is on the way out… Tanev? Tolvanen?
I love Tolvanen, but I do think something has to give. The forwards are all jammed up, few in the correct place. Still got a lot of pieces that would fit available, but Ronnie probably has to do some trading to open up the space. Tanev would probably be attractive to senators, jackets, heck, probably lots of teams, but I’d love to see him stay in the kraken jersey. Schwartz is the guy I’d most like to trade, but I doubt he’ll be let go considering he was one of the first they signed, at maybe like 7 years too. If they could snag Konecny or even Pinto or any of the others they’ve been linked to (Laine, Stephenson), we might get something going. I like the Montour deal myself. Incredibly fun player to watch, and closer to worth the price than not. Personally, I’d rather see the kraken get more into the shuffle game than sit it out. I’m not seeing a deep team sitting on the back burner here..
I think the Ottawa interest in Tanev was because of his brother… but he’s going to Toronto.
I love the idea of Pinto and this move means they can make a defenseman available… probably Borgen but maybe Oleksiak.
Beniers, Wright, and old man Pinto (he’s 23) down the middle… yes!
Hoo boy. I love Monty, but I am really glad Florida did not re-sign this guy for this price.
Florida can’t pay this guy this price though. It’s a lot and the term is a bit concerning, but I’m glad to see Francis loosening up. Montour would get this probably at a couple teams. He’s such a great skater and basically responsible player that it’s good for the fans and the team. I like it. Sometimes ya gotta splurge a tad lol. Also, if you consider Schultz was maybe 3.5 and Driedger was too, it’s a monetary wash for much improvement.
We’ve also seriously upgraded the special teams and D in general. The more I think about it the more I love it. Way on board with the move. Now we just gotta get some air flowing through the brick of forwards.