The Kraken and GM Ron Francis went straight to the elite section of available NHL free agents on Day 1, adding right-handed shot defenseman Brandon Montour to the Seattle roster. The contract is a seven-year deal for $50 million and an annual average value (AAV) of just over seven million.
Montour arrives with a couple of bonafide credentials that should excite fans and new coach Dan Bylsma alike: Montour just won a Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers, contributing hard-nosed defensive play along with three goals and eight assists during the championship postseason run. The 30-year-old D-man has especially unlocked his offensive production and skill set in the last three of his 10-year NHL career (with stops in Anaheim and Buffalo), highlighted by 16 goals and 57 assists for 73 points during the 2022-23 regular season and adding eight goals and five assists in a 2023 postseason in which Florida won the Eastern Conference and made it to the Stanley Cup Final.
“Brandon is a proven winner,” said Francis Monday morning. “We are thrilled to have him joining our organization. We’re looking forward to him making his Kraken debut in front of the best fans in the NHL.”
Those fans in the know will no doubt understand that the NHL defenseman leans heavily on the left-handing shooting variety. Montour’s right-handed presence represents a major upgrade to the Kraken defensive corps that elevates a group that already has four defenders who Bylsma and his coaching staff can put on the ice against top opposing lines, plus Montour was a major contributor to the Florida power play over the last two seasons, notching four goals and a whopping 50 assists.
His 73 points in the 2022-23 regular season was fifth-best among NHL defensemen that season. He scored five goals in the first series of the 2023 postseason, the most by a defenseman in a single season since 2003 when Ed Jankowski did it for the Vancouver Canucks, and scored eight goals overall, led all D-man in last spring’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.
A highlight of that first-round series that sparked the run to the Cup Final: Montour opened the scoring in the Game 7 clincher and tied it with one minute left in the third period to help Florida beat favored, 4-3, in overtime.
Montour scored eight goals in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs to lead defensemen. He became the NHL’s ninth-ever defeat to score at least that many goals in a single playoff year, with Brian Leetch (11 for the New York Rangers in 1994), Victor Hedman (10 for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020) and Cale Makar (eight for the Colorado Avalanche in 2022) the only ones with as many since the beginning of the 1990s. That is impressive company.
Fun fact: This postseason, Kraken’s newest defenseman became the second Stanley Cup winner of Indigenous descent, following Zach Whitecloud for the 2022-23 Vegas Golden Knights, when Florida outlasted the Edmonton Oilers, 2-1, in Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final. He and his teammates celebrated with a civic parade Sunday, and his work week started with a new team and no doubt many new fans here in the Pacific Northwest.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” said the 6-foot, 199-pound defenseman when asked on TSN Network in Canada about his week of winning/celebrating a Cup Game 7 and quickly pivoting to possible free agency destinations, including Seattle. “[My agent] and I actually sat down for a few hours the day [last Tuesday] after we won the Cup.”
Montour said the Kraken were “intriguing” and he is the “type of player and person” who can help build a Stanley Cup contender: “So many things go into it. [The Kraken] are a team we don’t play a lot. But I can see the passion that sports city has and the team was one win from the conference final last year. There is certainly depth and talent there. They impressed on us wanting to win. My main goal is to get there. Being in the Finals the last two years and seeing our parade at the beach, now I want to get Seattle there as well.”
