The Florida Panthers acquired defender, Brandon Montour, from the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday in exchange for a 2021 3rd round pick.
After Bill Zito cleared Brett Connolly’s cap hit from the books in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday, the Panthers General Manager went to work on solidifying his defense in the wake of Aaron Ekblad’s season-ending injury.
It’s not that Florida is done adding by any means, but they’ll have to continue to get crafty in saving cap space in order to finagle any larger moves.
Montour at least gives them some comfort in the event of a further tattered lineup potentially interfering with what’s shaping up to be their best chance at a deep playoff run in a generation.
Meanwhile, Sabres General Manager, Kevyn Adams, kicked off what’s expected to be a bit of a fire sale for the organization by Monday’s trade deadline.
Montour, 27, had 5-9–14 totals in 38 games with Buffalo this season at the time of the trade on Saturday. He was originally drafted by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2nd round (55th overall) of the 2014 Draft and made his league debut with Anaheim in the 2016-17 season.
He set career highs in goals (9), assists (23) and points (32) in 80 games with the Ducks in 2017-18, and has 29-76–105 totals in 281 career NHL games with Anaheim and Buffalo.
The 6-foot, 194-pound native of Brantford, Ontario has eight points in 21 career Stanley Cup Playoff games (all with Anaheim) and spent parts of his first three seasons with the Ducks until he was traded to the Sabres in the 2018-19 season, where he spent parts of the last three seasons until being traded to the Panthers on Saturday.
Montour carries a $3.850 million cap hit and is a pending-unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
For Buffalo, the 2021 3rd round pick will come in handy either in July at the draft or as part of a package for a bigger and better trade acquisition before then.
Adams now must shift his attention to pieces of his roster like Taylor Hall– a pending-unrestricted free agent with a manageable $8.000 million cap hit that the Sabres could retain 50% of in a deal and try to maximize the hell out of his 2010 1st overall pick value.
Oh and Hall’s a 2017-18 Hart Memorial Trophy winner, despite his 2-17–19 totals in 37 games with Buffalo this season.
The Sabres are terrible all around. That’s not his fault.
But asking for top-notch material in exchange for Hall’s talents based on this season alone is a hard bargain to market for Adams.
Meanwhile, Rasmus Ristolainen is soldiering on in the upstate New York tundra that is Buffalo these days.
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