Brandon Montour reveals how close he came to becoming a Toronto Maple Leaf
Stanley Cup champion defenseman Brandon Montour revealed that he did in fact have contract talks with the Maple Leafs in free agency this year.
Of course, we all know by now that Brandon Montour did not end up signing with the Leafs. Rather, the veteran defenseman signed the largest deal of his career, getting a seven-year contract from the Seattle Kraken worth nearly 50 million dollars.
Montour was able to secure this bag through his role with the Florida Panthers in each of their last two seasons. He was a staple on the backend for both teams, as his steady two-way presence made an impact all over the ice.
Naturally, teams were attracted to him even more after he won a Stanley Cup. This added experience likely drove up his value in free agency.
Earlier this week, Montour revealed that he would be taking the Stanley Cup to Six Nations of the Grand River. Notably, Montour is of Mohawk decent himself.
NHL champion Brandon Montour will bring the Stanley Cup to Six Nations of the Grand River next week
#MoreThanAnAthlete
It all could have been different though. In a recent interview, Montour revealed that he did have discussions with Brad Treliving and the Toronto Maple Leafs before making the decision to go to Seattle.
However, he also admitted that he allowed his agent to do most of the work, so he could just focus on continuing to play his game.
For me, I saw the player that could help and it was intriguing in that week. There were talks, but there's a lot that goes into it with family with what they need and what I need, business decisions and such. There were definitely talks - we were excited about it and thought about it, but there were tons of options, and we're obviously grateful for Seattle.
We're excited about that experience and excited to get down there and get started, with you could say, a new organization."
The Maple Leafs certainly could have used Montour's services, but hopefully Oliver Ekman Larsson and Chris Tanev will prove that they don't need him to be successful next season.
Source: HockeyFeed
Brandon Montour reveals how close he was to joining Leafs
| POLL | ||
How many points do you think Brandon Montour will score with the Seattle Kraken next season? | ||
| <30 | 71 | 24.1 % |
| 30-35 | 100 | 33.9 % |
| 36-40 | 82 | 27.8 % |
| 41+ | 42 | 14.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
