Free agency began Monday, July 1st at 12:00 PM EST but not without a frenzy of news coming beforehand, with rumors swirling all over the internet. One of those was that Brandon Montour would sign with the Seattle Kraken after becoming a free agent from the Florida Panthers, and he did. Montour was viewed as one of the league’s top non-forwards that would be available in free agency. The Kraken ended the season with an average of 2.61 goals per game, one of the worst in the league, so they needed to jumpstart the offseason with some offensive acquisitions.
Montour, a 30-year-old defenseman played a big part in leading the Florida Panthers to the Stanley Cup this year. He had 33 points over 66 games in the 2023-24 season (eight goals, 25 assists) and 73 points over 80 games in the 2022-23 season (16 goals, 57 assists) ranking as one of the league’s top defensive point leaders. Seattle offered Montour a seven-year $7.143M AAV which took up a total of their $10M salary cap space. With the Kraken also needing to add one or two forwards in the offseason, fans should expect to see some more trades or contract buyouts in the near future. Montour said on TSN’s Free Agent Frenzy he is “excited to be in Seattle… You can see the passion that sports city has. It’s a team that was one win from the conference finals two years ago… my goal is to get Seattle a Stanley Cup as well.”
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