The Seattle Kraken announced on social media that defenseman Brandon Montour left Saturday’s game against the Calgary Flames with an upper-body injury and would not return.
#SeaKraken defenseman Brandon Montour will not return to tonight's game (upper body).
— Seattle Kraken PR (@SeattleKrakenPR) February 9, 2025
It wasn’t clear how Montour suffered the injury, but he did not join the team in the second period.
Montour has 10 goals and 17 assists for 27 points in 55 games, leading the blue line in points. He joined the club in the offseason, signing a seven-year, $50 million contract after winning the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers last June. He leads the team in ice time, averaging 23:33 per game.
Now in his ninth season, Montour, 30, has 76 goals and 203 assists for 279 points in 576 career regular-season games with the Kraken, Panthers, Anaheim Ducks and Buffalo Sabres. He also played 82 Stanley Cup Playoff games, scoring 11 goals and 24 assists for 35 points.
His most productive offensive season came in 2022-23 with the Panthers, scoring 16 goals and adding 57 assists for 73 points.
Going into Saturday’s game, the Kraken were 23-29-4 with 50 points, seventh in the Pacific Division. Seattle has lost three straight games and are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games.
Forward Jared McCann leads the team in points with 42 (14 goals and 28 assists), while Jaden Schwartz has a team-leading 18 goals, and Chandler Stephenson has 29 assists, the most on the Kraken.
The Kraken will now take the next two weeks off for the 4 Nations Face-Off. Forward Kaapo Kakko, whom the team acquired in a trade with the New York Rangers last December for Will Borgen and draft picks, will represent Finland in the tournament.
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New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone offered a concerning update on Tuesday about Aaron Judge's recovery from an elbow injury, and the slugger did not seem thrilled about that. Judge returned to the Yankees' lineup on Aug. 5 following a 10-day stint on the injured list. The two-time American League MVP had a flexor strain in his throwing elbow, and he has been slotted in as New York's designated hitter since he returned. In an interview with WFAN on Tuesday morning, Boone said he does not believe that Judge will get back to "throwing like he normally does" at any point for the remainder of the season. Judge was caught off guard by his manager's remarks. Before Tuesday night's game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Judge told reporters that he is unsure of why Boone provided the pessimistic update. "I don’t know why he said that. He hasn’t seen me throw the past two weeks," Judge said. "I’m pretty confident I’ll get back to that.” Boone later admitted that he may have misspoken during the WFAN interview. Many were surprised by the apparent disconnect between Judge and Boone. It is possible that what Boone said in the initial interview was accurate, and Judge did not want that information to be made public. The alternative is that Boone is not completely up to speed on his best player's recovery from an injury, which would be a bad look for the manager. Judge is batting .333 with 39 home runs and 91 RBI this season. His bat is far more important to the Yankees than his glove, but he has struggled at the plate a bit since returning. Judge is batting just .229 with a .429 slugging percentage in 11 games since he came off the injured list.
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