Confirmed Signing with Link: [SEA] D Brandon Montour signs with the Kraken (7 years, $7.14M AAV)

[Amorgus]

That's a TON of money to a guy whose biggest feat in the playoffs was crippling his own teammate with friendly fire.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Too much money for a #2Dman who at times is horrendous defensively. Dunn is still Seattle's true #1. I'd take Dunn over him at the same caphit.

 

[Little Bobby Boo]

Will forever remember this moment. Thanks for the great hockey, Montour. Enjoy your piles of cash - well earned.

 

[SanDogBrewin]

What an awful contract.

 

[WaitingForThatCab]

The 58 minutes TOI he had in that 4OT game against Carolina in the 2023 playoffs was one of the greatest feats of athleticism I have ever witnessed in my life. He didn't even look gassed. The man is an absolute physical specimen, he can afford to lose a step as he ages and still be fine for regular NHL duties.

If his shot gets back to form, the contract is probably fine for Seattle.

 

[bossram]

Yeah, it's a strange roster. Almost entirely composed of middle of the lineup guys with an average age of around 30 (Dunn as the exception).

They will be "competitive" but don't have the top-end talent to be anything more than that. Unfortunately as an expansion team they feel the pressure to be good right away, especially after the start Vegas had to their franchise.

But if you just looked at them objectively, you would think they're ready for a rebuild because they're going nowhere fast.

Rather than tanking for 2-3 years and then ascending, Francis doomed them to like 3-4 years of mediocrity, and then a much longer tear down and rebuild.

 

[JKG33]

Rather than tanking for 2-3 years and then ascending, Francis doomed them to like 3-4 years of mediocrity, and then a much longer tear down and rebuild.

Friedman has mentioned they've got an incredibly expensive ticket price and were starting to lose some STHs. Francis is under direction from the owners to make a splash in the offseason and make the team better. He said this in either the pre or post draft podcast.

 

[bossram]

Friedman has mentioned they've got an incredibly expensive ticket price and were starting to lose some STHs. Francis is under direction from the owners to make a splash in the offseason and make the team better. He said this in either the pre or post draft podcast.

I mean, sure. It's from the owners' directive, so he has to go in this direction.

It doesn't mean he had to sign immediately awful contracts.

And ultimately, this will be much worse for the owners in the long-term.

 

[The Marquis]

I said this in the Chandler Stephenson thread. The facts are that the owners almost certainly want the Kraken to:

“Be a playoff team by the time we announce the return of the SuperSonics”. It’s becoming more and more obvious that the Kraken ownership group are the same ones bringing back the Sonics to the NBA and want both teams to be successful and are worried that a poorly performing Kraken will be dramatically overshadowed by a shiny new Sonics.

They aren’t wrong to think that. It’s also not wrong to think that the Sonics announcement is coming sooner than later.

 

[Malkinstheman]

This is easily the worst contract signed in FA this year. Going to be an albatross 2-3 years in.

 

[bleedgreen]

I think everyone including Seattle knows the one big year was probably an outlier. They got him to be a second attacking defenseman who adds that element to the attack to complement Dunn who’s the top dog. Montour is also righty which is also a complement to Dunn being a lefty so he can give another pp unit a different look.

Seattle isn’t a market players are fighting over, so of course they have to pay guys to go there and it’s going to be second tier free agents vs the top ones. I don’t see anything weird about this signing, it’s price appropriate in this market, offense costs money. A market like Seattle will have to pay the extra year and beat everyone’s AAV by a bit. If they want better players it’s this or trades, and trades costs assets that team still needs.

 

[bossram]

I said this in the Chandler Stephenson thread. The facts are that the owners almost certainly want the Kraken to:

“Be a playoff team by the time we announce the return of the SuperSonics”. It’s becoming more and more obvious that the Kraken ownership group are the same ones bringing back the Sonics to the NBA and want both teams to be successful and are worried that a poorly performing Kraken will be dramatically overshadowed by a shiny new Sonics.

They aren’t wrong to think that. It’s also not wrong to think that the Sonics announcement is coming sooner than later.

Are they a playoff team with Stephenson and Montour? The bookmakers don't believe them to be.

Are they a playoff team with an aging and declining Stephenson and Montour when the SuperSonics start playing again? I think it's likelier than not that the Stephenson and Montour contracts make them worse by that point.

The owners can have their directive. It doesn't mean Francis has to immediately sign idiotic deals.

I think everyone including Seattle knows the one big year was probably an outlier. They got him to be a second attacking defenseman who adds that element to the attack to complement Dunn who’s the top dog. Montour is also righty which is also a complement to Dunn being a lefty so he can give another pp unit a different look.

Seattle isn’t a market players are fighting over, so of course they have to pay guys to go there and it’s going to be second tier free agents vs the top ones. I don’t see anything weird about this signing, it’s price appropriate in this market, offense costs money. A market like Seattle will have to pay the extra year and beat everyone’s AAV by a bit. If they want better players it’s this or trades, and trades costs assets that team still needs.

But wait, doesn't Washington state have no income tax? But I was told no state income tax jurisdictions were a huge advantage? Why did they have to pay more??

HFboards accountants, please solve this for me.

 

[bleedgreen]

Are they a playoff team with Stephenson and Montour? The bookmakers don't believe them to be.

Are they a playoff team with an aging and declining Stephenson and Montour when the SuperSonics start playing again? I think it's likelier than not that the Stephenson and Montour contracts make them worse by that point.

The owners can have their directive. It doesn't mean Francis has to immediately sign idiotic deals.


But wait, doesn't Washington state have no income tax? But I was told no state income tax jurisdictions were a huge advantage? Why did they have to pay more??

HFboards accountants, please solve this for me.

If you don’t know the difference between living off the beach in FLA vs living in the rainy PNW I don’t know what to tell you.

 

[bossram]

If you don’t know the difference between living off the beach in FLA vs living in the rainy PNW I don’t know what to tell you.

What's that? So other factors could possible matter more than state tax? Wow, that is hard to believe! The HFboards accountants will be so mad!

 

[The Marquis]

Are they a playoff team with Stephenson and Montour? The bookmakers don't believe them to be.

Are they a playoff team with an aging and declining Stephenson and Montour when the SuperSonics start playing again? I think it's likelier than not that the Stephenson and Montour contracts make them worse by that point.

The owners can have their directive. It doesn't mean Francis has to immediately sign idiotic deals.


But wait, doesn't Washington state have no income tax? But I was told no state income tax jurisdictions were a huge advantage? Why did they have to pay more??

HFboards accountants, please solve this for me.

To reply about the first question posed. No, I do not think they are a playoff team. That said, absolutely nobody thought the 22-23 Kraken were a playoff team and they not only were, but managed to win a round and take the next round to game 7. The difference between that 22-23 team and this are that Wennberg, Donato, Sprong, Soucy, and Geekie are out, while Montour, Stephenson, Kartye and assumedly Wright and Evans are in. Hakstol is out and Bylsma is in.

I’m not sure about you, but that looks like an upgrade to me. Can they make it work? TBD.

 

[bossram]

To reply about the first question posed. No, I do not think they are a playoff team. That said, absolutely nobody thought the 22-23 Kraken were a playoff team and they not only were, but managed to win a round and take the next round to game 7. The difference between that 22-23 team and this are that Wennberg, Donato, Sprong, Soucy, and Geekie are out, while Montour, Stephenson, Kartye and assumedly Wright and Evans are in. Hakstol is out and Bylsma is in.

I’m not sure about you, but that looks like an upgrade to me. Can they make it work? TBD.

It's a marginal upgrade in the short-term. By the time the SuperSonics are playing, it's more than likely those deals are cap anchors.

The prudent approach would have been to sign some veterans to short-term deals to stay competitive now, let the young players continue to mature, and not gunk up the cap sheet.

 

[Jean Luc Discard]

Don't mind the haters here. Montour is a damn good dman.

 

[kihei]

It's a marginal upgrade in the short-term. By the time the SuperSonics are playing, it's more than likely those deals are cap anchors.

The prudent approach would have been to sign some veterans to short-term deals to stay competitive now, let the young players continue to mature, and not gunk up the cap sheet.

The prudent approach isn't feasible with the Kraken. The sort of veterans who would accept two year deals are not the sort of veterans that will provide sufficient upgrade to satisfy the ownership's desire to ice a "winner," i. e. make the playoffs. But I agree the length of these deals will hurt us in the long run.

 

[Kranix]

Committing long term to a severely overrated 30 year old Chandler Stephenson and 30 year old Montour who seems to have totally lost his game.

 

[KrakenSabresMike]

Committing long term to a severely overrated 30 year old Chandler Stephenson and 30 year old Montour who seems to have totally lost his game.

Montour was injured last year so that seems like a big overstatement/leap - he was the #1 d on the team the just won the cup

To reply about the first question posed. No, I do not think they are a playoff team. That said, absolutely nobody thought the 22-23 Kraken were a playoff team and they not only were, but managed to win a round and take the next round to game 7. The difference between that 22-23 team and this are that Wennberg, Donato, Sprong, Soucy, and Geekie are out, while Montour, Stephenson, Kartye and assumedly Wright and Evans are in. Hakstol is out and Bylsma is in.

I’m not sure about you, but that looks like an upgrade to me. Can they make it work? TBD.

 

[bossram]

Montour was injured last year so that seems like a big overstatement/leap - he was the #1 d on the team the just won the cup

This is categorically false. The fact that you confidently claimed this demonstrates how little you know about NHL hockey.

The prudent approach isn't feasible with the Kraken. The sort of veterans who would accept two year deals are not the sort of veterans that will provide sufficient upgrade to satisfy the ownership's desire to ice a "winner," i. e. make the playoffs. But I agree the length of these deals will hurt us in the long run.

Fair enough. If ownership wanted these specific players/contracts, they can live with the consequences of being locked into mediocrity for half a decade+

 

[KrakenSabresMike]

This is categorically false. The fact that you confidently claimed this demonstrates how little you know about NHL hockey.


Fair enough. If ownership wanted these specific players/contracts, they can live with the consequences of being locked into mediocrity for half a decade+

So a teams ice time leader isn’t their no 1 or at worst no 2 D ….and I don’t know hockey. Just get out of here man with these baseless insults

And here’s the playoffs

 

[Idiot Stick]

he was the #1 d on the team the just won the cup

 

[The Marquis]

View attachment 891980

is this supposed to say something about his last few seasons?

 

[Idiot Stick]

is this supposed to say something about his last few seasons?

it was a response to the comment above, he was not our best dman on this team this year.

that shoulder injury really messed him up, hope he recovers well over the offseason cause he was a beast last year, and ok the seasons before.