What's going on with Montour?

[Eleven]

I'm seeing hints that he might not receive a qualifying offer.  E.g., 

Chad DeDominicis

 

@CMDeDominicis

·

2h

 

Friedman and Marek were talking about RFA’s that may not get qualified and both said they’ve heard Brandon Montour could be one of those players. If that’s the case he should be traded tomorrow. Can’t leave for nothing.

[erickompositör72]

2 minutes ago, Eleven said:

I'm seeing hints that he might not receive a qualifying offer.  E.g., 

Chad DeDominicis

 

@CMDeDominicis

·

2h

 

Friedman and Marek were talking about RFA’s that may not get qualified and both said they’ve heard Brandon Montour could be one of those players. If that’s the case he should be traded tomorrow. Can’t leave for nothing.

Tomorrow? Or after the playoffs are over?

[sabresparaavida]

Already being discussed in the off-season thread, but my source said he hadnt heard it.

[inkman]

2 minutes ago, sabresparaavida said:

Already being discussed in the off-season thread, but my source said he hadnt heard it.

Someone make me not want to tear my eyeballs out of my skull when I read this 

[LGR4GM]

11 minutes ago, inkman said:

Someone make me not want to tear my eyeballs out of my skull when I read this 

Imagine I am the GM of Winnipeg. I want Montour but I want his value as low as possible. I tell Friedman if he floats this rumor which could help me I will tell him before eveyone else next time I make a trade. 

This doesn't make sense, the Sabres will qualify Montour and if he goes to arbitration, sure they could walk but they will assuredly qualify him. What his qualifying offer? something like 4mil?

[LabattBlue]

16 minutes ago, sabresparaavida said:

Already being discussed in the off-season thread, but my source said he hadnt heard it.

Either your source is a figment of your imagination, or they are not long for employment at PSE. Considering how small the hockey’s ops staff is currently, it wouldn’t be hard for them to figure out who has loose lips. 

[LGR4GM]

Just now, LabattBlue said:

Either your source is a figment of your imagination, or they are not long for employment at PSE. Considering how small the hockey’s ops staff is currently, it wouldn’t be hard for them to figure out who has loose lips. 

Well if the Sabres brass read this forum they need to stop reading the rumor threads and start reading the draft threads for crying out loud.

[Kruppstahl]

Montour is one of many bust moves from our old friend Botterill.

Who really cares what happens with him?

If and when this team ever turns a corner, he won't be on it anyway.

You can say that about half the team.  Or more.

 

 

 

[WildCard]

13 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

Either your source is a figment of your imagination, or they are not long for employment at PSE. Considering how small the hockey’s ops staff is currently, it wouldn’t be hard for them to figure out who has loose lips. 

He did have the Botterill firing before anyone else

[Thorner]

I highly doubt Adams would do something as ridiculous as this, so I don't really believe it. If we did lose Montour for nothing, we'd have an early start at being right back in wasted-assets Botterill school of thought. 

[dudacek]

12 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I highly doubt Adams would do something as ridiculous as this, so I don't really believe it. If we did lose Montour for nothing, we'd have an early start at being right back in wasted-assets Botterill school of thought. 

Agree.

That said. I do think Montour might not be long for Buffalo.

I think he (rightly) sees himself as an offence-first PP guy, and he will always take a back seat to Dahlin there.

I also think he liked the warm California weather and wants a better contract than his play warranted. Staying in Buffalo doesn’t address either of those things. (Note, I am not saying he is a whiner, just what I think he’d prefer.)

We have too many right defencemen and Miller offers a lot of the same skills and fits a similar role.

I can see both parties deciding he might be a better fit elsewhere.

Edited August 13, 2020 by dudacek

[darksabre]

18 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Agree.

That said. I do think Montour might not be long for Buffalo.

I think he (rightly) sees himself as an offence-first PP guy, and he will always take a back seat to Dahlin there.

I also think he liked the warm California weather and wants a better contract than his play warranted. Staying in Buffalo doesn’t address either of those things. (Note, I am not saying he is a whiner, just what I think he’d prefer.)

We have too many right defencemen and Miller offers a lot of the same skills and fits a similar role.

I can see both parties deciding he might be a better fit elsewhere.

FWIW I expect Montour to be traded before the qualifying offer even becomes an issue.

[freester]

31 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I highly doubt Adams would do something as ridiculous as this, so I don't really believe it. If we did lose Montour for nothing, we'd have an early start at being right back in wasted-assets Botterill school of thought. 

I have no doubt he will waste the asset since he is inexperienced.  He and RK have made the decision that Montour doesn't fit but have no clue how to get value for him.

[inkman]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Imagine I am the GM of Winnipeg. I want Montour but I want his value as low as possible. I tell Friedman if he floats this rumor which could help me I will tell him before eveyone else next time I make a trade. 

This doesn't make sense, the Sabres will qualify Montour and if he goes to arbitration, sure they could walk but they will assuredly qualify him. What his qualifying offer? something like 4mil?

Well I was just referring to the use of "my source".  Thanks the explanation tho. 

[Curt]

30 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I think he (rightly) sees himself as an offence-first PP guy, and he will always take a back seat to Dahlin there.

I don’t agree with this.  He isn’t particularly good in the offensive zone.  He is good at transitioning it through the zones, but when he gets in the OZone it doesn’t seem like he really knows what to do.  I think he is better used in defensive situations.  He is good at getting out of his own end.

[freester]

He was also played out of position on the left side  a lot last year.  Botteril was an unmitigated disaster.

[OhMyDahlin]

I cannot believe Botterill gave up Guhle and a 1st round pick for this kid...I hated the trade when it happened and I hate it more now.

Who is it we need to keep an eye on, Brayden Tracey? I think he was the pick by Anaheim.

[Thorner]

I like the trade in a vacuum, and still do honestly, it's just so eye-brow raising that Botterill wasn't aware of/didn't account for a situation where he couldn't/wouldn't leverage his personally-acquired surplus of RHD in a timely matter, so much so that he depreciated the value of the bunch by retaining that backlog/having to play RHD on the left side, etc etc 

I'd honestly love to have a sit down conversation with Botterill just to try and peel back these fascinating layers.

Have him explain his method behind the madness. 

Edited August 13, 2020 by Thorny

[freester]

7 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I like the trade in a vacuum, and still do honestly, it's just so eye-brow raising that Botterill wasn't aware of/didn't account for a situation where he couldn't/wouldn't leverage his personally-acquired surplus of RHD in a timely matter, so much so that he depreciated the value of the bunch by retaining that backlog/having to play RHD on the left side, etc etc 

I'd honestly love to have a sit down conversation with Botterill just to try and peel back these fascinating layers.

Have him explain his method behind the madness. 

No method only madness.  A waste of a first round pick.  When TM wasted a first rounder it brought back Lehner who was a great talent.  albeit with some demons.

[Curt]

34 minutes ago, freester said:

No method only madness.  A waste of a first round pick.  When TM wasted a first rounder it brought back Lehner who was a great talent.  albeit with some demons.

This is some bombastic verbiage.  Montour is a waste of a traded pick, but Lehner was a great talent?

Counter argument:  Montour is a good player who was acquired for magic beans and Lehner couldn’t even stay sober in Buffalo.

[Zamboni]

For me, it’s not an issue until it’s an issue. Another cute clickbait rumor until it’s not. Yawn.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

2 hours ago, Curt said:

This is some bombastic verbiage.  Montour is a waste of a traded pick, but Lehner was a great talent?

Counter argument:  Montour is a good player who was acquired for magic beans and Lehner couldn’t even stay sober in Buffalo.

This is a bad take and in bad form, IMHO, especially in light of what we now know.

[Curt]

10 minutes ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

This is a bad take and in bad form, IMHO, especially in light of what we now know.

I was attempting to be equally bombastic.  

However, you are right, that was in poor taste.  I should have been smarter about it.  That was not polite to Lehner or anyone else who might actually read it who has suffered from serious depression or alcoholism.  For anyone offended, my apologies.  Did not mean to diminish the very real struggles that people go through, and I really am so happy for Lehner.

[msw2112]

4 hours ago, freester said:

I have no doubt he will waste the asset since he is inexperienced.  He and RK have made the decision that Montour doesn't fit but have no clue how to get value for him.

I have no idea whether Adams will be a good GM.

That said, how do you know that Adams and RK don't have a clue to how get value for Montour?  RK seems like a pretty bright guy who has worked in professional sports for many years and Adams is an unknown, but has been successful in the roles he's had with the Sabres so far.  Plenty of inexperienced people in many industries turn out to be very good at what they do.  Some are smart, some work really hard, some just have an innate ability to be good at certain things, some are a combination thereof.  (And others are dumb, lazy, lack the intangibles.)  I believe it's premature and unfair to make that statement without any track record one way or the other.  Let's hope you are proven wrong.

[In The Buff]

Just saw this piece on MSN Sports by Chad. Gives a little more info than just the tweet itself, thought i'd share it in case anyone wanted to read it https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nhl/could-the-sabres-not-qualify-brandon-montour/ar-BB17VarI

Just like all of you it doesn't make much sense to me that we'd fear arbitration with Montour or that we'd risk letting him walk for nothing.

This whole thing could just be clickbait for all we know.  I also don't understand why in the tweet he says he could be traded tomorrow. Since the new year date is on October 9th. With the draft on 10/6, I'd think we'd have until roughly then. But i'll admit, I'm not well versed on these things.