Montour on the trade block

[inkman]

Montour on the block.  Timing seems right. McCabe out for season, Risto still reeling from COVID and Borgen out for two months.  Trade one of the few NHL dman they have on the roster.  I just can’t with the team anymore.   

[LabattBlue]

Bye bye.  Ralphie has reigned him in somewhat in terms of his skating recklessly all over the place, but I see no value in him as a ~5 mil cap hit blue liner. I mean no value being part of this group.  Not necessarily no trade value.

Edited February 23, 2021 by LabattBlue

[Scottysabres]

Ah yes, they are starting to line up the dominos.

Montour should fetch us an experienced speedy veteran forward. What's Nathan Gerbe up to these days? 😄

[GASabresIUFAN]

22 minutes ago, inkman said:

Montour on the block.  Timing seems right. McCabe out for season, Risto still reeling from COVID and Borgen out for two months.  Trade one of the few NHL dman they have on the roster.  I just can’t with the team anymore.   

I'm not surprised. He is not a RK kind of player, but who said this won't be a hockey trade?  If it's for draft capital or prospects; I'm right there with you.  However, with Borgen and McCabe out we need defensive D to balance the pairings.  I'd rather Miller get traded away, instead of Montour, but such is life.

Edited February 23, 2021 by GASabresIUFAN

[IKnowPhysics]

Montour being on the trade block isn't news.  He's been bait since last summer.  He's a right-shot dman on a team with five right-shot Ds currently on the roster (Risto, Miller, Joker, Borgen) and Fitz and Laaksonen moving slowly up the pipeline.  Montour has value as a rental, he's affordable at his end-of-season-reduced $3.85M cap hit, and he'll be tradeable once Borgen returns, if not right away.

[inkman]

46 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I'm not surprised. He is not a RK kind of player, but who said this won't be a hockey trade?  If it's for draft capital or prospects; I'm right there with you.  However, with Borgen and McCabe out we need defensive D to balance the pairings.  I'd rather Miller get traded away, instead of Montour, but such is life.

I...I’m not lamenting the fact that they want to trade Montour.  ***** that guy.  They should have traded him months ago.  Just why the ***** is he in the block now?  They are down 3 Dmen.  Timing seems...what’s the word...stupid.  

[IKnowPhysics]

8 minutes ago, inkman said:

I...I’m not lamenting the fact that they want to trade Montour.  ***** that guy.  They should have traded him months ago.  Just why the ***** is he in the block now?  They are down 3 Dmen.  Timing seems...what’s the word...stupid.  

I think Friedman was rehashing old news; Montour's status hasn't changed since summer.  Maybe he thought the concept could be refreshed based on how Borgen was stepping up when he wrote the article for his deadline this morning, but that engine has been confirmed stalled for 6-8 weeks.

[inkman]

Just now, IKnowPhysics said:

I think Friedman was rehashing old news; Montour's status hasn't changed since summer.  Maybe he thought the concept could be refreshed based on how Borgen was stepping up when he wrote the article for his deadline this morning, but that engine has been confirmed stalled for 6-8 weeks.

What terrible timing. 

[Kristian]

1 hour ago, Scottysabres said:

Ah yes, they are starting to line up the dominos.

Montour should fetch us an experienced speedy veteran forward. What's Nathan Gerbe up to these days? 😄

Falling down a lot? 🤪

[Thorner]

21 minutes ago, inkman said:

I...I’m not lamenting the fact that they want to trade Montour.  ***** that guy.  They should have traded him months ago.  Just why the ***** is he in the block now?  They are down 3 Dmen.  Timing seems...what’s the word...stupid.  

Maybe it’s a RHD LHD swap as the target 

[DarthEbriate]

It's showcasing Montour time! A season late... but whatever. He's not being resigned/protected, so it's up to him to be the best RHD he can be until the trade deadline. Up-and-comer Borgen? Hurt. First pairing (Risto)? Hurt.  One-time steady guy (Joker)? Steadily playing like garbage.  Montour can get PP, PK, all zones...  Show your future employer what you got, Montour! And net us a 2nd and a prospect!

[msw2112]

Agree that Montour is expendable if we have our full D corps.  Down 3 regulars, however, we need to retain him.  Once we are officially out of the playoff picture (probably not that far off), he can be dealt.

[bunomatic]

17 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

Agree that Montour is expendable if we have our full D corps.  Down 3 regulars, however, we need to retain him.  Once we are officially out of the playoff picture (probably not that far off), he can be dealt.

Leafs will grab him. They seem to be in on every trade ( according to media ) and are collecting players willy nilly.

[Stoner]

My sources are telling me I am hearing that Mrs. @Brawndo called Brandon's agent last night. Wonder who the physician to be named later is?

[Kruppstahl]

The day we acquired him I declared him a "nothing" hockey player and said it was a nothing move.

Nothing has changed since then.

Buh-bye! 

He'll bounce from team to team for quite a long time and retire with many millions in his bank account.

Such is the current NHL.

 

 

[Carmel Corn]

19 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

It's showcasing Montour time! A season late... but whatever. He's not being resigned/protected, so it's up to him to be the best RHD he can be until the trade deadline. Up-and-comer Borgen? Hurt. First pairing (Risto)? Hurt.  One-time steady guy (Joker)? Steadily playing like garbage.  Montour can get PP, PK, all zones...  Show your future employer what you got, Montour! And net us a 2nd and a prospect!

I caught part of the Instigators today...Rivet feels Montour has a point-per-game offensive output before coming to Buffalo.  If he's right, then putting him on the PP could help showcase him.....however, that may not be likely given the team's PP success lately....at least on the first unit.  With Risto out, maybe he could get some 2nd unit time to show if he can be a producer.

[DarthEbriate]

39 minutes ago, Carmel Corn said:

I caught part of the Instigators today...Rivet feels Montour has a point-per-game offensive output before coming to Buffalo.  If he's right, then putting him on the PP could help showcase him.....however, that may not be likely given the team's PP success lately....at least on the first unit.  With Risto out, maybe he could get some 2nd unit time to show if he can be a producer.

He could be on PP2, but they've barely been on the ice since the COVID re-start. Unfortunately for Montour, Miller has the right-hand cannon and now Bryson is up for competition, as he's been the Amerks PP specialist on the left side since Pilut left.

[GASabresIUFAN]

20 hours ago, inkman said:

I...I’m not lamenting the fact that they want to trade Montour.  ***** that guy.  They should have traded him months ago.  Just why the ***** is he in the block now?  They are down 3 Dmen.  Timing seems...what’s the word...stupid.  

We are really 2 starting D down in McCabe and Risto.  I wouldn’t mind trading Miller or Montour for a McCabe type player.

[steveoath]

1 hour ago, Carmel Corn said:

I caught part of the Instigators today...Rivet feels Montour has a point-per-game offensive output before coming to Buffalo.  If he's right, 

He's not. Montour has 94 points in 257 games.

[mjd1001]

I'm surprised by this.  To me the best indication we have of how a coach views a player is by how much ice time he rewards them with.

Right now, Montour has the most average even strength ice time on the entire team, and when you include PP and PK, he is third, behind only Dahlin and Risto.

[DarthEbriate]

9 minutes ago, steveoath said:

He's not. Montour has 94 points in 257 games.

Yeah... there are very few point-per-game defensemen in the league... this century.

[Mustache of God]

What is a reasonable return for Montour? Looks like we traded the first we got from San Jose in the Kane trade + Guhle (he played 30 games with the Ducks last year and is in the AHL this year).

I can't see us getting a similar return for what we paid. 

[Curt]

54 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

I'm surprised by this.  To me the best indication we have of how a coach views a player is by how much ice time he rewards them with.

Right now, Montour has the most average even strength ice time on the entire team, and when you include PP and PK, he is third, behind only Dahlin and Risto.

Yes, but he is also a UFA in waiting, so it makes sense to get something for him if (1) you aren’t winning and (2) there isn’t a lot of interest in negotiating an extension.

[PerreaultForever]

Well I'm glad as I hate his game and have done since he got here. 

As for the timing, we're not making the playoffs this year anyway so it doesn't matter and it doesn't mean it's going to happen next week. Also, they might be looking to swap him to a team that wants offense for a stay at home D man in his place. Could be one move of many towards a different style of play from JBot/Housley hockey . If there are teams looking for D men now it's smart to explore it rather than waiting for the deadline when we might get less. 

We have Dahlin, Jokiharju, and maybe even Bryson. We don't need puck moving run around offensive D men. We need size and shutdown D skills. 

[Carmel Corn]

2 hours ago, steveoath said:

He's not. Montour has 94 points in 257 games.

NHL, you're probably right...Rivet was including USHL and AHL, which is where the bigger offense numbers came from.