Cup Champ Brandon Montour Says He Almost Joined the Maple Leafs

As one of the top UFA defensemen on the market this summer, Stanley Cup champ Brandon Montour had "tons of options" open to him as he pondered his future. And while he wound up choosing the Seattle Kraken on a 7-year, $7.1M AAV deal, he says he nearly signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Speaking on TSN's Overdrive radio program, Montour, born just outside of Toronto, opened up about how "excited" he was about the possibility of joining the Leafs.

You look at their roster... It was intriguing. There were talks, but again, there’s a lot that goes into it with family with what they need and what I need, business decisions and such.

There were definitely talks, we were excited, we thought about it, but tons of options for us, and grateful for Seattle and excited for that experience and excited to get down there.

The Maple Leafs re-made their blueline this offseason as best as they could, signing Chris Tanev to a six-year, $4.5 million free agent deal, as well as Oliver Ekman-Larsson to a four-year, $3.5 million pact. They also seemingly added Jani Hakanpaa, though that signing is embroiled in controversy at the moment.

No telling if adding Montour would have affected any of the above signings, but it no doubt would have been a huge coup for GM Brad Treliving.

Montour is coming off another solid two-way season, though his offensive numbers took a big dip, from 73 points in 2022-23 to 33 points, but he still played a huge role in the Florida Panthers' run to the Stanley Cup championship, recording 11 points in 24 playoff games and logging almost 23 minutes of ice time per game.