According to the blueliner himself, the Toronto Maple Leafs made a pitch to sign defenseman Brandon Montour during free agency. The 30-year-old confirmed on TSN’s OverDrive that he had discussions with the Maple Leafs about returning to his home province of Ontario. However, Montour chose to sign a seven-year, $49.98 million deal with the Seattle Kraken on July 1, after winning the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers a few weeks prior.
Montour said on the Leafs interest in him this offseason:
“There were conversations. I mean, you look at their roster, you look at yourself. And, for me, I looked at myself and saw the player and definitely could help and was intriguing in that week. There were talks, but again, there’s a lot that goes into it with family and what they need and what I need and business decisions and such.”
Montour ultimately chose Seattle and added, “But there were definitely talks. We were excited. We thought about it. But, tons of options for us, and obviously grateful for Seattle, and we’re excited about that experience and excited to get down there and kind of get started with, you know, you could say a new organization.”
Beyond Montour, The Maple Leafs Had Plenty of Free Agency Irons in the Fire
In addition to Montour, Toronto expressed interest in other defensemen, targeted Matt Roy, who ultimately inked a four-year, $14 million deal with the Washington Capitals and ultimately signed Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
It would have been intriguing to see how the Leafs would have made everything work and who wouldn’t have been added if Montour had chosen Toronto over the Kraken.
Next: McDavid Weighs in On Oilers’ Offseason Free Agency Moves
