Ducks & Montour Agree on Deal

It didn't sound like either side really wanted to go through the arbitration process, so both the Anaheim Ducks and defenseman Brandon Montour went through the negotiation process, right through to the 11th hour and they came to terms as the clock was winding down.  The two sides agreed upon a 2-year, $6.775 million deal, foregoing the need of going through the pros and cons of the player's game.

Montour broke out in a big way in the 2018 season, somewhat out of nowhere, playing in 80 games for Anaheim and picking up 9 goals and 32 points in the process, good enough to be 47th among all defenders in scoring.  He did play in 27 games in the 2017 season, registering 6 points and I did have him projected to be a 20-point player for last season and he certain exceeded the expectations of this humble blog and now his numbers are likely going to soar.

After his first full season, I might still keep some tempered expectations, likely in the 35-point range, but there is certainly some real promise in his game and I think he could be a good fit to your hockey pool team, if you get the chance to snap him up.

The Ducks still have some work to do in this off-season, with the likes of Ondrej Kase and Nick Ritchie among the RFAs of note and the team is running out of cap space, sitting at $5.5 million with a full 23-man roster on the books.