Kraken faithful love Montour
In his first season with the team, Seattle Kraken defender Brandon Montour made a strong impression on the Kraken faithful. Courtesy Seattle Kraken
Defender Brandon Montour was named the Seattle Kraken’s “Fan Favourite” player as part of the team’s end of season awards.
Kraken fans were asked to vote online for the award’s recipient, which was handed out last week by the team.
The player from Six Nations of the Grand River was in his first season with the Kraken, after signing a seven-year, almost $50 million contract with the team during the offseason as a free agent.
Montour chose to test the free agency market following his Stanley Cup win with the Florida Panthers last season, where he became the first Kanien’kehá:ka player to take the ice to win a Cup since Maple Leafs’ captain George Armstrong in 1967.
Unfortunately, his new team did not have the same success, finishing with a 35-41-6 record, 20 points out of a playoff spot.
Seattle fired their head coach Dan Bylsma after his first season and named assistant general manager Jason Botterill as the replacement for Ron Francis, who was named president of hockey operations following the season.
Montour played in all but one game for the injury-plagued Kraken, missing the October 31 game against the Leafs for the birth of his second child.
This was the best goalscoring season of the 31-year-old’s career up to this point; his 18 goals were good for fourth in the NHL among all defenders.
His five powerplay goals place him in a five-way tie for second in defender scoring, and his four game-winning goals were tied for third best with three other defenders.
As for his own team, Montour had the most goals and points (41) of any Seattle defender this season. He also scored the third-most powerplay goals of any player on Seattle.
Montour also had his first ever NHL hat-trick, which he recorded in an 8-2 Seattle win over the Montreal Canadiens on October 29 at the Bell Centre.
Against those same Canadiens, he scored what was determined to be the fastest overtime goal in NHL history on March 12. A faceoff win by center Chandler Stephenson created a breakaway for Montour, who beat Canadiens netminder Jakub Dobes four seconds into the extra period. That goal was his second of the game and fourth point of the night.
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The other awards given by the Kraken were the “Three Stars of the Year Award,” given to the player who was named the most to the three stars of the game – which was won by goaltender Joey Daccord, who was also named their most valuable player for the season; and the Guyle Fielder Award, given to the player “that best exhibits the qualities of perseverance, hustle, and dedication to hockey, was given to forward Jaden Schwartz for the third year in a row.
