
Brandon Montour
Mohawk
Induction Category:
Year Inducted
Athlete
2026
Brandon Montour's NHL career reached new heights after he was traded to the Florida Panthers by the Buffalo Sabres on April 10, 2021, for a third-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. He had 37 points and an NHL-best 73 his first two seasons with the Panthers, respectively, and finished the 2023 Eastern Conference First Round with five goals, the most by a defenseman in a single series since Ed Jovanovski for the Vancouver Canucks in the 2003 Western Conference Semifinals. He opened the scoring in Game 7 and tied it with one minute left in the third period to help the Panthers defeat the Boston Bruins 4-3 in overtime.
Montour scored eight goals in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs to lead defensemen. He became the ninth at the position to score at least that many in a single playoff year, with Brian Leetch (11 for the New York Rangers in 1994), Victor Hedman (10 for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020) and Cale Makar (eight for the Colorado Avalanche in 2022) the only ones with as many since the beginning of the 1990s. He became the second Stanley Cup winner of Indigenous descent in as many years, following Zach Whitecloud for the 2022-23 Vegas Golden Knights, when he helped the Panthers defeat the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.
That earned him a seven-year, $50 million contract (average annual value of $7.14 million) he signed with the Seattle Kraken on July 1, 2024. Montour's goal four seconds into overtime to give the Kraken a 5-4 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Climate Pledge Arena on March 12, 2025, matched the NHL record for the fastest goal to start any period, previously accomplished by Montreal's Claude Provost (Nov. 9, 1957), Denis Savard of the Chicago Blackhawks (Jan. 12, 1986) and James van Riemsdyk of the Toronto Maple Leafs (March 28, 2014).
The Anaheim Ducks selected Montour, an offensive-minded defenseman, in the second round (No. 55) of the 2014 NHL Draft after he had 62 points (14 goals, 48 assists) in 60 games with Waterloo of the United States Hockey League.
NOTES & TRANSACTIONS
• USHL First All-Star Team (2014)
• USHL Player of the Year (2014)
• Hockey East All-Rookie Team (2015)
• AHL All-Rookie Team (2016)
• AHL First All-Star Team (2016)
Full Seattle Kraken Bio: https://www.nhl.com/kraken/player/brandon-montour-8477986

