Calgary Flames: Three Potential Trades Involving 1st Round Pick

Brandon Montour

The Buffalo Sabres are in an interesting spot right now. They have been awful for years, and they only have five forwards signed for next season. They do have a lot of defencemen under team control, arguably too many.

Last season, the Sabres moved Marco Scandella for a fourth round pick only to see him traded again a few weeks later for second and fourth round picks. They also lost Zach Bogosian for nothing, deciding to tear up his contract when he refused to report to the minors. Now, he is in the Stanley Cup Final playing every night for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

They just had so many defencemen that they had to get rid of a few. They still have a handful of players at the same position and could be enticed to move a player like Brandon Montour for the right return. With Rasmus Ristolainen and Henri Jokiharju on the right side, Montour could be the odd man out in Buffalo.

Montour is a steady, two-way defenceman who is a perfect option on a team’s second pairing. Sliding him in next to Noah Hanifin would give the Flames a great two-way second pairing.

Montour is a restricted free agent, but the Flames have plenty of cap space to fit him in. He scored 18 points in 54 games for the Sabres this past season but the 26 year old showed more offensive punch a year ago when he had eight goals and 35 points.

The Brantford, Ontario native was a second round pick of the Anaheim Ducks in 2014. He showed lots of promise in their organization before he was dealt to the Sabres for the 29th overall pick in last year’s draft and Brendan Guhle.

The 19th overall pick should be enough to get Montour in a Flames jersey.