Nashville Predators: Realistic Free Agent Defensemen to Watch
By Chad Minton
Brandon Montour, Florida Panthers, 2020-21 Salary: $3.85M
If the Predators are going to get into the market for free agent defensemen this offseason, the last thing I want to see is them continuing down that road of chasing aging players that are well past their prime.
Brandon Montour doesn’t fit into that category. He’s just 27-years-old and had a pretty solid season for a very talented Florida Panthers team last season. I like his trajectory to at the very least plug into being a bottom pairing defenseman for someone.
Montour is also a player I believe can come relatively on the cheap end, and of course this all hinges on who the Predators could end up losing in the expansion draft.
Gavin Lee of Pro Hockey Rumors highlighted in his recent piece on Panthers free agents that Montour looked closer to the player that posted 30-plus points in the past. Whoever gives him a new contract, whether he stays in Florida or finds a new team, will be taking a gamble that he’s going to continue to raise his game.
I would entertain looking at a player like Montour if the Predators end up having a void to fill in their defensive corps.