Fantasy Take: Montour Traded to Florida
Ian Gooding
2021-04-10
The Florida Panthers have acquired Brandon Montour from the Buffalo Sabres for a third-round pick.
Montour showed offensive upside as a prospect in Anaheim, but he couldn't get over the 0.4 PTS/GP mark either this season or last in Buffalo. Surprisingly, his power-play time also declined from around 2:00/GP in Anaheim to just 0:11/GP this season in Buffalo. That's because Rasmus Dahlin and Rasmus Ristolainen received the lion's share of the power-play minutes, while Colin Miller has also factored into the equation. All of Ristolainen, Montour, Miller, and Henri Jokiharju are right-handed shots, which hurt the latter three in particular when they all moved to Buffalo from other teams.
The Panthers targeted Montour to fill at least part of the void left by Aaron Ekblad, who will miss the rest of the regular season. Montour is at best a second-unit power-play option in Florida, but just about any player should receive an upgrade just by moving out of Buffalo. This should all but kill any hopes that Mackenzie Weegar owners have that he will receive any leftover power-play time. Gustav Forsling has generated some recent interest in fantasy leagues with a four-game point streak earlier this month, but he could also be affected here.
The Sabres could make more deals before Monday's deadline, in particular Taylor Hall, so check back to Dobber Hockey for any notable deals.
Players this helps, in order:
Montour
Miller
Jokiharju
Players this hurts, in order:
Weegar
Forsling