Confirmed with Link: Brandon Montour re-signs 3 years at 3.5M AAV

[BabyBennettov]

I don't see us as sellers

We're going to be one heck of a squad next season

I meant… In Montour last year here… We will trade him to get cap-space… And we’ll get paid IMO

For now, let’s just watch the guy get his game back for the next two years. He is NO sonk !

Our D will be just fine… Even if I see a move coming… We’ll be fine with the guys already here !

 

[pantherbot]

Sure hope so! Coming back with the same defense next year is not going to go well.

But it's not the same defense. Yandle is gone. Ekblad is back. Those are two big pluses.

 

[ProjectPanthers]

But it's not the same defense. Yandle is gone. Ekblad is back. Those are two big pluses.

This team still really struggled with net front presence last year even with Ekblad in the lineup. I haven't seen any moves this off-season that address our most glaring concern.

We were dummied in front of our own net on a regular basis. Tampa exploited it throughout our entire series. I'd be shocked if Zito didn't address it.

 

[austropanther]

This team still really struggled with net front presence last year even with Ekblad in the lineup. I haven't seen any moves this off-season that address our most glaring concern.

We were dummied in front of our own net on a regular basis. Tampa exploited it throughout our entire series. I'd be shocked if Zito didn't address it.

Best defense is offense. The more/longer we have the puck, the lesser our D can get exposed. In this regard, we should be better off with Ek on the back-end and our very potent fowards corps.

Nevertheless, I get your worries. It would be nice to have a more physical presence instead of Montour or Nutivaara on our backend. Who would you have in mind? FA seems not the right path, slim pickings quality wise and too expensive as well, especially with the Reinhart signing still up in the air. So we have to go through a trade. Too bad Zadorov is already off the table

 

[Dread Clawz]

The fact we were in on Suter shows Zito wants a top 4 defensive D. When we fell out of the Suter sweeps, we signed Montour instead. Not a lot out there in free agency. There was a lot of 4/5 type guys but not many 3/4 types. So I expect Zito will revisit the issue at the trade deadline.

 

[ProjectPanthers]

Best defense is offense. The more/longer we have the puck, the lesser our D can get exposed. In this regard, we should be better off with Ek on the back-end and our very potent fowards corps.

Nevertheless, I get your worries. It would be nice to have a more physical presence instead of Montour or Nutivaara on our backend. Who would you have in mind? FA seems not the right path, slim pickings quality wise and too expensive as well, especially with the Reinhart signing still up in the air. So we have to go through a trade. Too bad Zadorov is already off the table

Zadorov would've been the ideal fit for our back line. He has net front presence, a mean streak and can actually play hockey.

Honestly I don't know where we go from here. My guess is it will be via trade route if there is an upgrade coming.

With Bob's yips still not being solved and Knight essentially being a rookie, we can't exactly count on our goalies to be walls with our run and gun style. Too many times we saw under .900 save percentages from Bob last year and it wasn't always on him. The defense left him out to dry a ton last year and with essentially the same group, I don't see how that doesn't happen again this year.

 

[radkison]

May be that we start with this group and possibly pick up someone at the trade deadline

 

[Clint]

I would not be surprised at all to dig further into the data and find this is a convenient byproduct of them happening to share ice-time primarily with the Huberdeau-Bennett line.

 

[pantherbot]

This team still really struggled with net front presence last year even with Ekblad in the lineup. I haven't seen any moves this off-season that address our most glaring concern.

We were dummied in front of our own net on a regular basis. Tampa exploited it throughout our entire series. I'd be shocked if Zito didn't address it.

Agree with your assessment, but it's something that can be addressed in time if needed.

Not having yandle give away the puck every game and having ekblad will help limit opportunities for teams to attack the net. Let's see how it plays out first.

 

[Clint]

Best defense is offense. The more/longer we have the puck, the lesser our D can get exposed. In this regard, we should be better off with Ek on the back-end and our very potent fowards corps.

While I agree with you on principle, there's a nuance here that needs discussing.

I'd amend the 'best defense is offense' mantra to 'the best defense is puck possession' which you kind of allude to. In that vein I'm reminded of the many times Bryan Campbell, who by acclimation 'wasn't that great defensively,' bailed us out in the defensive zone by getting his hands on loose pucks or by receiving passes in tight coverage just to dipsy-doodlee his way out of danger until he could pass the puck up through the neutral zone. He was so incredibly valuable in that regard.

But with that being said, if you don't have skaters - both on defense and at forward - who are able to force turnovers down low with hustle and positioning then you're just asking for your opponent to hang onto the puck until they have a high-danger chance. You can't have possession of the puck all the time, that's just a fact. That's why guys like Slavin, for example, are so valuable when they're on the ice. He's second to none at timing his move and disrupting the play with body and stick.

My point is that you're right, puck possession means everything, but during the 45% of time or so that we don't have the puck we absolutely need guys who can either help force turnovers or disrupt would-be high-danger chances. I generally like where our roster is going but I am concerned that we're somewhat lacking in that category.

 

[Dr Beinfest]

We definitely would be barren on offensive defenders if we didn’t make a move for someone. I get why he’s back. I still think we are missing a defender though.

 

[5 Hole]

We’re sitting fairly pretty and there’s plenty of time. I think Zito has proven to be A+. I’m just loving watching it all happen. We’re gonna be good.

 

[austropanther]

While I agree with you on principle, there's a nuance here that needs discussing.

I'd amend the 'best defense is offense' mantra to 'the best defense is puck possession' which you kind of allude to. In that vein I'm reminded of the many times Bryan Campbell, who by acclimation 'wasn't that great defensively,' bailed us out in the defensive zone by getting his hands on loose pucks or by receiving passes in tight coverage just to dipsy-doodlee his way out of danger until he could pass the puck up through the neutral zone. He was so incredibly valuable in that regard.

But with that being said, if you don't have skaters - both on defense and at forward - who are able to force turnovers down low with hustle and positioning then you're just asking for your opponent to hang onto the puck until they have a high-danger chance. You can't have possession of the puck all the time, that's just a fact. That's why guys like Slavin, for example, are so valuable when they're on the ice. He's second to none at timing his move and disrupting the play with body and stick.

My point is that you're right, puck possession means everything, but during the 45% of time or so that we don't have the puck we absolutely need guys who can either help force turnovers or disrupt would-be high-danger chances. I generally like where our roster is going but I am concerned that we're somewhat lacking in that category.

I very much agree with you, you totally got my point and put it in better words.

I would also prefer us to have a Slavin type of player or another bottom-3 Dman excelling at disrupting the opposition's cycle and being able to hand over the puck to capable teammates. Especially for the POs when everything is getting tighter.

You talk about something like 55% possession time. If we increase this by another few percent, it is huge! Any minute more of puck possession is a relief on our Dmen and goalie. If Lundell pans out, I believe we have 3 great puck hounds all over the ice in Barkov, Bennett and him that really can force a possession game on the opposition, plus the Marchment-Acciari-Mamin line has great potential to pin the opposition in the O-zone. I still think that very capable defensively aware and strong skating forwards can compensate for some lack on the backend. Defensive starts in the opposition's zone. Subtraction of high risk players like Yandle help that too.

But if we got another real defensive pillar on the backend - and I am convinced that Zito is already looking for this guy to get him before the trade dead line - we really are set for bigger things (except for this goalie thing dangling above our heads...)