In a statement, Jason Botterill said, "Brandon is a young, offensive-minded defenseman who can play the up-tempo style we are looking to play. He’s a right-shot defenseman that brings additional playoff experience to our club.”
Montour was in his third season with Anaheim and has netted five goals and 20 assists for 25 points in 62 games. He’s put in 169 NHL games, scoring 16 goals and 47 assists for 63 points. Montour also has playoff experience, participating in 21 games. He was taken by the Ducks in the second round of the 2014 Entry Draft.
On Monday Montour tweeted out, "Was a crazy day yesterday. First experience being involved with all of this but appreciate an want to thank everyone in Ducks organization for the last couple of years! Excited to be close to home as well as apart of something big here in Buffalo, let’s get after it."
Guhle was a second round pick in the 2015 draft and is a great skater. Despite struggling mightily this season in Rochester, this is the kind of trade I thought it would take if the Sabres were to part with him. With his speed, it’s possible he could’ve eventually fit into Phil Housley’s system.
He’s only 21-years-old with plenty of time to develop. Guhle played in the AHL All-Star game because Lawrence Pilut was up in Buffalo and Zach Redmond was injured. The AHL wanted an Amerk on the squad, so Guhle was next guy up.
Guhle has played 23 NHL games with no goals and five assists. In 112 AHL games, Guhle had 15 goals and 44 assists for 59 points. Ducks GM Bob Murray said in a statement, “Brendan Guhle is an excellent skater who is ready to take the next step in his career. Adding Guhle and a first-round pick is an important step as we re-tool our team moving forward."
The Sabres had three first round picks to use as currency, and I think this was an excellent way to use one of them. I still think Guhle has a chance to be good too, but we already know Montour is good.
Montour has one more year left on his contract that will pay him $3.3875 million.
Monday is trade deadline day and our coverage starts at 6 am with Howard Simon and Jeremy White. I’ll be live down at the arena all day before leaving for the Sabres game in Toronto.