Sabres deal Montour to Panthers for 3rd-round pick

The Buffalo Sabres traded defenseman Brandon Montour to the Florida Panthers for a 2021 third-round pick, the teams announced.

The Sabres aren't retaining any of Montour's $3.85 million salary, reports TSN's Darren Dreger.

Montour, a pending unrestricted free agent, joined the Sabres from the Anaheim Ducks during the 2018-19 campaign. He has 14 points in 38 games this season while averaging over 20 minutes of ice time per contest.

The 26-year-old's advanced stats took a major hit after joining Buffalo:

Brandon Montour, reportedly acquired by FLA, has been one of the league's worst defencemen in the past three seasons. His production has been decent but his underlying numbers have been brutal at both ends since before the Sabres traded for him. #FlaPanthers pic.twitter.com/hZRGNOHWbY

- JFresh (@JFreshHockey) April 10, 2021

The Panthers are in the thick of the race for top spot in the Central Division and entered Saturday one point back of the first-place Carolina Hurricanes. Florida was widely expected to be in the market for a defenseman after top-pairing stalwart Aaron Ekblad recently suffered a season-ending injury.

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