Brandon Montour When Aaron Ekblad Returns?

[Smashville]

I am curious what a reasonable return for Montour in a trade would be right now. Assuming most other fantasy managers are tracking the latest news, they are no doubt aware Ekblad is slated to return this weekend. To be able to sell high, there needs to be folks willing to buy high.

I'd find it hard to believe anyone is giving up Moritz Seider for him.

I highly doubt someone would trade Seider for him, but I have already seen several crazy trades on this site so ya never know. I wouldn't be surprised if someone would trade Dobson or Weegar for him.

[senryu]

I think he falls into the category of being so obvious a regression candidate, that, as a result, most everyone overestimates the degree to which Montour's production will drop. Even with Ekblad returning, it isn't as if Montour's going to be healthy scratched. They still need Montour to play minutes without Weegar being there. And it makes sense to not put a full load onto Ekblad the second he returns from a significant groin injury. And it isn't as though Ekblad's injury is the only variable at play. Montour's first two games, when Ekblad was playing full minutes, had Montour playing about 23 minutes a game, several minutes more per game than he had in recent years. Montour's been logging 26-27 minutes a game recently. That'll come back down to 23-24 or so when Ekblad is fully up to speed, but there can't be any question that Montour's time on ice has jumped up with Weegar leaving. That's a substantial reason for Montour's increase in production, more time on ice. There's no reason for that to change; Ekblad returning isn't going to make Montour an 18 minute per game guy. What are they going to do, use Matt Kierstad all the time now?

I'm inclined to hold him now and just accept a 40-50 point defenseman, which is useful in many leagues.

[Canucks_fan18]

I am curious what a reasonable return for Montour in a trade would be right now. Assuming most other fantasy managers are tracking the latest news, they are no doubt aware Ekblad is slated to return this weekend. To be able to sell high, there needs to be folks willing to buy high.

I'd find it hard to believe anyone is giving up Moritz Seider for him.

There is no really fair return for him I feel. You either sell high for someone that is clearly a step up but is struggling this year. Like a Seider, Chabot, Werenski etc or you hold onto him like others have said and expect a 40 to 50 point pace.

I usually don't call out others opinions on threads but Smashville seems to have a hate on for Mountour for some reason. He's stated if he sniffed 40 points that would be a good season for him, well last years 37 points was close to sniffing 40 points and with the increased minutes and hot start I would be shocked if he's not closer to 50 points this year than 40.

[LeafsFan1967]

There is no really fair return for him I feel. You either sell high for someone that is clearly a step up but is struggling this year. Like a Seider, Chabot, Werenski etc or you hold onto him like others have said and expect a 40 to 50 point pace.

I usually don't call out others opinions on threads but Smashville seems to have a hate on for Mountour for some reason. He's stated if he sniffed 40 points that would be a good season for him, well last years 37 points was close to sniffing 40 points and with the increased minutes and hot start I would be shocked if he's not closer to 50 points this year than 40.

Agreed, he's already at 15 in 12, to finish with 40 he'd have to get 25 pts in 70 games, I don't see how he'd just fall of the map, he has talent.

[BooBird]

FWIW the Florida Panthers' practice lines today were reported to have both Montour and Ekblad on PP1. Guess we'll see if it sticks.

[Canucks_fan18]

I thought I would bump this thread after Montour got his 60th point last night. I generally don't know what to do with this guy anymore. Does he go back to being a 35 point defencemen next year? Or is this the new normal.

[senryu]

Very recently, they've gone 4F 1D on PP1 with Montour being the d-man. That's an unquestionable recipe for success. My caveat is whether Ekblad has any lingering groin issues and has been playing less than 100% since his return. If that's the case, then it makes sense that they'd curb Ekblad's duties to give him a little relief. But just looking at last night, Montour was on for 24 minutes and Ekblad for 19.

I don't see a return to 35 points per game for Montour, he's shown he can be a minutes eater and perform on PP1. Ekblad and he may share those duties over the course of a season or maybe they'll go 3F-2D again. The only question for me is whether injury played any role in Ekblad taking a back seat this 2nd half of the season.