Montour hopes playing for Canada at Worlds leads to spot on Olympic roster

Brandon Montour enjoyed playing with Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon so much at the 2025 IIHF World Championship in May that the Seattle Kraken defenseman wants to do it again.

This time, on a much bigger stage -- the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

“It was my first chance to play with those guys and have some one-on-one time, dinners and lunches with them, and kind of see what they’re like off the ice,” Montour said. “Then it was a great experience to see their tendencies on the ice with me. It was a short tournament, I would have loved to have way more opportunity with them, so we’ll see what happens. But it was a great experience playing with them and hopefully, they say the same about me.”

Montour, 31, is looking to earn one of the roster spots on Team Canada for Winter Olympics, which will feature NHL players for first time since 2014. Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche were two of the six players named to Canada’s preliminary Olympic roster in June, along with Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers), Brayden Point (Tampa Bay Lightning), Sam Reinhart (Florida Panthers) and defenseman Cale Makar (Avalanche).

“It would be a tremendous honor, it’s really great just to be recognized,” Montour said. “You could pick three or four teams for Team Canada that could compete and play at a high level. Whoever they pick, if I’m one of them, I’m just going to bring what I’ve brought the last 10-plus years. They know the players they’re looking at, and I’ll do anything for that group and it would be unbelievable to be a part of.”

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Montour was impressive at the World Championship and is following it up with a strong NHL season. He leads all Kraken defensemen with 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in 23 games, and is averaging 22:10 time on ice per game, which is second-most on the team.

He will look to add to that total and his Olympic resume when the Kraken (11-10-6) host the Los Angeles Kings (14-8-7) at Climate Pledge Arena on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN).

Montour is in his second season with Seattle, signing there as a free agent after winning the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers in 2024.

Montour, who has 308 points (90 goals, 218 assists) in 624 career NHL games with the Anaheim Ducks, Buffalo Sabres, Panthers and Kraken, is an option as an offensive defenseman for Canada and was invited to the Hockey Canada Olympic orientation camp in August.

“He’s playing really well for us, his importance is massive,” Seattle coach Lane Lambert said. “He’s had an injury that he’s dealt with, he had a personal leave of absence, and he’s come back strong. He leads our back end, him and Vince Dunn lead our back end in terms of offense and pushing the pace and pushing the puck up the ice, so I think he’s done a real good job for us.”

Lambert feels Montour would be a good fit for Canada at the Olympics, considering all he does for Seattle.

“He moves the puck well, he joins the rush well, he can move, he can skate, which is going to be critical in that environment, in that tournament,” he said. “He went to the orientation camp in the summer and it was well-deserved and I think that he should be in the mix for consideration.”

Montour has represented Canada twice at the World Championship, winning silver in 2019.

His experience at the Worlds this past spring was cut short when Canada was upset 2-1 by Denmark in the quarterfinal.

Along with Crosby and MacKinnon, the Canadian team included forwards Travis Konecny of the Philadelphia Flyers, Bo Horvat of the New York Islanders, Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks, and Calgary Flames defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, who are all in consideration to play at the Olympics.

Weegar and Montour were teammates in Florida in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons.

“He’s an awesome guy, he’s a riot to be around, a great player and awesome skater,” Weegar said. “He does everything well. He’s got it all and is a great guy. He was a great teammate in Florida and then I got to be at Worlds with him and he lit it up over at Worlds. He was on the first-unit power play and played a lot of minutes over there.”

Montour had nine points (two goals, seven assists) in eight games at the World Championship, finishing fourth in scoring for Canada behind MacKinnon (13 points; seven goals, six assists), Konecny (13 points; three goals, 10 assists) and Crosby (12 points; four goals, eight assists).

“I liked his game, he’s got a lot of energy,” said Calgary coach Ryan Huska, who was an assistant to coach Dean Evason with Canada. “He reminds me a lot of MacKenzie Weegar on our team, around the dressing room where he’s got a bubbly personality. He’s got a nice skill set. I do really appreciate the competitive side that he plays the game with as well.”

Montour said he feels he could fit in wherever needed for Canada if given the opportunity.

“You can see kind of what that team has, with Makar playing power play, they have bunch of power-play guys, so does a guy like me need to play on the power play? No,” Montour said. “But I can play on the penalty kill, play strictly 5-on-5, and for me I think I would bring the strength of all of those if they need it. If guys get injured, I can step up and play those roles.”

Playing for Canada at the Olympics would be a dream come true for Montour, and an Olympic medal would be a nice addition to his Stanley Cup ring.

“You dream of winning the Stanley Cup, but to have an opportunity and just having your name in that (Olympic) mix, is a huge honor that myself and my family are happy about,” Montour said. “But we’re also happy that we’re playing well here and we’re in the mix here, and the better we are here, will obviously help myself and the rest of the group with that as well.”

— NHL.com Independent Correspondent Laurence Heinen contributed to this report