Colby Guy
FORT LAUDERDALE — When practice ends and the doors to the Florida Panthers’ locker room open, you can count on Brandon Montour to be waiting.
And, odds are, he is going to be laughing about something.
It could be a joke he just told, something that happened at practice, or the style of shoes a media member decided to wear that morning.
“He’s always got a smile on his face in the morning,” Josh Mahura said. “He is always in a mood where maybe everyone is having a quiet day. Then, all of a sudden, you hear him laughing or talking from a different room.
“I think it’s important to have that aspect, and I think he just brings it out of everyone and kind of lifts everyone up in that sense.”
Many on the team call him the king of the team’s comedy club, but he jokingly disagrees.
“I mean, I’m second. Mahura takes the reins on that, too,” Montour told Florida Hockey Now, with Mahura eavesdropping from the next stall.
“But guys don’t really laugh at his jokes. He understands.”
Mahura and Montour burst into laughter before the sentence was even finished.
That’s just how Montour naturally is.
“I enjoy the personalities we have on this team,’’ Montour said, “and I think it’s one of those things where our group meshes so well.
“I take pride in enjoying being at the rink every day and it’s fun being part of this when I’m always coming in with a positive attitude.
“Laughter is huge and we’ve got a pretty funny team. If I can keep that up and be vocal on and off the ice when times are stressful or when times are easygoing, it’s something I take pride in; Keeping that even keel but enjoying the moment, having everyone laugh, not being too stressed out and bringing the leadership.”
The man sitting in on the conversation knows a thing or two about just how far Montour’s brand of leadership goes.
Mahura was claimed by the Panthers off waivers from the Anaheim Ducks days before the start of the 2022-23 season and had to fly in for his first practice just before the team flew to New York for the season opener.
Luckily for Mahura, he and Montour were good friends in Anaheim, and the veteran defenseman wasted no time getting Mahura acclimated to the rest of the guys.
“He’s such a big personality in the room in the best way possible,” Mahura said. “Just trying to make guys feel comfortable all the time in what they do best and he is always trying to bring the guys together. He’s been doing that for as long as I’ve known him and it’s always grown into who he is now and the player he has become.”
Mahura has known Montour for a while.
After all, he was his first-ever defense partner when he made his NHL debut in November 2018.
Years later, he was right there with him as he adjusted into an 82-game player on a Panthers team that made the Stanley Cup Final last season.
He also made sure Mahura stayed on the jokes when offseason free-agent singings left him as a healthy scratch for most of this year.
Mahura is one of a few guys Montour jokes around with the most, but when it comes to the funniest player on the team, Mahura had something to say.
“What bout Cuzzy?” he interjected.
Publicly, Montour showed his support of pal Nick Cousins by wearing a shirt with a collage of pictures of him during his media availability at the podium following Game 3 of Florida’s first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
But that only scratches the surface of the comedic chemistry between those two.
“We have similar personalities,” Cousins said. “I think we both like to keep it loose, especially before the game, around the rink and around the guys. But at the same time, once the game starts we’re pretty serious and all business. But I mean, if you’re having fun and working hard, that’s all that matters.
“We’ve kind of clicked right away when we first met. We’re two guys with a good sense of humor who don’t take themselves too seriously.”
Anyone caught in the crossfire between those two is in for a laugh.
“He’s funny,” coach Paul Maurice said of Montour. “He’s just funny. And he’s got a relationship with two or three other guys int he room and they’re chirping each other all the time and it’s just funny and you have to laugh and it loosens up the room and that’s a good thing.”
That was how Montour integrated himself in the room when he first arrived in South Florida during the 2021 NHL Trade Deadline and he has been a fixture ever since.
“For me coming into the locker room, I think it’s easy for me to adjust,” Montour said. “I think it’s just my personality, talking to everyone.
“But for me, every year is different. You get new faves every year and right from when I got here, I kind of meshed well with everyone right away … It’s not even joking with and laughs with the players, it’s the staff, our therapists, our fitness and strength coaches and our equipment guys. I just came here and felt like it right away and I wanted to bring that kind of personality right away like I do with every team.”
Evan Rodrigues, a teammate of Montour’s with the Buffalo Sabres, can confirm that last part.
“He keeps the room light, he’s very loud, he likes to joke around a little bit and I think he’s a big personality,” Rodrigues said. “He always gets a good laugh out of everybody and there’s times when the room can be a little quiet or a little dead and he can turn it around with one joke”
Montour brings that mentality on and off the ice.
In practice and in games, he will make a joke to keep things light.
“He brings that lighthearted comedy on the ice, all the time,’’ Aaron Ekblad said. “You might not see it, but even during plays, after plays and on the bench, he’s always saying something funny and sometimes you just want to punch him. All the time, it’s hilarious. …
“Everybody’s got a different demeanor when they play the game, and mine is mostly serious and his is mostly funny. So it kind of brings the best out of each other.”
Ekblad got the worst of it recently.
During the morning skate in Tampa ahead of Game 3, he took too wide of a turn and took a tumble.
Ekblad was not going to get away with that — not with Montour paying attention.
Instead of being tense before a very stressful game, the Panthers were loose and ready to go.
“Montour enjoyed it more than anybody because he was looking at it from the other end of the ice and then he has to come in and critique the fall,” Maurice said. “He’s got some phenomenal chirps and the timing of them is outstanding.”
As it had in the past, it paid off with the Panthers stealing a critical game on the road to take a 3-0 series lead in their eventual win in 5.
Staying loose in the room during games are important.
The Panthers have won their past 11 playoff overtime games since assembling this version of the core and how they won so many more important games throughout their 2023 Stanley Cup Final run.
Montour has had a few big moments of his own on the ice, including the game-tying goal in Game 7 of the first round against the Boston Bruins with a minute to go in regulation.
“I understand the moments that we’re in and I think a strength of mine is that the stress level is low even in those crucial times,” Montour said. “I’ve got the confidence to, on the ice, make those plays, but I think that’s a strength of mine off the ice as well to not have the nerves up that much or the stress factor if games the games are down to not be down.
“You got to know the locker room, you got to know the personalities. What guys can take, what guys can’t take, helping young guys over the years with just being in big games and kind of keeping that fun part and enjoying it. And I think that’s honestly a big strength when we get into to these tight games and these overtime games. I think we’ve noticed that our team comes up on top.”