What goes on in the hours after a team wins a Stanley Cup is pretty much what you’d imagine – x10. Or x50. Or x100. New Seattle Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour can relay firsthand knowledge, from winning the championship last June with the Florida Panthers.
Amid the din at Amerant Bank Arena, the soon-to-be free agent whooped and hollered and hugged Panthers teammates and lifted the Cup high above his head. Montour was also aware he was putting a bow on a highly successful chapter of his career. “I knew that I was probably on my way out,” he said on the Empty Netters podcast. “So after we won, I was just circling around, looking at how crazy this atmosphere was,”
The celebration eventually moved to the dressing room, standing room only with players, coaches, executives, family, friends, media – and even some who didn’t plan on entering. “The room was packed. You can’t even see the person beside you because cigar smoke is all over. We pulled the security people in to pour a load of beer on them.
“Our locker room had booze and water and champagne up to our ankles. I think the floor had to have been taken out and redone. I’m curious to see how much it cost to fix up.” He’s not kidding – 160 bottles of bubbly were uncorked. Montour knows because Panthers players were asked to autograph each one of the empties so they could be gifted as keepsakes.
Next stop on Cup-winning night was the high-end E11even nightclub in Miami. Montour didn’t arrive home until 5:30 am, and he wasn’t the last to leave.
We’re compelled to pause here for a couple of asides. I’ve never heard of E11even. It’s so hip and trendy, they probably wouldn’t let me in if I showed up. So we’ll have to rely on this media report about what goes on there:
- “Coveted tables – which encircle an elevated stage, a dance floor, and the DJ booth – (can) require a minimum tab of $30,000 apiece for booze, food, and entertainment. Young women in lingerie are gyrating on platforms throughout the room. Acrobats suspended from ropes contort above, their routine pausing the smoke-machined, laser-beamed, strobe-battered madness.”
- Nothing in the above description is intended to cast a negative light on Brandon Montour, generally considered a great guy. This is the milieu of the modern champion athlete. For those who find such partying unseemly, there’s some warm milk and a copy of Boys Life waiting for you in the lobby. But we digress…
Sometime during the festivities, Montour conversed about his future. “My agent said, ‘You’ve got to be a little sober by noon, because we have a meeting about free agency.’ This whole time I’m celebrating, I’m going home making calls, talking to my agent, talking to these GMs all week.”
Shortly after the Panthers parade, the defenseman signed a seven-year, $50 million deal to join the Kraken (a process we detailed yesterday).
All of this made for a short, if satisfying, summer break. As Montour put it, “I get four weeks to chill out and then right back to work.” Kraken training camp starts Sept. 18.