Pending UFA Brenden Dillon Admits It Would Be So "Cool" To Play for One Jets Rival

There's still some time for the Winnipeg Jets and pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Brenden Dillon to come to terms on an extension, but if he does reach UFA status on July 1st, would the veteran D-man from New Westminster, BC be willing to play for his hometown Vancouver Canucks?

"Well Dhali between yourself and Donnie I might have to get some emails for some e-transfers to pump that up for me for the next couple of weeks.." 😂

Upcoming UFA D-Man Brenden Dillon talked about the possibility of playing in VAN.

Full interview..https://t.co/NjjjzviXcy pic.twitter.com/6pEyyTQ75M
— Donnie & Dhali (@DonnieandDhali) May 27, 2024

"I think I can speak on the account of every guy in the NHL who's from B.C.: How cool would that be to play for your hometown team? You just see the way that hockey's grown (there) during my 13 (NHL) seasons... It's cool to watch... the BC boys that are impacting the game".

But aside from that, less than five weeks out from free agency, Dillon is keeping his cards pretty close to the vest. "Anytime you go into free agency, you hear the horror stories, whether it's guys pricing themselves out, or not wanting to go to a certain place or a certain team. For me, I'm really open and excited and just an open book going into July 1st."

The 6-foot-4 left-shot blueliner just finished his third straight solid year for the Jets, as the 33-year-old comes off his 4-year, $3.9 million AAV expiring contract.

"I think for myself and my role, I think I've continued to show what I can really do. This year was really fun to be able to affect things offensively a little bit more." Dillon set a career-high with eight goals this season, while playing his usual solid defense, registering a plus/minus rating of +20 with 241 hits while playing 18:44 per game for Winnipeg.

As for the Canucks, three of their top six blueliners are hitting the free agent market in Nikita Zadorov, Tyler Myers and Ian Cole. Particularly in the case of the first two, that would be a lot of size to give up on D, so perhaps Dillon could be pursued by GM Patrik Allvin to fill some of those large shoes/skates with his 6'4" frame.