NHL Rumors: Brenden Dillon's Days in Winnipeg Could be Done

With only just over $13 million in cap space, and six key unrestricted free agents, the Winnipeg Jets have their hands full this off-season. Goaltender Laurent Broissoit, core defencemen Dylan DeMelo and Brenden Dillon as well as their three trade deadline acquisitions, Sean Monahan, Tyler Toffoli and Colin Miller, are all without a contract heading to the July 1 opening of free agency.

And while the Jets would like to bring some of them back, it appears that reliable d-man Dillon might not be one of them. NHL insider Elliotte Friedman indicated on his 32 Thoughts podcast on Sunday that extension talks don't seem to be progressing, certainly not enough to get a deal done right now.

I just heard that he's going to free agency. I think there were some conversations between him and the Jets, and although you never rule anything out, I don't think there's going to be any re-signing with Winnipeg before the (July 1st) window opens, so I expect Dillon to hit the market.

At the very least, he'll be testing the free agent market. Jets beat writer Scott Billeck adds, however, that if he isn't blown away by what's out there, Dillon could "always circle back."

The 33-year-old has completed the four-year, $3.9M AAV contract he signed with his previous team, the Washington Capitals. The 6'4" punishing defender has been a valuable contributor for the last three seasons with the Jets, playing an average of 19 minutes a game while recording a plus/minus rating of +38 and handing out over 200 hits and over 100 blocks per season.

It would be a big blow to the Jets blueline if they were to lose the left-shot d-man.

Interestingly, as we reported, he mentioned recently on a podcast that there was one team he'd find very "cool" to be able to join.