{"id":444280,"date":"2024-06-30T19:28:05","date_gmt":"2024-06-30T23:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=444280"},"modified":"2024-06-30T19:28:05","modified_gmt":"2024-06-30T23:28:05","slug":"nhl-rumours-on-eve-of-free-agency-focused-on-winnipeg-jets-defenceman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/06\/30\/nhl-rumours-on-eve-of-free-agency-focused-on-winnipeg-jets-defenceman\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumours on Eve of Free Agency Focused on Winnipeg Jets Defenceman"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Before the NHL&#8217;s 2024 free agency window opens in the morning, and those north of the 49th parallel celebrate their nation&#8217;s 157th birthday, why not an innocent rumour to start the mill. Here it goes, a left-shot, defensive defenceman, from the geographic centre of the Great White North, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/jets\/\" target=\"_self\">Winnipeg Jets<\/a>. However, as boring as the rumour may sound, what spices things up is the source. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/d\/dillobr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-30_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brenden Dillon<\/a> is a Vancouver-area native, and with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/z\/zadorni01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-30_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikita Zadorov<\/a> hitting free agency tomorrow, there is reasonable cause for the stir of chatter.<\/p>\n<h2>In Defenceman Brenden Dillon Rumours, He Appears to Not Be Signing in Vancouver or Winnipeg<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">For those asking about Brenden Dillon, lots of teams including the Canucks have interest in Dillon but unless something changes, as of right now, doesn&#39;t sound like he will be signing in Vancouver.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DhaliwalSports\/status\/1807085137181528522?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As we know, defence wins championships, and as boring at it seems, rumours surrounding Brenden Dillon could be more important than they appear at first glance. At 33-years-old, the 13-year veteran of the NHL is a very valuable piece to a playoff team&#8217;s top-six defence core. Furthermore, Dillon still gets it done in his own zone. This past season, he achieved a career-high in a surprising stat, hits, with 241. Also, his eight goals on the year, was a career-high. Needless to say, Dillon quietly brings a lot of value. Moreover, playing in Winnipeg, under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/bowneri01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-30_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rick Bowness<\/a>&#8216; defensive structure, Dillon was really putting it all together. Therefore, it wouldn&#8217;t be unheard of for the the Jets and he to run-it-back.<\/p>\n<p>However, given the source of the rumour, Rick Dhaliwal, a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/canucks\/\" target=\"_self\">Vancouver Canucks<\/a> beat-writer, it definitely adds some fuel to the fire. This implies that, one, he won&#8217;t be signing in Vancouver, but also, he will test free agency. Any time a player does that, there is a good chance that they don&#8217;t re-sign in their current situation. In addition, the Canucks have a <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/defenceman-nikita-zadorov-to-test-free-agent-market-canucks-gm-1.2141704\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">couple other pieces who would rather test the waters of the free agency pool<\/a>. Both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/c\/coleia01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-30_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ian Cole<\/a> and Nikita Zadorov, left-shot, more so, defensive defencemen, will be testing free agency.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Looks like D Ian Cole is hitting the market.<\/p>\n<p>There was contact with the Canucks in the last couple of days.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DhaliwalSports\/status\/1807446775193596252?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 30, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Trying to Turn a Mole-Hill to a Mountain<\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p>Therefore, one conclusion we can make, is come tomorrow, the Canucks will be active. With Cole, Zadorov, and Dillon as well, all appearing to be out as options for <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/06\/12\/open-ocean-vancouver-canucks-free-agent-news-rumours\/\" target=\"_self\">General Manager Patrik Allvin<\/a>, we can probably draw one conclusion. That conclusion would be that the Canucks are in the market for a big, physical, defensive defenceman, who plays the left side. Given that many teams, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/06\/30\/ottawa-senators-rumours-in-their-right-shot-defenceman-search\/\" target=\"_self\">Ottawa Senators<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/06\/30\/montreal-canadiens-johnathan-kovacevic-trade\/\" target=\"_self\">Montreal Canadiens<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/devils\/\" target=\"_self\">New Jersey Devils<\/a> come to mind, are in search of right-shot, defensive defencemen, we could be beginning to piece things towards a bigger picture together.<\/p>\n<p>One thing is for sure, that there is a clear dichotomy for some teams seeking right-shot defencemen. On the contrary, teams like the Canucks and Jets, both 2024 playoff teams, aren&#8217;t searching for that option. This just helps us understand a few of the mentioned teams&#8217; current situations. Tomorrow is sure to be on wheels, hopefully starting with this rumour, but with all of our coverage here at Last Word, we can offer a little calm through the wavy sea of free agency.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before the NHL&#8217;s 2024 free agency window opens in the morning, and those north of the 49th parallel celebrate their nation&#8217;s 157th birthday, why not an innocent rumour to start the mill. Here it goes, a left-shot, defensive defenceman, from the geographic centre of the Great White North, the Winnipeg Jets. However, as boring as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4222,"featured_media":437280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,4547,4548,4321],"tags":[622,260,3877,302,158,357],"class_list":["post-444280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jets","category-hockey","category-nhl","category-rumours","tag-brenden-dillon","tag-ian-cole","tag-nhl-rumours","tag-nikita-zadorov","tag-vancouver-canucks","tag-winnipeg-jets"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}