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Report: Several NHL teams ‘kicking tires’ on Brenden Dillon’s availability

By Ian Oland

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July 23, 2021 10:20 am

Brenden Dillon’s name has surfaced in offseason trade rumors, though it’s unclear if the Capitals defenseman is even available.

TSN’s Darren Dreger brought up Dillon while revealing that the NHL’s three Western Canada teams are looking for a makeover on their backline. Dillon, 30, has three years remaining at a $3.9 million cap hit.

Here’s what Dreger had to say on TSN’s Insider Trading:

Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Vancouver are all looking for upgrades on defense, top four defensemen. The Vancouver Canucks have the ninth pick overall and Jim Benning says he is willing to listen to absolutely everything.

But the Edmonton Oilers obviously have to do some repair work, and after losing Adam Larrson to the Seattle Kraken, they’re continuing to talk to Tyson Barrie, they’ll continue to negotiate there. Tyson Barrie probably wants more than the three years that the Oilers are comfortable with. But they may play hardball.

Rasmus Ristolainen of the Buffalo Sabres feels likely to be traded with three teams having interest there.

What about Brenden Dillon of the Washington Capitals? This is a bit weird but given the fact that he was exposed to the Seattle Kraken in the Expansion Draft, I know that there are clubs that at least kicking tires.

Dillon spent most of the season skating on the Capitals’ first pairing with John Carlson. The big, physical defender lowered opponents’ offense by 10 percent and his own team’s by 4 percent, according to HockeyViz.

While Dillon is one of three left-handed shooting defensemen under contract with the Capitals next season — Dmitry Orlov and Michal Kempny are the others, the Capitals have options on that side of the ice. Brian MacLellan said over the offseason that Martin Fehervary would graduate to the NHL in 2021-22 and the team was open to bringing back 44-year-old Zdeno Chara if the legend opts not to retire.

With the Seattle Kraken taking Vitek Vanecek in the Expansion Draft, the Capitals did not get any much-needed salary cap relief. Vanecek made close to the league minimum ($716k). According to CapFriendly, the Capitals only have $9.7 million available with both Alex Ovechkin and Ilya Samsonov unsigned and the team needing a new backup in net. So a trade may be necessary at some point.

Update: The Sabres have dealt Rasmus Ristolainen to the Philadelphia Flyers.