With the buyout of Oliver Ekman-Larsson and the potential of not issuing a qualifying offer to Ethan Bear making him an unrestricted free agent, the Canucks will have plenty of money to go out into the open market and pursue a top-four defenceman.
According to Luke Fox of Sportsnet, the Canucks were among the teams that kicked tired on Matt Dumba before the trade deadline in March, but he ultimately stayed with the Minnesota Wild.
Dumba, is set to hit unrestricted free agency on Canada Day, which is next Saturday and there will be several teams that will be looking to add his services to their roster next season. For the reasons mentioned earlier in the article, there's no question that Dumba will be one of the names that Patrik Allvin will be pursuing next weekend as he looks to make some additions to the Canucks' blueline.
The Regina native had a down year, putting up the lowest point total of his career thus far, aside from his 13-game stint in 2013-14 before returning to junior. In 79 games, Dumba had 14 points (four goals, ten assists), 81 penalty minutes and was a minus-eight. He added two assists in six games during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
