It’s safe to say that Jason Dickinson’s first year as a Vancouver Canuck didn’t go as planned.
Almost immediately after the Canucks acquired Dickinson last offseason for a third-round pick — which at the time, was considered a low price to pay for Dickinson — the club signed him to a three year extension with a yearly cap hit of $2.65 million.
Dickinson put up career lows in goals and assists, and was ineffective at both ends of the ice on most nights this past season. It was a bad season for Dickinson, full stop.
Which is why it came as no surprise when earlier today, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli ranked Dickinson fifth among 10 potential buyout candidates around the NHL.
Here’s what Seravalli had to say:
“Scoop: How many times have we heard Canucks president Jim Rutherford talk about cap flexibility? One way to do that and create a little more space would be to move on from Dickinson, who netted just 11 points last season over 62 games. Yes, the dead cap space isn’t ideal, but the Canucks probably aren’t in a position to give up a lot of assets – and that way he’d only count for roughly one minimum salary roster spot, instead of the three or four he’s being paid now.”
Dickinson has two years remaining on his contract, and if the Canucks do choose to buy out his contract, they would be seeing his name on their salary cap for four more seasons instead of two, albeit at a reduced number.
If the Canucks buy out Dickinson’s contract, he will have a cap hit of $941,667 in 2022-23, $391,667 in 2023-24, and $991,667 in both the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons.
The NHL’s first buyout window of the summer opens on July 1st.
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