On December 19, 1995, less than six months after helping the Devils capture the Stanley Cup, Dowd was traded (alongside a 1997 second-round draft pick) to the Hartford Whalers in exchange for Jocelyn Lemieux and a second-round pick in 1998. Later that same day, Hartford traded Dowd (alongside František Kučera and the same second-round pick in 1997) to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Jeff Brown and a fifth-round pick in 1998. Dowd would only play 38 regular season games and one playoff game for the Canucks.