The Minnesota Wild are likely not re-signing Matt Dumba this offseason and the defenseman will hit the free agent market on July 1, barring any sign-and-trade, which seems unlikely. He has been a very effective player when healthy, but injuries have really slowed him down in recent years, making his $6 million AAV contract tough on the Wild and very difficult to move.
Dumba isn’t going to come that cheap, but he also won’t break the bank as teams looking to sign him will be wary of his health and level he can still perform at. The field for defensemen isn’t that strong this year, especially when two of the bigger names in Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson have already been taken off the board, so teams will be interested. Here are three potential landing spots based on rumors and needs.
Vancouver Canucks
The writing was on the wall that the Vancouver Canucks were going to be making some changes defensively this offseason, but the consensus was that it was going to involve trading or buying out Tyler Myers. The first order of business they attended to was buying out Oliver Ekman-Larsson, so that means two of their top-four defenders could be on the outs soon. Dumba is a right-shot defenseman and should play the right side, so that means if they “have reportedly kicked tires on Dumba ahead of free agency” as Luke Fox reported, then they are looking to make further moves.
The Canucks lost a lot of physicality when they traded Luke Schenn to the Toronto Maple Leaf at the deadline, so Dumba can help elevate the physicality of the back-end once more. If injuries persist with Dumba, the Canucks are stocked on the right side with Ethan Bear, Tucker Poolman, and even Noah Juulsen to fill in. Dumba did score 14 goals and 50 points in 2017-18 at age 23, but hasn’t reached anywhere close to that recently. The good news is he did play 79 games this season and will look to elevate his game the longer he stays healthy.
Detroit Red Wings
It was an odd move out of left field for the Detroit Red Wings to trade Filip Hronek at this year’s deadline considering how weak their right side is and the season he was having. Hronek is only 25 years old and really started to put things together this season at both ends of the ice. So with him out of the picture, they have Moritz Seider left. Detroit won’t be looking for a top line defenseman, but Dumba could do the trick on the second pairing or even third if needed.
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The team has a lot of cap space and with the large need for help on defense, could take a shot at this once very promising player. There’s no doubt that the Red Wings will be upgrading as they can’t hope to compete for a playoff spot with Gustav Lindstrom and Seth Barton as their second and third pairing defensemen. Dumba will add experience to that side of the ice and have some freedom to show what he still has offensively beside Ben Chiarot or Olli Maatta.
Anaheim Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks will likely be at the bottom of the standings once again, but they need some help to come in through free agency. Last offseason’s big addition for the team did not work out well as John Klingberg didn’t have the talent around him to put up the points he normally does. The Ducks are in need of bodies to be more respectable than they were this season and there isn’t much help at all on the right side.
Klingberg was traded and it’s likely the long list of upcoming UFAs won’t be back. Jamie Drysdale should slot in on the top pair, so Dumba can provide some veteran leadership and support right behind him on the second pair. The Ducks have nothing but cap space to work with, so he could be a placeholder for a few seasons and hopefully get his career back on track by staying healthy.
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