Minnesota Wild Ink Dumba to a Two Year Deal
Yesterday afternoon the Wild solved what turned out to be their hardest offseason challenge and signed defenseman Matt Dumba to a 2-year $5.1 million contract. His signing cements the blueline of the Wild and makes the group collectively one of the best in the NHL.
The Minnesota Wild put to rest what was one of their biggest challenges yesterday, re-signing defenseman Matt Dumba to a new contract. According to Michael Russo, the two sides agreed to a 2 year $5.1 million contract that will see an annual cap hit of $2.55 million. It’s a move that completes the all of the RFA signings for the Wild and leaves them with about $2.16 million in cap space.
No one seemed to doubt this signing would/could happen, but as the summer drew on the questions about what was taking so long took over. The rumors seemed to spread like wildfire about Dumba’s future with the team. It seems now that the main hang-up could have been over the term as the Wild wanted a bridge deal, and it might have been that Dumba wanted a longer term. The annual salary cap hit was about what it should have been per the market at $2.55 million, so that says the hang up might have been over the term.
The $2.16 million of cap space remaining though could make things a bit more challenging for the Wild. Russo believes that the Wild need at least one more NHL ready forward from free-agency, and I’d be inclined to agree with him. I also agree with him that it will be a player like Chris Porter, Ryan Carter, or even Matt Cullen possibly because of where they could fit in the lineup and the salary they will draw.
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With Fletcher wanting to keep some cap space of $2-3 million for trades and roster moves this leaves no cap space to sign another player. My initial feeling is that he will break his rule and dip a little into his buffer and sign another forward for under $1 million. Also make no mistakes the trade market is still in play, so that could be used to get that forward (Dumba could still be used as trade bait for that forward, but I’ll spare you that scenario for another time).
Dumba’s signing is obviously huge as it cements a complete return of the very solid Minnesota blueline corps. That has to be music to the ears of new assistant coach and defensive guru Scott Stevens. Just after his hiring Stevens said that “I’m excited to work with the core group here, and I know Bruce is, we have a lot of good pieces here.” He’s got to be excited that the core group is intact and he can get back to game planning for this season’s defense.
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Although many will complain about Dumba’s play last season he had a career year in all scoring areas with 10 goals, 16 assists, and 6 power play goals. All indications are that he will have another career year this season as the Wild look to open up the offense. That opening of the offense should spark an increase in Dumba’s numbers, and could possibly see him move up to play on the higher pairing with Marco Scandella or Jonas Brodin. Combine that with Stevens’ defensive knowledge, and you could see a much more well-rounded Dumba this season.
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So waking up this morning all of The State of Hockey can breathe a collective sigh of relief as the 23-man roster is about 95% ready for the upcoming season. Dumba is one of the best young defensive talents in the league and his re-up by the Wild is a big step toward building a successful season. Maybe I’m being a bit bold here, but having Dumba back with his defensive mates the Wild have what can be called one of the most complete defenses in the NHL. That’s why resigning him was a priority.