Matt Dumba Sent to Iowa

Not too long after the Wild announced they were recalling defenseman Justin Falk the team has announced that they will send Matt Dumba to Iowa.

The move doesn’t come as that much of a surprise after Dumba played just 4:10 against the Stars and it seemed like the team was close to making this move before Jonas Brodin and Marco Scandella came down with the mumps.

Dumba should get a lot of ice time and significant power play time in Iowa, which will no doubt aid in his development. Dumba will get another shot at the NHL level this season.

Through 20 games he has a goal and three assists, with a 8.59% Fenwick Relative. Though the possession mark is in large part because he’s been getting very favorable zone starts to try and get his offense going.

As much as I like Dumba and his potential, I think it’s a good thing that he’ll spend a little time in the AHL. He’s averaging just 12:01 per game, which isn’t enough for a player with his potential at age 20.

There might be a little something of Zucker’s situation over the last two years in this decision too. Dumba has not able to get into a place that best suits his skills and needs to develop the skill set to make a third pairing position work before he’s able to stick and work his way into a a top four spot. We saw that with Zucker’s need to get his defensive game together in order to make a bottom six placement work before he could work his way up the line up (which he’s done some, but being versatile means ice time).

With Ryan Suter, Jonas Brodin, Marco Scandella, and Jared Sprugeon in front of him, Dumba will need to show his talent while paired up with Keith Ballard, Nate Prosser, or another lower level defenseman before he’s able to make management consider shifting things around to get him more ice time on a consistent basis.

Though, there are certainly some differences for Dumba compared to Zucker’s situation. He hasn’t had the best partners, but his 61.90% offensive zone starts show that the team is trying to get him into a place to succeed despite his partners — his WOWY with Prosser is pretty bad.

Though you might argue that a more offensive-minded partner like Jonathon Blum might help that situation, the team has been apprehensive to give Blum much of a shot. Maybe a little time paired with Blum in Iowa might change that.

Blum is expected to make his Iowa Wild debut on Sunday when the AHL Wild take on the San Antonio Rampage.