Gone Wild Mailbag: Dumba Trades, Center Options, and Goal Songs

Welcome to another Gone Wild Mailbag! This time we answer your questions on potential Dumba trades, Center opportunities, and Goal Songs.

As I’m writing this, the Vikings are currently down 15 to the Colts. This Vikings team really can’t find any momentum. Feel like this was a “Prove It” year of sorts for Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer, and so far they are floundering. Feels like they consistently over-invest on the defensive side of the ball. Cousins hasn’t been great, but it doesn’t help that the Offensive-Line is porous at best.

Anyways, let’s answer your Wild Questions.

This was asked before Brodin was extended. Some of the details in that contract include an NMC that Brodin has for the first four years of the contract. That means when the Seattle Expansion Draft happens, Bill Guerin will have to protect Jonas Brodin in the Expansion Draft.

So, that leaves Dumba as the odd-man-out. They could elect to protect 8 skaters (4 defensemen and 4 forwards), but with the way the lack of ability in the Center Group, I would be shocked if Dumba wasn’t traded to address the issue there.

However, with Brennan Menell bolting to the KHL, there isn’t that much right side depth anymore. Who knows where Greg Pateryn is with his recent injury history, the Wild have to resign UFA (Group 6) Carson Soucy who can play either side and likely in Iowa next season you have Calen Addison and Louie Belpedio.

Menell likely made a short-sighted decision, swayed by a pay raise. I would hope management would be willing to bring him back, he got an opportunity last year before the likes of Belpedio, which should have signaled what the Organization believed he could be.

Here’s a thought, it looks like the KHL season will be done before the NHL season, why not bring him back after he finishes his one year contract? I understand Management may be annoyed because it puts them in a tough spot, but it does keep Menell in playing shape and developing.

Anyways, back to your original question. I would expect Dumba to be moved before the Expansion Draft for a Center, but it might take some time. I feel Guerin will be more patient with this trade, a bit like the Zucker deal, maybe trying to get a higher quality player/overpayment. If there’s anything GMs love, it’s top 6 centers and right defensemen.

I love questions like this because it makes me balance the desire to be competitive now and what could be had if the organization decides to be patient. Let’s take a look at who needs a new contract for the 2021-2022 season.

Philip Danault is an interesting name, he will be a UFA, comes in around 40-50 points a season, but other than that, there aren’t many names that jump out at me. For RFA’s Andrew Copp could be someone you look at, but doesn’t contribute much more than 10 goals a year. There aren’t many Big Time UFA’s that would be franchise-altering.

Reviewing TSN’s Frank Seravalli recent Trade Bait boards, the likes of Phil Kessel, Andreas Athanasiou, and Tyler Johnson make appearances on the list in an effort for teams to shed salary. Not many exciting opportunities there.

Seravalli also put this list together in early September, but not one center is listed for the Wild to go after. If Minnesota is going to acquire a center, it’s likely going to come from a team that’s looking to dramatically shake something up. For example, Calgary’s Sean Monahan might be moved as that team continues to stall out in the postseason.

More from Gone Puck Wild

• Defenseman Matt Dumba signs one-year contract with Arizona
• Minnesota Wild reach agreement with Brandon Duhaime on one-year contract
• Minnesota Wild receive mixed grades for picks in NHL Entry Draft
• Minnesota Wild draft heavy on centers and home-state selections
• Minnesota Wild open regular season at home against Stanley Cup Finalist

Along with the fact it’s annoying to see Central Division rival Dallas Stars make it to the Stanley Cup Final because Norm Green relocated the team, I thought a disappointing postseason from the Dallas Stars would have led to a shakeup in that team. Could Tyler Seguin have been had?

Even with their success, he’s been largely silent in the postseason, in Twenty-One Games Played only Eight Points, Two Goals, and Six Assists. This postseason, he’s had a stretch of a five-game pointless streak and a six-game pointless streak and is in the midst of a three-game pointless streak. He comes in as the 10th highest scorer on the Stars this postseason, behind names like Roope Hintz, Jamie Oleksiak, Denis Gurianov, and Miro Heiskanen.

So even though the Stars are near the mountain top, has Tyler Seguin taken them there? A first-round exit would have made that situation interesting. Shame we didn’t get to see that.

To answer your question, I try to get a center this season. Guerin has begun to shift the control and the value of the team to the youth, primarily Kaprizov and Fiala. I think it’s important to be successful with those pieces sooner rather than later. Have to show that there’s a future of success with this franchise and keep them around. The best way to do that is to get them a capable center to play with.

I’m guessing Alec means a 2020-2021 season. It’s a puzzling situation. I expect the NHL to play a full 82 game season, but you might see more injuries throughout the league because of wear and tear. It’s an intense and physical sport, so condensing the schedule could harm players’ health.

I’m going to guess they go ahead and play the full 82 because to the owners, it’ll feel like their players are earning their contracts by playing full seasons rather than partial seasons. What could change this is if there’s a resurgence in COVID-19 Cases come winter. It’s hard to predict what next season could look like. MLB traveled within their division and geographic region and experienced COVID-19 outbreaks, and the NFL is currently traveling as if it were a normal season.

Could we see the NHL do a similar regional travel schedule? How do you manage the total game schedule to make such a plan work? What will attendance look like? The NHL relies on gate revenue more than the MLB, NBA, or NFL so will they test the limits to try to generate revenue for Ownerships? It’s a perplexing situation for the NHL right now. I’m interested to see what happens.

Got this question in a DM:

What do top center targets look like using Dumba as a trade piece? Can also factor in #9 pick as well if you want to make it interesting.

Calgary’s Sean Monahan is interesting, but I’m not entirely sold on him. Mat Barzal is an RFA, could he be had with the #9th pick? I’ll return to my Tyler Seguin pitch from earlier in the article, could he be had? Doubtful with the strength of that defensive group in Dallas, plus divisional rival.

I always thought Aleksander Barkov was the most likely of longshot options, but would not be a good look for brand new GM Bill Zito to ship him out as the first move.

I think it has to be someone rather young. Nylander was compelling but isn’t considered a Center, so although it would have been incredibly fun, I just don’t think it’s worth the risk. Anthony Cirelli has piqued my interest and with the nature of the Tampa Bay Lightning Cap Situation, could be feasible.

To wrap up this mailbag, I challenged the readers to choose a new goal song for the Minnesota Wild. I think it’s kinda tacky and uncreative for teams to share goal songs, and it feels like half the league has Crowd Chant. Here are some of those requests:

Let’s Go Crazy or 1999 would be my pick from the Prince Catalog. Excellent choice.

Hot take from Cam. Unsure how much support that would get. Imagine it would get old quickly.

Ben wants Let’s Go Crazy to return. That’s two for the Prince People.

Deep Cut pick. Hadn’t heard it before the request but it does kind of wail. Might be too metal for what the team wants though.

We’ll wrap with what I would change the Goal Song to.

Ok, this question may have been an underhanded attempt for me to push my agenda of Sabotage by the Beastie Boys should be the goal song for the Minnesota Wild. The Beastie Boys have some great music that I love and I can just see it in my head:

Kaprizov and Fiala spring loose on the rush for a 2 on 1, Fiala stickhandles around the diving defender, fires a pass to Kaprizov forcing the goalie to go post-to-post. It doesn’t matter. Kaprizov rips one bar down over the glove hand. The horn blares and you hear that guitar riff and drums bang and then the line, “IIIIIII Can’t Stand It, I know you planned it…” you know the rest.

Listen, it’s not the only option. I just want a goal song that when you hear it with relation to an incredible moment absolutely rips. It’s not the most technical of opinions, but at my very core, I’m a fan and want to have a cathartic experience when my team does something incredible, and I don’t get that with Crowd Chant. It’s really underwhelming. Change it up. Make it fun.

That concludes the Mailbag for this week. What other questions do you have? We’ll dig through comments or you can tweet at us @FSGonePuckWild.