In their second trade of the day, the San Jose Sharks and Minnesota Wild have announced that Devan Dubnyk is heading to California. The Wild will receive a 2022 fifth-round pick in return, while the Sharks will receive a 2022 seventh-round selection in addition to the veteran goaltender. Minnesota will also be retaining half of Dubnyk’s remaining $4.33MM cap hit for the 2020-21 season.
The two teams completed an earlier trade that saw Ryan Donato go to San Jose in exchange for a 2021 third-round pick. Sharks GM Doug Wilson released a statement on the latest deal:
Devan has been one of the League’s top goaltenders for many years and after playing so many years in the Western Conference, is someone our hockey staff is very familiar with. As we head into what will surely be a unique season, his acquisition gives us a high-quality and experienced tandem of netminders.
For the Sharks, this means the team will have an experienced tandem, but one that will need drastic performance improvements next season. The team’s starter Martin Jones has now posted back-to-back seasons with an .896 save percentage, allowing 394 goals in 103 appearances. That save percentage was third-worst in the NHL last season among goaltenders with at least 30 appearances, ahead of Pekka Rinne and, unfortunately, Dubnyk. The Minnesota netminder posted a dreadful .890 in his 30 games for the Wild, though does at least have several recent strong seasons to fall back on. In 2018-19, when Jones was still struggling, Dubnyk posted a .913 save percentage in a league-leading 67 appearances for Minnesota.
Amazingly, these two goaltenders finished fifth and sixth in Vezina Trophy voting in 2017. While it seems unlikely they can get back to that level in 2020, it’s not necessarily out of the question. With Jones signed for four more seasons at a $5.75MM cap hit, the Sharks will try everything to get him back to playing at a high level. Dubnyk meanwhile comes in at a relatively inexpensive $2.17MM cap hit after the salary retention, plus is actually set to earn even less in actual salary.
The Sharks also paid a very low price for the acquisition, swapping a pick two rounds up for the chance to see what Dubnyk can do in San Jose. That’s almost nothing, though given the overflowing goaltending market this offseason this acquisition certainly won’t excite many fans.
For Minnesota, moving on from Dubnyk was an obvious move for GM Bill Guerin. The team wants to get younger and provide opportunities for some of their prospects, which could include reigning AHL Goaltender of the Year Kaapo Kahkonen. The Wild also still have Alex Stalock under contract for two seasons at just a $785K cap hit. Kahkonen, who is just 24 and coming off an outstanding season in the AHL in which he posted a .927 save percentage, is an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent in need of a new deal. Whether he can handle the starting job isn’t clear, but with Dubnyk out of the way, there is a clear path to the net.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
So they got a guy as bad as Jones this past year, weird.
Maybe their tanking?
Jones can bounce back if Dubnyk takes some of the load off his shoulders. The Sharks have been slow to adapt to the 1a/1b tandem.
Doug Wilson really set out to get a bad goalie tandem on bad contracts
Worst goalie tandem in the league! They’re #1, they’re #1!!!!!
I cannot come up with a single explanation for why the Sharks would do this.
Billy G. saves $2 million, turns a 7th into a 5th and removes an anchor from the roster.
Wilson did the opposite. He spent $2 million, turned a 5th into a 7th and added an anchor to his roster. Pretty much the only starting goalie worse than Jones last year.
Dubnyk can easily bounce back. They also didn’t lose a prospect in this deal as they recouped the pick, it’s a no risk gamble and if it doesn’t work out, they’re no worse off for it as he’s in his last year.
We have to remember that Dubnyk had to deal with his wife’s serious health issues, and that may have affected his on-ice play. Can’t blame him for having a less-than-stellar season, when he has more pressing concerns on his plate.
This is great for over bets!
I was hoping they get Lundquist to teach Jones a thing or two !!
Doug did you have naked pictures of your owner or something. How you have a job at this point is crazy.Even Ottawa has a better future right now.
Well… I guess it can’t be worse than what they were getting from Jones and Dell.
.
Yes it could.