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Matt Dumba

Minnesota Wild Activate Bjugstad; Move Dumba To IR

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The Minnesota Wild have announced a few important transactions, starting with the activation of Nick Bjugstad from injured reserve. To make room, the team has placed Matt Dumba on IR and waived Victor Rask.

Bjugstad, 29, has played in just 28 games so far this season and was placed on injured reserve earlier this month. The big forward is a long way from the player that scored 24 goals and 43 points in 2014-15 but still represents some valuable depth for the Wild to insert into the lineup. He has four goals and five points this season in those 28 games while averaging just over ten minutes a night.

For a team like Minnesota, who have their sights set on the Stanley Cup, improving around the fringes of the roster can be an important step. Bjugstad isn’t a huge improvement over Rask but he does carry less than a quarter of the cap hit. In fact, his $900K is more than reasonable for a fourth-line player that adds some size and versatility–able to line up at center or the wing.

Dumba, meanwhile, is expected to miss a few weeks with a lower-body injury. He has played just one game since the start of the month and is now on injured reserve, likely retroactive to his appearance on February 12. That mean’s he’s eligible to return in the next few days, though it’s not yet clear when he actually will be ready to get back into the lineup.

Matt Dumba To Miss Time With Lower-Body Injury

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The Minnesota Wild got Matt Dumba back in the lineup on Saturday, his first game in the month of February. He played more than 22 minutes, added his usual three hits, and blocked two shots. Unfortunately, Dumba isn’t going to be doing any of that in tonight’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. He has already been ruled out with a lower-body injury, with Dakota Mermis recalled to take his spot.

Michael Russo of The Athletic is hearing that Dumba will miss a few weeks, and with Calen Addison also dealing with an injury at the moment the team doesn’t have the ready-made replacement they usually do. Mermis, 28, has played just 25 games in his NHL career, including just two this season for the Wild.

That’s a tough blow for the Wild, who have dealt with their fair share this season. Only Kevin Fiala and Ryan Hartman have played in every game this season, with almost every other key name missing more than a handful. At times, Minnesota has been dealing with as many as eight regulars out of the lineup but continues to be one of the best teams in the Western Conference. They’ve won eight of their last ten and are 29-11-3 on the season, which unfortunately is still only good enough for second place in the Central Division–11 points behind the powerhouse Colorado Avalanche.

While Dumba is not the most important defender on the team, he’s still a rock-solid top-four option that logs nearly 24 minutes a night. In 40 games this season he’s already recorded 20 points and he is without a doubt the most physical defenseman on the team. There have been trade rumors following the 27-year-old seemingly for his whole career, and those likely won’t stop in the next year if an extension isn’t worked out. Dumba is signed through 2022-23 at a $6MM cap hit but will be an unrestricted free agent afterward; with the Wild’s incoming cap issues, an extension will be difficult to fit in.

West Notes: Hertl, Wild, Turris, Delia

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While Sharks center Tomas Hertl is a highly-speculated candidate to be traded this season, San Jose GM Doug Wilson has other plans.  Speaking with reporters including Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now, Wilson indicated that extension talks are well underway:

I’ve had several conversations with his agent. And when you have conversations with agents, they’re always kept in confidence. The rhythm of the negotiation, the time and place of it. Tomas knows how we feel about him.

However, as Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News points out, the Sharks may not be able to afford to carry another long-term deal on their books with over $48MM tied up in just seven players for 2023-24 and a salary cap that’s not expected to go up much in the next few years.  Hertl has said he’s open to the idea of taking a bit less to stay in a winning environment but San Jose will have to quickly turn things around to have a chance at him signing a slightly lower deal.

More from the Western Conference:

  • The Wild announced that they have named defenseman Matt Dumba and winger Marcus Foligno as alternate captains. They take the place of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise who were both bought out this summer.  Dumba, who had been in trade speculation for the past couple of years before Suter’s departure, is heading into his ninth NHL season, all with Minnesota while Foligno is entering his 11th NHL campaign and fifth with the Wild.
  • With Edmonton adding Derek Ryan this summer as their presumptive third center plus Ryan McLeod being a strong candidate to make the roster, the Oilers have shifted long-time middleman Kyle Turris to the right wing, notes Postmedia’s Jim Matheson. Last season was a tough one for Turris who started as the third center and finished as a frequent healthy scratch while spending time on the taxi squad.  He’s entering the final year of his deal with a $1.65MM AAV.  Nearly 70% of that could come off Edmonton’s cap if he’s waived and sent to the minors so he’ll need a strong camp to make the team and not be eyed as a possible avenue to free up some wiggle room on the cap.
  • The Blackhawks announced that goaltender Collin Delia was not available to practice with the team today due to a non-COVID-19-related illness. The 27-year-old got into six games with Chicago last season but will likely be on the outside looking in at a roster spot for this season following the acquisition of Marc-Andre Fleury and the return of Kevin Lankinen.

2021 Masterton Trophy Finalists Announced

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The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is given out annually to the NHL player who exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. The award has been voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association since 1968, and today they announced their nominees for 2021.

Past winners of the award include Bobby Ryan (2020), Robin Lehner (2019), Brian Boyle (2018), Craig Anderson (2017), Jaromir Jagr (2016), Devan Dubnyk (2015), Dominic Moore (2014), and Josh Harding (2013).

Each team provided a nominee for the award. The finalists this season are Matt Dumba of the Minnesota Wild, Oskar Lindblom of the Philadelphia Flyers and Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks.

Dumba won the King Clancy Trophy last season for his humanitarian efforts and earlier this year hosted the Hockey Without Limits camp which aims to promote inclusion and diversity at the grassroots level. The Wild defenseman continued his strong play on the ice, recording 21 points in 51 games for Minnesota while averaging over 22 minutes a game for the fourth consecutive season.

Lindblom meanwhile continues to be one of the best stories in hockey, even if his production dried up this season. The 24-year-old was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer in December, 2019 and could have easily seen his NHL career end on the spot. Instead, he battled through treatment for months and returned for the Flyers in the playoff bubble. This season, Lindblom played in 50 of the team’s 56 games, scoring eight goals and 14 points.

If the award is for perseverance and dedication to hockey, it’s hard not to think of Marleau every year. The 41-year-old has now gone more than a decade without missing a game due to injury and this season passed Gordie Howe for the most regular season games played in NHL history. Marleau has suited up for nearly 2,000 NHL games in total and still hopes to return next year.

Wild Notes: Dumba, Parise, First Round Picks

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Although the Minnesota Wild played well in their seven-game first round series against the Vegas Golden Knights, losing with dignity to one of the best teams in the NHL this season, their loss has already fired the rumor mill back up, reports Sarah MacLellan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. At the center of the speculation yet again is defenseman Matt Dumba. Despite another strong season for the 26-year-old blue liner, capped off by a postseason in which he tied for the team lead in points, there is still speculation over Dumba’s future in Minnesota stemming from the impending NHL Expansion Draft. The Wild can only protect three defensemen and seven forwards or instead eight skaters total from selection by the Seattle Kraken. With Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon, and Jonas Brodin all carrying No-Movement Clauses, the trio all must be protected. The only way that the team can use the 7-3 format and also protect Dumba would be fore one those three to waive their NMC and allow themselves to be exposed. Otherwise, the Wild will have to protect eight skaters, but with Zach Parise and Mats Zuccarello also with No-Movement Clauses, this would mean Minnesota would have to leave multiple promising young forwards exposed in order to make room for Dumba, including at least one of Joel Eriksson Ek or Jordan Greenway. One thing that is certain is that Minnesota will not let Dumba be taken for free by future Western Conference rival Seattle. If the team cannot convince a veteran to waive their NMC and decide the 7-3 protection scheme is their best choice, Dumba will be traded before the Expansion Draft – hence the abundant speculation. Dumba has stated many times that he would like to remain with the Wild, so the organization is obviously doing all they can to make it work.

  • Another player who would like to stay in Minnesota is Parise. The 36-year-old is coming off of a down year and was even benched for the first three games of the Wild’s first round series. However, he impressed in the remainder of the series once activated. Parise can still play at a high level, but not commensurate to his $7.5MM+ cap hit over four more years. The Wild have tried to move the contract in the past and may do so again this summer, but Parise hopes they don’t. He told Dane Mizutani of TwinCities.com that he “[doesn’t] want to play anywhere else” but for his hometown team. As Mizutani points out, he shouldn’t be too worried given his albatross of a contract. Ironically though, one way that Parise could prove his loyalty to the club would be to waive his NMC for the Expansion Draft, allowing Minnesota to protect all of Dumba, Eriksson Ek, and Greenway in an 8-skater format. There is no way that Seattle would touch Parise’s contract, so it could be a win-win for both sides.
  • While the Wild are certainly not looking forward to the Expansion Draft – even if Dumba, Eriksson Ek, and Greenway are safe, the team will still lose a good player like Carson Soucy or Marcus Foligno – they are definitely excited for the NHL Entry Draft. With the Pittsburgh Penguins opting to send their 2021 first-round pick rather than their 2020 for last year’s Jason Zucker trade, the Wild will now have two picks in the top 32 this year. Not only that, but they will have two picks very close together as well. Minnesota’s own pick is locked in at No. 22 overall, but if the Tampa Bay Lightning advance to the next round, Pittsburgh’s pick will be No. 25, allowing the Wild to control the board with two picks out of four selections. They could also look to package the two picks to potentially move up into the top half of the first round. With a pipeline that is already well-stocked, Minnesota has put themselves in position to stay competitive for a long time with a strong roster and deep system after adding two first-rounders this year, as well as all of their own picks and another Pittsburgh pick in the third round.

West Notes: Dumba, Brodin, Schwartz, Sharks

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The future of Mathew Dumba with the Wild has been in question the last couple of years with expansion on the horizon.  Now with Seattle’s roster less than two months away from being picked, the questions are picking up.  With the most common protection scheme involving three defensemen and three Minnesota rearguards other than Dumba having no-move clauses guaranteeing protection, the 26-year-old is viewed as the possible odd man out.  Speaking with reporters including Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Dumba made it clear that he’d like to stick around:

My name’s in trade speculation every year, at the deadline, throughout the year. I’ve become accustomed to it. It is what it is. I’ve expressed my feelings and where I want to be, where my heart is. At the end of the day, that’s all I can do.

Dumba has two years remaining on his deal with a $6MM AAV, a rate that could be viewed as a little high after he managed just 21 points in 51 games this season.  However, he’s only three years removed from a 50-point campaign for the Wild and considering that he averages over 22 minutes per night, there will be interest if they opt to move him.

Elsewhere in the West:

  • Also from McLellan, Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin’s upper-body injury wasn’t as bad as initially feared. He wound up suffering a sprained shoulder in Game Seven against Vegas, one that will keep him away from training for a couple of weeks but it won’t affect his preparation for next season.
  • The Blues have not started talks regarding a new deal for winger Jaden Schwartz yet, notes Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The 28-year-old had a tough showing this season, notching just eight goals and 13 assists in 40 games.  However, he had at least 55 points in three of the last four seasons and five of the last seven so his camp will undoubtedly be using that in talks.  He played on a $5.35MM AAV this season and even in this cap environment, he could conceivably try to push for a small raise.
  • While June 1st is known as a day where teams lose some of their unsigned prospects, it’s also a deadline for teams to tender bonafide offers to their previously-selected players to retain their rights. Most teams don’t issue a release when they do so but the Sharks announced that they’ve tendered offers to 2020 draft picks Brandon Coe and Timofey Spitserov.  The forwards were picked in the fourth and seventh rounds respectively.

Nominees Announced For 2021 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy

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The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is given out annually to the NHL player who exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. The award has been voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association since 1968, and today they announced their nominees for 2021.

Past winners of the award include Bobby Ryan (2020), Robin Lehner (2019), Brian Boyle (2018), Craig Anderson (2017), Jaromir Jagr (2016), Devan Dubnyk (2015), Dominic Moore (2014), and Josh Harding (2013).

Below are the nominees from each team:

Anaheim Ducks – David Backes

Arizona Coyotes – Phil Kessel

Boston Bruins – Kevan Miller

Buffalo Sabres – Dustin Tokarski

Calgary Flames – Milan Lucic

Carolina Hurricanes – Jordan Staal

Chicago Blackhawks – Andrew Shaw

Colorado Avalanche – Valeri Nichushkin

Columbus Blue Jackets – Zac Dalpe

Dallas Stars – Roope Hintz

Detroit Red Wings – Danny DeKeyser

Edmonton Oilers – Mike Smith

Florida Panthers – Chris Driedger

Los Angeles Kings – Matt Roy

Minnesota Wild – Matt Dumba

Montreal Canadiens – Corey Perry

Nashville Predators – Pekka Rinne

New Jersey Devils – Scott Wedgewood

New York Islanders – Casey Cizikas

New York Rangers – Colin Blackwell

Ottawa Senators – Nick Paul

Philadelphia Flyers – Oskar Lindblom

Pittsburgh Penguins – Casey DeSmith

San Jose Sharks – Patrick Marleau

St. Louis Blues – Vladimir Tarasenko

Tampa Bay Lightning – Steven Stamkos

Toronto Maple Leafs – Jack Campbell

Vancouver Canucks – Tyler Motte

Vegas Golden Knights – Marc-Andre Fleury

Washington Capitals – Zdeno Chara

Winnipeg Jets – Eric Comrie

Three finalists and the winner will be named at a later date.

Snapshots: Tatar, Dumba, Devils, Murphy, Hamonic

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The Montreal Canadiens will be without Tomas Tatar Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who is a healthy scratch, according to Sportsnet’s Eric Engels. The move made by head coach Claude Julien is believed to be a message sent to both Tatar and the team after Montreal has lost three of their last four games.

Tatar, despite having four goals and eight points in 14 games, has been adequate on the ice, but not as good as last season when he posted 22 goals and 61 points in 68 games. Engels believes that the message is meant just as much to the team as Tatar is one of the most popular players in the locker room.

The Philadelphia Flyers attempted a similar benching of leading scorer Travis Konecny on Jan. 30. Unfortunately, he has not scored a point since then.

  • Corey Masisak of The Athletic reports that a New Jersey Devils team spokesman said the team will be allowed to return to practice on Monday. That will be the first time the team has been allowed on the ice since the game at Buffalo on Jan. 31. The team is currently scheduled to play on Tuesday at the New York Rangers.
  • The Minnesota Wild got even more good news when they learned that defenseman Matt Dumba should be in the lineup on Tuesday when they begin playing once again after suffering what looked to be a severe ankle injury, according to Star Tribune’s Sarah McLellan. Dumba got tangled up with teammate Jordan Greenway and suffered an awkward fall on Jan. 30, but the blueliner said that he’s feeling good and has no issues regarding the injury. The 26-year-old Dumba is looking solid this season, already with three goals in just nine games this season. Teammate Mats Zuccarello is also getting closer to a return. The veteran forward practiced Friday in a non-contact jersey.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks have placed defenseman Connor Murphy on injured reserve, retroactive to Feb. 9, according to NHL.com’s Brandon Cain. The blueliner was suffered a right hip injury in that game and is expected to miss up to two weeks. Murphy has been playing well for Chicago with two goals and five points in 13 games, while averaging 22:45 of ATOI.
  • The Vancouver Canucks could be getting a boost back to their defense as head coach Travis Green reported that defenseman Travis Hamonic is close to returning to the team. The 30-year-old blueliner remains on long-term injured reserve with an upper-body injury. He has only appeared in five games with the Canucks this year with two assists, but could be a big addition if he returns soon.

Mathew Dumba Placed On Injured Reserve

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The long list of absentees continues to grow for Minnesota as defenseman Mathew Dumba has been placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, notes Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.  That means he will be out for at least the next four games including tonight’s matchup against Colorado.  Head coach Dean Evason indicated that there’s no timetable for his return while acknowledging it doesn’t look good.

Dumba’s absence is a tough blow to the Wild’s back end as he has been a key part of their top four for several years now.  After a quiet 2019-20 season offensively, he is off to a better start this year with three goals through his first nine games; the rest of Minnesota’s defenders have just one combined.

Meanwhile, Evason is hopeful that Marcus Johansson’s undisclosed injury won’t keep him out for long although he isn’t in the lineup tonight.  Goaltender Alex Stalock and winger Mats Zuccarello are also injured with the latter being transferred to LTIR to accommodate today’s taxi squad recalls of wingers Gerald Mayhew and Kyle Rau plus defenseman Luke Johnson.  Will Bitten and Mason Shaw were added to the taxi squad in corresponding moves, per CapFriendly.

Trade Rumors: Dubois, Byron, Dumba

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The Pierre-Luc Dubois saga in Columbus took a another turn on Wednesday, as always-candid head coach John Tortorella appeared in an interview on 97.1 The Fan and did not hold back in his commentary on the situation surrounding his young forward. While he has not officially requested a trade from the Blue Jackets, contract negotiations with Dubois did not go well and the team has been led to believe that he would prefer a change of scenery. Tortorella took a more direct approach, outright confirming that this is the case:

Yeah, he wants out. He spoke to the team, as we do here. It’s a little bit different than (departed 2019 free agents Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky) were. This is a 22-year-old kid. It doesn’t happen that often, so he has been honest with the group.

Yet, Tortorella is not content with the explanations (or lack thereof) that Dubois has provided he and others. He remains unclear as to what has changed in the talented center, who looked like a budding superstar and long-term cornerstone in Columbus just months ago in the postseason. And if the coach himself is to blame, it doesn’t seem like Tortorella is willing to let that change his style or impact his locker room.

 I wish he was a little bit more honest as far as reasons why. I still haven’t really gotten to that, but I think he needs to speak on that… I think that (conflict) is a really good thing in developing a hockey player.  Now ’Luc’ may not think that. Sometimes these players, especially today’s athletes, think, ’You’re too hard on me, you’re picking on me’ and this and that. Maybe it’s too hard for him. I don’t know. I haven’t been given a reason why he wants to leave. He certainly hasn’t said it to me that ’I don’t want to play for you.’ I think if that’s the reason he should tell me, and he should really basically get in front of it and get up out of here. That’s just the way I think you should do business in this stuff here. There’s no sense of people trying to figure out what’s going on. Let’s get in front of it here and get about our business and try to be the best team we can be… It’s a short leash with me as far as this is concerned. He needs to continue to do the things to help this team win and be the best teammate he can be, or I’m not sure where it goes. It’s a situation and we’ll go to it day by day.

Tortorella’s very public and very honest take on Dubois is not going to make the situation any better, even if the coach is not to blame for the trade request. Initial reports stated that the Blue Jackets may take their time to deal Dubois, waiting to maximize the return as best they can while he hopefully continues to contribute on the ice. However, if the locker room becomes too toxic with a top player at odds with the head coach and openly opposed to any future with the organization, this situation may need a resolution sooner rather than later. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that suitors are already serious about adding Dubois, so if the Blue Jackets need to make a quick trade, they will still have plenty of offers to choose from.

  • The Montreal Canadiens were able to get under the salary cap ceiling, but it was a tight fit. CapFriendly shows the club with only $708K in space for just a 21-man roster. If the Habs want the flexibility to even field a full roster never mind make a trade addition this season, someone has to go. Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette writes that the name being whispered is that of Paul Byron. Byron has been a loyal soldier for Montreal over the past five years and has developed into one of the club’s locker room leaders. However, the Canadiens’ off-season additions of Josh Anderson and Tyler Toffoli and the emergence of youngsters Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi have pushed Byron into a seemingly permanent bottom-six role. In fact, Byron played on the team’s fourth line throughout training camp and in Wednesday’s season opener. At a $3.4MM AAV through 2022-23, Byron is an expensive piece to be playing a checking role. The 31-year-old winger has not been durable either over the past couple of seasons either and may be ill-suited for his new position. Byron has scored at nearly a half-point per-game pace over the past four seasons combined and would be more valuable to another team that is able and willing to keep him in a scoring role. The question is whether that destination exists and, if so, will the Habs ultimately pull the trigger on dealing away a respected veteran.
  • One player enjoying the spotlight of rumor mill being off him for now is Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba. Dumba has heard the noise for more than a year now, but remains with the Wild; and the talented blue liner is happy about that, he tells TwinCities.com’s Dane Mizutani. Mizutani is not the only one that Dumba has confided in, either. He has also gone directly to GM Bill Guerin and stated that he would like to remain with the team. Guerin will certainly listen to one of his best players, but he has to listen to offers as well with the threat of the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft looming. With fellow top-four defenders Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon, and Jonas Brodin all holding No-Movement Clauses in their current contracts and requiring protection from the expansion draft, Dumba would be the odd man out in the standard 7-3 protection scheme. Minnesota will definitely not allow the Seattle Kraken to acquire Dumba for free though, which has prompted his placement on the trade block. However, if Dumba can back up his desire to remain with the Wild with a strong 2020-21 campaign, Guerin may decide to go with the 8-skater protection scheme and expose three forwards rather than the skilled defenseman.

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