Player Discussion Matt Dumba

[Al Lagoon]

I like Matt Dumba.

 

[thestonedkoala]

I realize that I might be slightly underrating Dumba's effectiveness, but that is because be tends to always do something boneheaded at the worst possible time in far too many games.

That has always been Dumba. Just people are less tolerant now due to him not scoring.

 

[Wabit]

I like Matt Dumba.

Sorry, had to.

 

[big ape]

What’s the deal with Dumba. Why was he healthy scratched. Is he back on track.

 

[MuckOG]

What’s the deal with Dumba. Why was he healthy scratched. Is he back on track.

He was scratched because he wasn't playing well. "Back on track" is subjective. He's not making as many of those same mistakes, but he is what he is.

 

[57special]

What’s the deal with Dumba. Why was he healthy scratched. Is he back on track.

Healthy scratch was to shake him up after a few too many games of making mistakes, taking needless penalties, etc.
Yes, he’s back on track.

The deal with him that he is a slight disappointment given his draft position (7 oa) and physical talent(big shot, fast skating, aggressive, physical), but still a legit top 4 Dman who can play a lot of minutes.

 

[TaLoN]

 

[dkollidas]

Looking for thoughts on Dumba from Wild fans.

As a Sabres fan I see him being a potential fit and a preferable option for Adams given the fact that he won’t cost assets to acquire.

Also what would be a generally acceptable contract for him? I’d assume 3-5yrs for $4.5M-$5.5M AAV?

Has his game fell off that much? I think he could be a good partner for Power and gives us some bite that this team hasn’t had in a while.

Also has connections to Tuch and Greenway, not sure if any of them were close, but they did play together.

 

[DeagleJenkins]

Looking for thoughts on Dumba from Wild fans.

As a Sabres fan I see him being a potential fit and a preferable option for Adams given the fact that he won’t cost assets to acquire.

Also what would be a generally acceptable contract for him? I’d assume 3-5yrs for $4.5M-$5.5M AAV?

Has his game fell off that much? I think he could be a good partner for Power and gives us some bite that this team hasn’t had in a while.

Also has connections to Tuch and Greenway, not sure if any of them were close, but they did play together.

Doesn’t have or use the cannon anymore but still has offense to his game. Became more rounded though and improved defensively which slowed his offensive upside. I’d assume he is willing to play for the deal you listed and he does have some edge to him for sure that will be missed.

 

[Obvious Fabertism]

He is a good actual defender, has really bought into that aspect and developed it over the years, the shot is no longer his go to weapon and has lost any accuracy. Dumba the person seems like a phenomenal guy and teammate. His value IMO isn’t much beyond $4MM per, he will likely get more than that though and on Buffalo that wouldn’t be a problem. He would be a wonderful mentor to any young defenseman, this is a guy who has had to change his game entirely due to injuries and coaching changes, he’s a vet that can still eat high quality minutes, though I would no longer rely on him to generate any offense on his own.

 

[BagHead]

Looking for thoughts on Dumba from Wild fans.

As a Sabres fan I see him being a potential fit and a preferable option for Adams given the fact that he won’t cost assets to acquire.

Also what would be a generally acceptable contract for him? I’d assume 3-5yrs for $4.5M-$5.5M AAV?

Has his game fell off that much? I think he could be a good partner for Power and gives us some bite that this team hasn’t had in a while.

Also has connections to Tuch and Greenway, not sure if any of them were close, but they did play together.

I think it depends on what you think his game is as to whether or not it's fallen off. If you expect a hard shooting, oft pinching offensive defensemen, then yeah it's fallen off entirely. If you expect a player who is strong, sometimes physical, skates well, is decent defensively (actually 'good' except for the occasional baffling decision), and can eat a lot of big minutes, then no, his game is still pretty good.

I think he's worth $4.5-5M AAV, yeah. Maybe more, depending on the UFA market.

For what it's worth, I really love Dumba as both a player and a person, and I'm going to miss him being on the team, but not everyone feels that way. I hope he kicks ass wherever he goes. Even if it's Colorado. Barf.

 

[TaLoN]

Looking for thoughts on Dumba from Wild fans.

As a Sabres fan I see him being a potential fit and a preferable option for Adams given the fact that he won’t cost assets to acquire.

Also what would be a generally acceptable contract for him? I’d assume 3-5yrs for $4.5M-$5.5M AAV?

Has his game fell off that much? I think he could be a good partner for Power and gives us some bite that this team hasn’t had in a while.

Also has connections to Tuch and Greenway, not sure if any of them were close, but they did play together.

Very good in his own end, good in transition, can bring the boom when he has the opening. Still has a shot, but doesn't get it off as often as he used to, and doesn't have as much on it since his pec injury.
Still has an occasional gaff that some people jump all over and get hyperbolic about, saying that's all he does, but those are much fewer and farther between than people want to admit. Like I said, he's actually very good in his own end and can carry a pair defensively when asked.

He still has good offensive instincts for the most part as well, but as with any D-man pinching in offensively, you take the good with the occasional bad. It's a risky thing getting involved in the offensive zone as a D-man, so sometimes the risk comes back to bite, but he brings more positive than negative in such situations.

He's one of the best guys you can have in the locker room. The entire room loves the guy.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him get as high as $5.5m AAV on the open market.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Depends on if he can sell teams on what his role was last year, to make up for the lack of offense.

 

[57special]

His shot is still very hard, even if it isn’t what it once was. Is clocked in the 90s, and occasionally triple digits. Still has his legs, and is strong for his size. In my opinion, he needs to stop going for the blow up hits, even though fans love to see them. Will definitely make mistakes in his own end, but makes up for it by his athleticism and effort level, which allows him to get to a lot of pucks that other Dmen don’t even get to. I will be surprised if he only signs for 4M x3-4. He’ll either do a short term deal, I.e. 2x5M, then hope to sign long-term deal once the cap goes up, or something like a 7x6m now.

 

[Der Jaeger]

Sabres fan here. Thoughts on Dumba as a partner for Owen Power?

Power needs a partner who can do this:

- defend the rush, especially odd man rushes
- stay at home and allow Power to roam.
- strong outlet passer
- strong net front defender

 

[Izzy Goodenough]

I realize that I might be slightly underrating Dumba's effectiveness, but that is because be tends to always do something boneheaded at the worst possible time in far too many games.

Matt Dumba you are a Vancouver Canuck!

(The Canucks have had generations of this type of D-Man, though to be fair, relatively few on the right side)

 

[BagHead]

Sabres fan here. Thoughts on Dumba as a partner for Owen Power?

Power needs a partner who can do this:

- defend the rush, especially odd man rushes
- stay at home and allow Power to roam.
- strong outlet passer
- strong net front defender

I think he'd be an ok, but not great option for that from a skills standpoint. Interestingly, what Dumba needed when he was Power's age is exactly what Power needs now. Dumba may be uniquely positioned to teach him from that perspective.

- Defending the rush: He's good if he's the last man back. Sometimes he makes a decision that makes it so he's not the last man back, and sometimes there's no one behind him.
- Stay at Home: Better now than he used to be. He used to be a rover himself. He still has it in him to play a roving game, but, even paired with Brodin who is a true stay-at-home type, he didn't do much if it last year. Odd, because he still has the skating and puck handling for it.
- Strong Outlet Passer: Not the Wild's absolute best outlet passer, but they jumped on that trend early and have/had a lot of good ones. He's no Ryan Suter in his prime, but he's pretty good at it.
- Strong Net Front: Fairly strong at it. His height is the drawback here and causes him to lose some battles, but he is strong and puts in the effort.

To be clear, Dumba is not an elite shutdown defenseman. He's more of a two-way defenseman who lost his offense last year, but whose defense made up for it... in the 2nd half of the year.

 

[MNRube]

Sabres fan here. Thoughts on Dumba as a partner for Owen Power?

Power needs a partner who can do this:

- defend the rush, especially odd man rushes
- stay at home and allow Power to roam.
- strong outlet passer
- strong net front defender

Spurgeon would be a much better fit. Has a NMC but he’s probably cheaper than ever after a bad playoff and everyone focusing on building a massive Vegasesque blueline

If you put him with Power, I think Sabres would walk into playoffs

 

[Digitalbooya]

Spurgeon would be a much better fit. Has a NMC but he’s probably cheaper than ever after a bad playoff and everyone focusing on building a massive Vegasesque blueline

If you put him with Power, I think Sabres would walk into playoffs

Spurgeon has a NMC for one more year.

 

[Uberpecker]

I think he'd be an ok, but not great option for that from a skills standpoint. Interestingly, what Dumba needed when he was Power's age is exactly what Power needs now. Dumba may be uniquely positioned to teach him from that perspective.

- Defending the rush: He's good if he's the last man back. Sometimes he makes a decision that makes it so he's not the last man back, and sometimes there's no one behind him.
- Stay at Home: Better now than he used to be. He used to be a rover himself. He still has it in him to play a roving game, but, even paired with Brodin who is a true stay-at-home type, he didn't do much if it last year. Odd, because he still has the skating and puck handling for it.
- Strong Outlet Passer: Not the Wild's absolute best outlet passer, but they jumped on that trend early and have/had a lot of good ones. He's no Ryan Suter in his prime, but he's pretty good at it.
- Strong Net Front: Fairly strong at it. His height is the drawback here and causes him to lose some battles, but he is strong and puts in the effort.

To be clear, Dumba is not an elite shutdown defenseman. He's more of a two-way defenseman who lost his offense last year, but whose defense made up for it... in the 2nd half of the year.

Thanks for the insight. From a Buffalo POV I'm starting to warm up to Dumba as an alternative next to Power, partly because of the bolded.

The not being elite part wouldn't worry me that much, either. You don't draft unicorn blue liners 1st OA twice within three years only to then go looking to sign another superstar dman. It's about fit and complimentary skillsets, IMO.

Another question: how would you assess Dumba's on ice IQ, particularly with regards to a more loose, less rigidly structured system where players often have to read each other rather than stick to fixed assignments?

 

[BagHead]

Thanks for the insight. From a Buffalo POV I'm starting to warm up to Dumba as an alternative next to Power, partly because of the bolded.

The not being elite part wouldn't worry me that much, either. You don't draft unicorn blue liners 1st OA twice within three years only to then go looking to sign another superstar dman. It's about fit and complimentary skillsets, IMO.

Another question: how would you assess Dumba's on ice IQ, particularly with regards to a more loose, less rigidly structured system where players often have to read each other rather than stick to fixed assignments?

That sounds similar to the Wild's system in '21-22. He did decent both offensively and defensively that year, but was opposite Brodin. How he'd do in the same situation with Power is beyond my ability to predict, but if that's where he ends up I'll be super interested to watch it unfold.

 

[Nino Noderreiter]

Thanks for the insight. From a Buffalo POV I'm starting to warm up to Dumba as an alternative next to Power, partly because of the bolded.

The not being elite part wouldn't worry me that much, either. You don't draft unicorn blue liners 1st OA twice within three years only to then go looking to sign another superstar dman. It's about fit and complimentary skillsets, IMO.

Another question: how would you assess Dumba's on ice IQ, particularly with regards to a more loose, less rigidly structured system where players often have to read each other rather than stick to fixed assignments?

I actually think that this is the way Dumba came into the NHL and he had to learn how to play a more structured style, which he struggled with at times early in his career as his intuition was to use instincts and try to push the play offensively and take risks so I don't think he would have a problem. That being said, I think the way you are characterizing the Wild's system to actually not be true. It's true that the Wild have a good defensive structure as a team, but in my opinion they actually require a ton from their defensive in terms of making decisions and holding responsibility for those decisions throughout all 3 zones. The Wild are not just making simple passes and flipping pucks out and turtling. This isn't an issue.

 

[TaLoN]

I actually think that this is the way Dumba came into the NHL and he had to learn how to play a more structured style, which he struggled with at times early in his career as his intuition was to use instincts and try to push the play offensively and take risks so I don't think he would have a problem. That being said, I think the way you are characterizing the Wild's system to actually not be true. It's true that the Wild have a good defensive structure as a team, but in my opinion they actually require a ton from their defensive in terms of making decisions and holding responsibility for those decisions throughout all 3 zones. The Wild are not just making simple passes and flipping pucks out and turtling. This isn't an issue.

The Wild have had an EXTREMELY active defense for years

 

[Uberpecker]

I actually think that this is the way Dumba came into the NHL and he had to learn how to play a more structured style, which he struggled with at times early in his career as his intuition was to use instincts and try to push the play offensively and take risks so I don't think he would have a problem. That being said, I think the way you are characterizing the Wild's system to actually not be true. It's true that the Wild have a good defensive structure as a team, but in my opinion they actually require a ton from their defensive in terms of making decisions and holding responsibility for those decisions throughout all 3 zones. The Wild are not just making simple passes and flipping pucks out and turtling. This isn't an issue.

Thanks for the reply and the additional info on Dumba.
My characterization, wasn't so much of the Wild's system but rather of the Sabres' current style with which not all players blend well.
Reading through you guys' replies makes me think, that Dumba could be a pretty decent fit, though.

 

[horner]

Very good in his own end, good in transition, can bring the boom when he has the opening. Still has a shot, but doesn't get it off as often as he used to, and doesn't have as much on it since his pec injury.
Still has an occasional gaff that some people jump all over and get hyperbolic about, saying that's all he does, but those are much fewer and farther between than people want to admit. Like I said, he's actually very good in his own end and can carry a pair defensively when asked.

He still has good offensive instincts for the most part as well, but as with any D-man pinching in offensively, you take the good with the occasional bad. It's a risky thing getting involved in the offensive zone as a D-man, so sometimes the risk comes back to bite, but he brings more positive than negative in such situations.

He's one of the best guys you can have in the locker room. The entire room loves the guy.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him get as high as $5.5m AAV on the open market.

Iam a Leaf fan I mentioned on the Leafs board that we should trade Brodie for picks and sign Dumba for 4.5 mil and got the haha ..
The said he sucks ?