Player Discussion Matt Dumba

[Wabit]

Again, if we signed Dumba, we’d move Addison for sure, and maybe Merrill. Having Dumba for this year would give us one more year to develop all the Dmen prospects that we have.

I think one (or rotate them until one sticks) of the LD prospects need to be in the NHL this season. Hunt, Lambos and ROR are already under contract. Mermis re-signed and is also in Iowa. Poink was just drafted and is 20. Benoit ('21 pick) is ECHL fodder if he signs. No clue what is going on with Warren ('19 pick).

I could see both Merrill and Addison being traded without Dumba being re-signed.

 

[NHL1674]

Is he waiting and hoping for Billy to do something to bring him back? Don't know what his asking price is, but teams obviously aren't fighting to pay it.

 

[AKL]

Is he waiting and hoping for Billy to do something to bring him back? Don't know what his asking price is, but teams obviously aren't fighting to pay it.

There's a couple trades that have yet to happen that could impact who offers him a contract and how much he can get. No sense in rushing at this point, as long as he signs before training camp.

 

[DeagleJenkins]

Is he waiting and hoping for Billy to do something to bring him back? Don't know what his asking price is, but teams obviously aren't fighting to pay it.

EK to the pens is holding up a lot of Dumba.

 

[NHL1674]

EK to the pens is holding up a lot of Dumba.

Scared the hell out of me for a second wondering what Billy was smoking to send Ek to the Pens.

 

[BagHead]

Scared the hell out of me for a second wondering what Billy was smoking to send Ek to the Pens.

This is why capitalization and the correct letters in acronyms are important, people. You nearly killed NHL1674! You know who you are!

 

[DeagleJenkins]

EK is not the same as Ek it’s ok. You can breathe

 

[Wabit]

There's a couple trades that have yet to happen that could impact who offers him a contract and how much he can get. No sense in rushing at this point, as long as he signs before training camp.

My guess is he has a 1 year offer from AZ (maybe a couple other teams too) in his back pocket. He's the best UFA d-man left (probably was the best UFA RD all along). Everything is just being held up by the "best" RD in the game being on the trade block and multiple teams are in play for him.

This year feels like more of a MLB offseason where the biggest names sign late instead of early in the offseason. Kane and Tank still haven't signed anywhere either.

 

[Wasted Talent]

My guess is he has a 1 year offer from AZ (maybe a couple other teams too) in his back pocket. He's the best UFA d-man left (probably was the best UFA RD all along). Everything is just being held up by the "best" RD in the game being on the trade block and multiple teams are in play for him.

This year feels like more of a MLB offseason where the biggest names sign late instead of early in the offseason. Kane and Tank still haven't signed anywhere either.

Not sure if Kane and Tarasenko are the best examples of this.

Kane is going to miss the first few months to injury and Tarasenko fired his agent presumably for fumbling the early free agency period.

 

[57special]

Sounds like the league is confused as we are as to how valuable Dumba is.

 

[Southern Minny]

I have a weird feeling, he's gonna be signing a very team friendly 1 year contract the next two years, then BG makes it up to him, my reasoning is he knows where they're at right now and where they're going to be in 2 years and he doesn't want to leave that. Dumba likes it here too much, I think....... I'm sure I'll get ripped for this. lol

 

[f7ben]

I have a weird feeling, he's gonna be signing a very team friendly 1 year contract the next two years, then BG makes it up to him, my reasoning is he knows where they're at right now and where they're going to be in 2 years and he doesn't want to leave that. Dumba likes it here too much, I think....... I'm sure I'll get ripped for this. lol

I’d support it

 

[57special]

I have a weird feeling, he's gonna be signing a very team friendly 1 year contract the next two years, then BG makes it up to him, my reasoning is he knows where they're at right now and where they're going to be in 2 years and he doesn't want to leave that. Dumba likes it here too much, I think....... I'm sure I'll get ripped for this. lol

I’ve more or less said the same thing, but I think it’s best for both parties if they move on. Dumba can’t be losing 8-10 M over the next two years with no security, and in two years time we’ll have a lot of young Dmen ready for the NHL. Faber looks like a sure thing, Addison a likely, Hunt and Peart likely, with ROR and Spacek as solid maybe’s, if not Masters.

 

[Digitalbooya]

I have a weird feeling, he's gonna be signing a very team friendly 1 year contract the next two years, then BG makes it up to him, my reasoning is he knows where they're at right now and where they're going to be in 2 years and he doesn't want to leave that. Dumba likes it here too much, I think....... I'm sure I'll get ripped for this. lol

I've loved and supported Dumba his entire time here, but I think I would rather have Faber in that spot. It's time that some of our top 4 defense is changed out.

 

[Digitalbooya]

I’ve more or less said the same thing, but I think it’s best for both parties if they move on. Dumba can’t be losing 8-10 M over the next two years with no security, and in two years time we’ll have a lot of young Dmen ready for the NHL. Faber looks like a sure thing, Addison a likely, Hunt and Peart likely, with ROR and Spacek as solid maybe’s, if not Masters.

I question whether Addison will be here long term with our defense relatively small and with him still remaining unsigned at this time. I'm not sure how Spacek is a maybe while Peart is a likely. I realize prior to playing in North America he was pretty under the radar and that caused him to be drafted after his 18 y/o season, but everything points to him being a quality defender that will make an NHL impact. I think he's more likely than most of our defenders to make an NHL impact. I have serious doubts about O'Rourke being an NHL player. At least not for Minnesota. Hunt is NHL ready right now IMO. Just stuck behind NHL contracts.

I'd like to see something like this long term:

Lambos-Spurgeon
Brodin-Faber
Peart-Spacek

None of the top 4 pairings screams "top pair." More like a 2A and 2B. The third pairing will tilt the ice in Minnesota's favor on most nights. That is, if a lot of things go to plan.

Question for everyone: Does anybody hope they pair Faber with an offensive dman?

I wouldn't mind seeing Lambos. Just don't want Faber to be paired with Brodin and together they generate zero offensive threat.

 

[Spurgeon]

I've loved and supported Dumba his entire time here, but I think I would rather have Faber in that spot. It's time that some of our top 4 defense is changed out.

I don’t really have a problem with rolling with Spurgeon - Dumba - Faber down the right side of the lineup for two years and then moving on from Spurgeon at that point.

Brodin - Dumba
LD Prospect #1 - Faber

Feels like that lineup works out better with the ages of everyone and the type of defensemen that Faber and Brodin are. Think this is a complete long shot though and there’s almost no way Dumba risks taking a handshake deal to get us past the dead cap.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

It would have to be an insane discount. They're probably already putting Addison on hold until after Gustavsson, so they can show him that it'll be ~$1M or nothing.

 

[f7ben]

It would have to be an insane discount. They're probably already putting Addison on hold until after Gustavsson, so they can show him that it'll be ~$1M or nothing.

It’s pretty sad that one year of Goligoski/Fluery cost us Dumba

 

[AKL]

I question whether Addison will be here long term with our defense relatively small and with him still remaining unsigned at this time. I'm not sure how Spacek is a maybe while Peart is a likely. I realize prior to playing in North America he was pretty under the radar and that caused him to be drafted after his 18 y/o season, but everything points to him being a quality defender that will make an NHL impact. I think he's more likely than most of our defenders to make an NHL impact. I have serious doubts about O'Rourke being an NHL player. At least not for Minnesota. Hunt is NHL ready right now IMO. Just stuck behind NHL contracts.

I'd like to see something like this long term:

Lambos-Spurgeon
Brodin-Faber
Peart-Spacek

None of the top 4 pairings screams "top pair." More like a 2A and 2B. The third pairing will tilt the ice in Minnesota's favor on most nights. That is, if a lot of things go to plan.

Question for everyone: Does anybody hope they pair Faber with an offensive dman?

I wouldn't mind seeing Lambos. Just don't want Faber to be paired with Brodin and together they generate zero offensive threat.

What points to Spacek being a quality defender? He had one stand out U20 tournament and the rest of his resume is pretty aversge as far as junior players go.

 

[57special]

I question whether Addison will be here long term with our defense relatively small and with him still remaining unsigned at this time. I'm not sure how Spacek is a maybe while Peart is a likely. I realize prior to playing in North America he was pretty under the radar and that caused him to be drafted after his 18 y/o season, but everything points to him being a quality defender that will make an NHL impact. I think he's more likely than most of our defenders to make an NHL impact. I have serious doubts about O'Rourke being an NHL player. At least not for Minnesota. Hunt is NHL ready right now IMO. Just stuck behind NHL contracts.

I'd like to see something like this long term:

Lambos-Spurgeon
Brodin-Faber
Peart-Spacek

None of the top 4 pairings screams "top pair." More like a 2A and 2B. The third pairing will tilt the ice in Minnesota's favor on most nights. That is, if a lot of things go to plan.

Question for everyone: Does anybody hope they pair Faber with an offensive dman?

I wouldn't mind seeing Lambos. Just don't want Faber to be paired with Brodin and together they generate zero offensive threat.

I don’t see how you can be high on Lambos, and low on ROR. One made the Canadian WJC team, the other didn’t. Point totals in junior were similar. ROR was captain of his junior team. Of the two, ROR was considered to be the better defender in junior. I think Hunt was lightly better than ROR in the AHL, but even there, they were more similar than different. ROR is only 8 months older than Lambos, but already has two years of AHL play under his belt, and has done ok. We’ll see how both do this year. ROR needs to take a step forward and start asserting himself in the AHL , while Lambos just has to adjust to the new league, while playing against men for the first time.

Peart has been playing at a higher level(ncaa) than Spacek(Qhl), and IMO, been excelling. Towards the end of last season I thought that Peart was clearly the best Dman on a vg college team, and that his play rivaled Faber’s. He’s a really good skater, good with the puck, good defensively, good judgement, and to my eye, looked to have grown a bit, so he is now at least a legit 6’, if not more. Like all young players he can get stronger and thicker, but it’s not like he looks weak out there.

I want Faber to be with Brodin because Faber is still an extremely young player, and can use all the help he can get. I mean who else is he going to play with? Middleton? Goligoski? We don’t really have an offense only LD, do we?

 

[Obvious Fabertism]

What points to Spacek being a quality defender? He had one stand out U20 tournament and the rest of his resume is pretty aversge as far as junior players go.

He won rookie defenseman of the year in the QMJHL, he was ppg and a whopping +53 in 58 Games. say what you will about plus minus, but you don't get to be that high without clearly being above average for a junior player.

 

[Hall of Faber]

This d-core has been together for 10 years now with little team success. (Blah blah) best high percentage chance against for years. Time for change, the strength of our past teams wasn’t good enough.

 

[AKL]

He won rookie defenseman of the year in the QMJHL, he was ppg and a whopping +53 in 58 Games. say what you will about plus minus, but you don't get to be that high without clearly being above average for a junior player.

He was 19 when he won rookie of the year in a junior league where most guys are rookies at 16, and he was third on his own team in +/-, Joshua Roy was +69. He was 7th in scoring.

You remember that year when Alex Goligoski led the Wild in +/- at +41? Is he an above average NHL player?

 

[Wabit]

I don’t see how you can be high on Lambos, and low on ROR. One made the Canadian WJC team, the other didn’t. Point totals in junior were similar. ROR was captain of his junior team. Of the two, ROR was considered to be the better defender in junior. I think Hunt was lightly better than ROR in the AHL, but even there, they were more similar than different. ROR is only 8 months older than Lambos, but already has two years of AHL play under his belt, and has done ok. We’ll see how both do this year. ROR needs to take a step forward and start asserting himself in the AHL , while Lambos just has to adjust to the new league, while playing against men for the first time.

Peart has been playing at a higher level(ncaa) than Spacek(Qhl), and IMO, been excelling. Towards the end of last season I thought that Peart was clearly the best Dman on a vg college team, and that his play rivaled Faber’s. He’s a really good skater, good with the puck, good defensively, good judgement, and to my eye, looked to have grown a bit, so he is now at least a legit 6’, if not more. Like all young players he can get stronger and thicker, but it’s not like he looks weak out there.

I want Faber to be with Brodin because Faber is still an extremely young player, and can use all the help he can get. I mean who else is he going to play with? Middleton? Goligoski? We don’t really have an offense only LD, do we?

I've never understood the love Lambos gets, outside of his draft position. Even his draft season is a question mark for me. It was a COVID/WHL shutdown year so he only played ~20 games, most them came in the U20 league in Finland. I also don't put much stock in him not making the U20 team. It's the Canada U20 team not the Austria U20 team. So the guys he was fighting for spots with are all very good and it doesn't take much to not make the cut.

I can't separate any of the LD from each other. Some are slightly better at some things and slightly weaker at others, but overall they about equal out.

My main concern is the amount of all situations ice time the 20/21 yo d-men get next year. Last year Iowa went with the AHL vets with the big ice time and special teams play. It's why the lack of points from ROR/Hunt last year doesn't bother me. No PP time and Iowa only had one scoring FWD line most of the time.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I've never understood the love Lambos gets, outside of his draft position. Even his draft season is a question mark for me. It was a COVID/WHL shutdown year so he only played ~20 games, most them came in the U20 league in Finland. I also don't put much stock in him not making the U20 team. It's the Canada U20 team not the Austria U20 team. So the guys he was fighting for spots with are all very good and it doesn't take much to not make the cut.

I can't separate any of the LD from each other. Some are slightly better at some things and slightly weaker at others, but overall they about equal out.

My main concern is the amount of all situations ice time the 20/21 yo d-men get next year. Last year Iowa went with the AHL vets with the big ice time and special teams play. It's why the lack of points from ROR/Hunt last year doesn't bother me. No PP time and Iowa only had one scoring FWD line most of the time.

I do like that we only have 1 "vet" down there as of now. There's going to be plenty of opportunity for the other 6, as long as one of them doesn't make it a habit of being scratched.