NHL trade rumors: 3 teams who should trade for Matt Dumba
According to the latest NHL trade rumors, the Minnesota Wild are likely trading Matt Dumba. Which teams would make the most sense for him?
There’s a lot more to the Minnesota Wild signing Jonas Brodin to an extension than meets the eye. Sure, it means the Wild are keeping an elite defensive defenseman around, which is a good thing. But it also means some more moves are coming to their blueline. According to the latest NHL trade rumors, the Wild are now actively shopping defenseman Matt Dumba.
This is according to Michael Russo of The Athletic. It’s worth noting the Wild have shopped Dumba before and he’s not a stranger to the trade market.
Here’s what he had to say in a recent article discussing the dominoes that could fall after Brodin’s extension.
"Sources have told The Athletic that [Wild general manager Bill Guerin] has not only gotten a lot of calls on Dumba this offseason, he has even actively shopped him."
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Long story short, Brodin’s extension means the Wild have to either protect four defensemen to protect Dumba, persuade either Brodin, Ryan Suter, or Jared Spurgeon to waive their no-movement clauses (NMCs), trade Dumba before the 2021 expansion draft, or risk losing him for nothing.
Protecting four defensemen is likely out of the cards since they already have to protect Zach Parise and Mats Zuccarello (both have NMCs). Kevin Fiala is an easy choice to protect and so is Joel Eriksson-Ek. That’s four and we haven’t even gotten to Luke Kunin, Jordan Greenway, or Marcus Foligno yet.
One can assume Brodin won’t waive his NMC since he just signed his deal. Suter has made Minnesota his home, so he likely won’t waive his. Spurgeon recently signed his deal too, so it would be surprising to see him waive his NMC. The Wild can’t afford to lose Dumba for nothing. So trading him is the best option.
Dumba has a $6 million cap hit and has three years left on his deal. He hasn’t been the same since an injury to his core, but when healthy, Dumba can be a game-changing defenseman. Let’s look at three teams who should trade for him.