Matt Dumba's continued awfulness

[Channelcat]

He was never good. He's another guy who put together a lucrative career based on nothing but draft pedigree.

 

[BKarchitect]

He was never good. He's another guy who put together a lucrative career based on nothing but draft pedigree.

This is just patently untrue.

 

[BigTomBomber]

He’s a bad bottom pairing defenseman, much less playing anywhere in the top 4. Overpaid by $2.75m as he should be an injury replacement only (#7 or #8 ). Giving him a 2nd year at $3.75m is horrible

 

[State of Hockey]

Age and wear and tear happened, that's what. He was a very good defensemen in his prime. But his pec injury took away his offense, and now the rest of the body is going too. He played a rough and tough game without the size to keep up, and it's showing. He had a decent career.

Of course we should have dealt him back in the day before the collapse, but of course Wild management will not manage their assets.

 

[DarrylshutzSydor]

3.75 for Dumba is absolutely Dumb

 

[Hall of Faber]

Definition of all the tools but no toolbox. Worst hockey IQ I have seen.

 

[DuklaNation]

Dumba is trash defensively.

 

[FinnLightning26]

I was shocked to see him get almost 4 million per year. He was awful in his short time here.

 

[f7ben]

Definition of all the tools but no toolbox. Worst hockey IQ I have seen.

It took him a while to learn the defensive end of the position but his age 26-28 seasons saw him playing very good defense

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

Alex Petrovic is still playing?!?!

 

[serp]

Alex Petrovic is still playing?!?!

He played in as many playoff games last year as the Toronto Maple Leafs.

He's in his fourth season with the Texas Stars now and has been occasionally called up to the Dallas Stars.

Fun Fact Alex Petrovic grew up in Edmonton in the 90's as a Dallas Stars fan.

Dallas Stars D-man Petrovic bled green while growing up in Edmonton

NHL Playoffs

edmontonjournal.com

 

[biturbo19]

That’s just not true at all. Before he tore his pec he was a massive part of one the best defensive corps in the league.

Even at that point, pre-injuries that seem to have hampered him, he was what...the 4th best "massive part" of that defence corps?

 

[Zbynek]

Don't fret. Maybe Kyle Dubas will come calling. He loves washed up defesemen.

We currently have a $7.25 mil 4th d pairing sitting in the pressbox. So he'd fit in just great. Matt Dumbas come on down

 

[lettuceAA]

Injuries, he also has been the same player since he became a social justice warrior.

 

[aylib]

Was surprised to see him sign for what I thought was about 375% of his worth.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Trouba for Dumba

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

I hate when there's no delete option.

 

[eojsmada]

I look at Dumba and see a slightly different version of Bouchard from Edmonton. Neither one of them known to be a good "first pass" kind of guy from their own end, and neither really are good at defending. Both have a good shot and seem to be good at the offensive side of things, but both are just missing the skating ability, foot speed, and defensive IQ. The only "difference" between Dumba and Bouchard, to me, is that Dumba will fight.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Was always a pretty high event player. Just lost the skills to make the high events happen in the OZ.

 

[aylib]

I look at Dumba and see a slightly different version of Bouchard from Edmonton. Neither one of them known to be a good "first pass" kind of guy from their own end, and neither really are good at defending. Both have a good shot and seem to be good at the offensive side of things, but both are just missing the skating ability, foot speed, and defensive IQ. The only "difference" between Dumba and Bouchard, to me, is that Dumba will fight.

Not familiar with Bouchard, but Dumba55 will also make loud, splattering hits--many of them causing him to be out of position.

 

[BuiumSaveUs]

He was never good. He's another guy who put together a lucrative career based on nothing but draft pedigree.

You don’t score in the nhl because of draft pedigree and he scored a lot in the nhl early in his career

 

[BagHead]

Honestly pretty sad to see as someone who has long loved Dumba. Let’s timeline this out to truly see the decline.

Coming into the league at 20 years old, he’s was a very toolsy player. Great skater, good compete, saw the ice well offensively and he had a howitzer if a shot. He really struggled defensively initially, but would later develop into somewhat of a strength, at least relatively.

After a few good years of steady improvement, at age 23 with multiple 10+ goal seasons under his belt, he had a 50 point season and looked like he was in his way to being one of the best defensmen in the league for the foreseeable future.

In his age 24 season, he took another step. He was by far the most dynamic player in the team and was on pace for 30 goals and 60 plus points when the he got in a fight with Matt Tkachuk and tore his pec. He was out for the rest of the season and had tons of complications with the healing process after the fact. When he came back the next season, while his shot was still hard it was nowhere near the weapon it was previously. He couldn’t get on the score sheet to save his life and it looked like his playmaking had completely cratered. It was just a frustrating season overall.

The next season, the offense did not come back, but he settled into more of a defensive role and no longer took the risks that he used to that would lead to offense. He even stopped playing in the powerplay. The Wild wanted him to use his great skating and physicality to create a defensive pair with Jonas Brodin that was extremely hard to score on. And, in that role, he was pretty successful. He would play this role for a few seasons before moving on last season.

In the last couple of years, he’s tried to continue playing solid defensive hockey, but without Jonas Brodin I think some of the deficiencies in his defending have really creeped up. You still see the physicality, but he puts himself in bad positions a lot, at least in my limited viewings of him the last year and a half. Additionally, while I think his skating is still fine, it’s no longer a true asset like when he came into the league. The technique is still top notch but the explosiveness isn’t what it used to be.

Add in I’m sure some confidence issues from his rapid decline to all the things I mentioned before, and I think you have a player who is not long for the NHL game. Really is one of the weirder case studies of a player’s career, and one that is sad to see. One of the better people in the game. I’ve had conversations with him many times. Down to earth dude who has great morals and really wants to do good things for his community.

The bolded is the part that kills me most about it. I hope that whatever comes after he hangs up the skates, he does at an extremely high level. Sad to see a good person have such a harsh turn in their first career, but life is long and he's got it in front of him. In the meantime, if the Stars want to pay him, I want to see them pay him.

 

[MVP of West Hollywd]

I think for guys that throw their body around it catches up at some point.

 

[EpochLink]

Dumba needs to embrace his Filipino side like Jason Robertson, then he will shine..

 

[Dynamite Time]

Didn’t like the Dumba signing as a Stars fan (mainly for two years and cost) but was hoping Nill found another steal; it’s not though.