Dumba was very good at one time in Minnesota and then injuries took their toll. Now that said, his game fell off before Dallas gave him his current contract, and Nill ought to have known that.
Matt Dumba's continued awfulness
- Thread starter serp
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ManofSteel55
Registered User
Minnesota never seemed to trust him much though. He was part of the core, but he was almost always rumoured to be available, and despite good offensive numbers, wasn't trusted as a top pair guy. It's obvious that Minnesota was never truly satisfied with his play, and always wished he was more responsible defensively.
Voight
#winning
I think playing for the Wild all those years masked his weaknesses. They arent technically a small market team, but they aren't one of the leagues most popular teams so there's less attention overall on them and their players. Had he spent years playing for Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Edmonton etc I think more people would be aware of his faults.
Bandwagon
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 Playoffsedmontonjournal.com
Bandwagon
He was good, he was exciting. Big hits and huge shots made up for the mistakes that usually come with that aggressive mindset. Playing with Brodin he was sheltered a bit in that regard but being damaged physically now really takes away from his effectiveness--he wasn't ever the smartest player but he wasn't stupid, either.
Excellent guy off the ice--a really good human being. That fight was the turning point for me in my attitude about fights...Perfectly legal hit, got jumped, obliged, and hasn't been the same since.
Excellent guy off the ice--a really good human being. That fight was the turning point for me in my attitude about fights...Perfectly legal hit, got jumped, obliged, and hasn't been the same since.
It was up and down at times with him, he was in the rumor mill a lot, but a significant portion of that was due to the two expansion drafts and the Wild having 3 other NMC D men on the roster. The Wild and Chuck Fletcher at the time put a huge value on him for the Vegas expansion, trading away Scandella in advance to try and keep him, and then offering Vegas Haula and their choice between 3 prospects in order to pass on Dumba. Recent 1st round pick Alex Tuch ended up being Vegas' choice as they passed on Jordan Greenway and the other player.
Any guesses who the 3rd prospect was that Vegas could have taken?
It was Kirill Kaprizov.
While I am sure Vegas is happy with their cup as a result of trading Tuch in the Eichel package, imagine that team with Kaprizov and how devastating that would have been to the Wild at this time.
BagHead
Registered User
This is accurate enough. He was a top-4 guy who would have been a top-2 guy with a stronger defensive acumen. If you flipped his defense and offense around, making the former his strength instead of the latter, those rumors would not have existed for long (and you'd have Jonas Brodin).
His IQ gets brought up a lot, but for the most part he was smart enough to be a positive contributor regularly, he was just also prone to the odd bone-headed mistake that would blow up to hilariously dire consequences.
It certainly wasn't a strength, but it wasn't the same as a guy who is ineffective because he can't figure the game out.
If anything masked his weaknesses playing in Minnesota, it isn't the "small market", it's that he played alongside Brodin and Suter.I think playing for the Wild all those years masked his weaknesses. They arent technically a small market team, but they aren't one of the leagues most popular teams so there's less attention overall on them and their players. Had he spent years playing for Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Edmonton etc I think more people would be aware of his faults.
Bandwagon
