Dan Wallace: Why Has Dumba Not Signed?

Dumba really really really wants to stay with the Wild. No one will give him more than a year? Teams think Dumba not being able to elevate his game in the final contract year signals future rapid decline? He probably will get $5 Mil for a year somewhere,no?

Could the Wild bring him back with a team friendly deal? What about a sign and trade?

You missed the 4th reason or did not want to state it.

Ok, it seems like people are jumping on the "bring back Dumba" bandwagon, so let's look at if it is feasible. The Wild have currently have 6 D-men right now. Spurgeon, Brodin, Middleton, Goligoski, Faber and Merrill. Goose does not want to leave, so he will not drop his 35+ NMC and Merrill is only $1.2mil a season for this year and next. And the other 4 are not going anywhere either.

After accounting for Rossi and Faber in the cap, the Wild are left with about $7.7mil in cap space (and change). Let's say Gus gets signed to 3 years at $3.3 per. Drops cap space to $4.4 mil. Now, they sign Duhaime to 2 year deal worth $2.2 mil in cap space (I may be overreaching on that amount)...now cap space is $2.2 mil. Is Dumba going to accept a 1yr contract under $2mil? Really doubt it. Billy needs to keep a bit of cap space open for injuries and such. And this idea is based on letting go of Addison (which I am all for, but again, doubtful). Even if Duhaime is not re-signed, the Wild would still have to promote one of either Walker or Beckman to slot in on the 4th line. That take just slightly under $1mil, so I am going with that for even numbers. That still only leaves about $3.4 mil in cap space...and is Dumba going to take that on a 1yr deal? Yeah, getting Dumba for 3rd pairing time for under $3 mil would kind of be nice. But, is it worth paying a 3rd pairing Dman that much, and at what expense to the full roster?

Now, would it be nice to have Dumba as a strictly 3rd pairing D man. Dumba, Goose and Johnny can rotate in and out of the lineup all season, I would be fine with that. You could even give 2nd unit PP time to Dumba, as long as Brodin is out there with him. I'm a Bulldog fan, so I don't see many Gopher's games, so not sure if Faber can eventually be on the 1st PP, so that is manned by Spurgeon.

Long story longer...is Dumba as a 3rd pairing Dman (and maybe 2nd PP unit) worth losing someone like Duhaime from the 4th line. Yeah, I know 4th lie guys can found anywhere. But Duhaime appears to understand what his role is there and not all 4th line guys do understand that.

Ok, it seems like people are jumping on the "bring back Dumba" bandwagon, so let's look at if it is feasible. The Wild have currently have 6 D-men right now. Spurgeon, Brodin, Middleton, Goligoski, Faber and Merrill. Goose does not want to leave, so he will not drop his 35+ NMC and Merrill is only $1.2mil a season for this year and next. And the other 4 are not going anywhere either.

After accounting for Rossi and Faber in the cap, the Wild are left with about $7.7mil in cap space (and change). Let's say Gus gets signed to 3 years at $3.3 per. Drops cap space to $4.4 mil. Now, they sign Duhaime to 2 year deal worth $2.2 mil in cap space (I may be overreaching on that amount)...now cap space is $2.2 mil. Is Dumba going to accept a 1yr contract under $2mil? Really doubt it. Billy needs to keep a bit of cap space open for injuries and such. And this idea is based on letting go of Addison (which I am all for, but again, doubtful). Even if Duhaime is not re-signed, the Wild would still have to promote one of either Walker or Beckman to slot in on the 4th line. That take just slightly under $1mil, so I am going with that for even numbers. That still only leaves about $3.4 mil in cap space...and is Dumba going to take that on a 1yr deal? Yeah, getting Dumba for 3rd pairing time for under $3 mil would kind of be nice. But, is it worth paying a 3rd pairing Dman that much, and at what expense to the full roster?

Now, would it be nice to have Dumba as a strictly 3rd pairing D man. Dumba, Goose and Johnny can rotate in and out of the lineup all season, I would be fine with that. You could even give 2nd unit PP time to Dumba, as long as Brodin is out there with him. I'm a Bulldog fan, so I don't see many Gopher's games, so not sure if Faber can eventually be on the 1st PP, so that is manned by Spurgeon.

Long story longer...is Dumba as a 3rd pairing Dman (and maybe 2nd PP unit) worth losing someone like Duhaime from the 4th line. Yeah, I know 4th lie guys can found anywhere. But Duhaime appears to understand what his role is there and not all 4th line guys do understand that.
- Gusrichards

Very well said! I am a big fan of Faber. Thought he was excellent in college and did not look out of place at all in just a few games in playoff intensity. Just think of how much better he can become as he plays more.