Matt Dumba’s days numbered with the Wild

The Minnesota Wild’s winning streak might have come to an end on Thursday night, defenseman Matt Dumba still managed to score and prove that he is an important part of the roster.

And so why is James O’Brien of NBC Sports hinting at the possibility that Dumba’s days with the Wild could be numbered?
That’s because money will get tight this summer and just days ago, the Wild announced it had signed aging blue liner Alex Goligoski to a two-year contract extension worth $2 million per season leaves the club with less salary-cap wiggle room for next season.

On top of that, you have to add on the contract buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, who will eat up a big chunk of their cap space for 2022-23. They now have six defensemen under contract for next season, and prospect Calen Addison more than ready to go.

The Wild will be a team to watch out for in the summer seeing that tough choices will need to be made: especially with the trade deadline additions of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and Jacob Middleton. Cap constraints could hamper the Wild’s progress in 2022-23 and tough calls will have to be made.

They could include Dumba, who is signed at $6M through 2022-23. The blue line is getting crowded in Minnesota and it was rumoured in the past that GM Bill Guerin was listening to quality offers on Dumba. Maybe the trigger will get pulled this summer.