The Minnesota Wild wanted nothing to do with allowing restricted free agent Matt Dumba to go elsewhere, and they made sure he would stick around on Saturday. The Wild gave the defenseman a five-year, $30 million contract in a deal that was put together on Friday, but was not officially announced until Saturday morning.
The 23-year-old will now make $5.2 million next season, followed by $7.4 million the ensuing two seasons. He has spent his entire career with the Wild, who selected him seventh overall in the 2012 draft. Dumba is coming off a season that saw him post career highs with 14 goals and 36 assists while playing in all 82 regular season games. He also contributed during their first-round playoff series against the Winnipeg Jets with a goal and an assist. Although, the Wild did fall to the Jets in five games.
Dumba has five NHL seasons under his belt with Minnesota, but this past year was the first that he did not miss a game. The closest he came to that before was when he played in 81 contests in the 2015-2016 campaign. He struggled with injury in his first two seasons, playing in a combined 71 games to being his career. Since then, he has not missed more than six games in a season. His health helped him get much more physical this past year with 136 hits, as his plus/minus has been at a career-high +15 each of the past two seasons. And all of that explains why the Wild felt it necessary to pay him this weekend.
The 23-year-old will now make $5.2 million next season, followed by $7.4 million the ensuing two seasons. He has spent his entire career with the Wild, who selected him seventh overall in the 2012 draft. Dumba is coming off a season that saw him post career highs with 14 goals and 36 assists while playing in all 82 regular season games. He also contributed during their first-round playoff series against the Winnipeg Jets with a goal and an assist. Although, the Wild did fall to the Jets in five games.
Dumba has five NHL seasons under his belt with Minnesota, but this past year was the first that he did not miss a game. The closest he came to that before was when he played in 81 contests in the 2015-2016 campaign. He struggled with injury in his first two seasons, playing in a combined 71 games to being his career. Since then, he has not missed more than six games in a season. His health helped him get much more physical this past year with 136 hits, as his plus/minus has been at a career-high +15 each of the past two seasons. And all of that explains why the Wild felt it necessary to pay him this weekend.
