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Article: How Do You Say Goodbye To Matt Dumba?


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When you get older, your fandom diminishes no doubt.  It doesn't mean you lose passion though, but rather it is a tempered passion.  Oxymoron intended.

My bet is Dumba's play to end the season and into the playoffs has earned him an FA offer the wild will not match.

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Great guy, by all accounts.  Gave us some decent regular season moments.  Probably known more for derailing his career by injury in a fight than anything he did actually playing hockey.  The main thing on my mind right now is that he’s been a key cog in the annual playoff choke job.

It’s time.  We need to transition into a new era.  Hopefully he goes somewhere where he can be role player on a good hockey team that can win something.  He likely earned himself a little more money with his strong play to close out his career here.  

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Man, this is going to be tough to watch. I got back into Hockey right before joined the club (kind of fell off in the late 90s/ early 2000s when Minnesota didn’t have a team and the Devils club I had been following had lost a lot of the players I liked). So Dumba has been a part of the Wild identity since I have been following them.

I have definitely criticized him in the past (especially early in his career), for his defensive play, but I came to appreciate his style and the energy he brought to the game. 

More impactful to me than his on-ice contributions were his off ice contributions. He is just a stand-up human being. For all his work in the community, his social justice advocacy, and even the time that police officer caught him changing the tire for a family who had no idea who he was. Everyone I know who has had the pleasure to meet him say he is absolute class act and is 100% willing to drop whatever he is doing to give a fan a few minutes of his day.

I think he has been instrumental in changing the culture of the Wild. With the departure of Koivu, Suter, and Parise this club had become a much better place, and even watching the bench you can see it. Since Dumba, Foligno, and Spurgeon took over when you look at the bench you see guys laughing, having fun, and genuinely looking excited to be there. Beforehand it was just a stoic looking place with very little positive emotion being displayed. 
 

His exit interview was tough to watch, he looked like he was fighting tearing up. I just don’t see how the Wild can keep him around. I wish him the best of luck in his future hockey career, and maybe when he is done playing he can come back and take a job with the organization. I definitely wouldn’t object to having him working with the Wild and in community.

 

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I've been a Dumba fan since he came into the league. I loved the shot and the heat seeking missile mentality. I thought he didn't get a fair shake under Evason to be on the PP but it may have been due to his shot deterioration. 

I don't think it was just the Tkachuk fight that got him, it was the shoulder in last year's hit that finished him off offensively. I had hoped it would return but I guess his shot was mailed to Siberia.

If he can sign a deal for $6.25m somewhere, he might as well take it. 6 X $6.25m sounds to me like it will end poorly.

In other news: Winnipeg has taken a 3-0 lead in it's series, Lambos had nothing.

Kamloops won bringing them to 1-2, Bankier & Masters with apples, +1. Somehow I had missed this, turns out Masters is a RHS. He's a smaller defensemen, but I'd like to see what he looks like in camp next season. Maybe he's more willing to hit than Addison?

Sherbrooke lost to drop to 2-1, Spacek was a -1. Sherbrooke is the underdog in this series.

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