On Wednesday evening, it was announced that general manager Cliff Fletcher had no plans of firing head coach Mike Yeo, and furthermore, he was looking to trade for goaltender Devan Dubnyk from the Arizona Coyotes.
MIN GM Chuck Fletcher not firing Mike Yeo today but is likely to trade for goalie. Speculation is he’s close to landing PHX G Devan Dubnyk.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) 14 Janvier 2015
As Wild fans poured onto Twitter, questioning both the thought process behind this trade, and whether or not Dubnyk is the problem to their current goaltending woes, Fletcher pulled the trigger on the deal, trading away a 2015 third-round selection to the Coyotes in exchange for Dubnyk.
MIN acquires goalie Devan Dubnyk from PHX for a draft pick. — Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) 14 Janvier 2015
Further to @TSNBobMcKenzie, Dubnyk to Minny for a third-round pick
— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) 14 Janvier 2015
The situation in Minnesota has been a horror story this season. Josh Harding‘s spectacular season last year, despite dealing with multiple sclerosis, could not be repeated, as he continues to battle symptoms, and his foot injury during training camp took him out of the mix for the starting goaltender spot. Darcy Kuemper, who enjoyed a nice start to the season, with six wins, three shutouts, in his first eight starts, has since steered into mediocrity, falling to a .902 save percentage. In his last ten starts, Kuemper has three wins to his record, and has allowed 28 goals during that stretch. Niklas Backstrom has been the bigger of the two trainwrecks in goal, winning just two of his last ten starts, while mustering up a .900 save percentage in two of those games, sub-900 in 6 of them, and into the .700’s for two games. Just six wins shy from 200, Backstrom has five wins this season.
On the surface of the deal, it’s not a bad one in terms of what Minnesota got. Devan Dubnyk has put up some decent numbers this season with a struggling Coyotes team. With a 9-5-2 record in Arizona, Dubnyk has come up big, sporting a .916 save percentage, placing him in the top-20 in the league in that respect, much higher than Kuemper (35th) and Backstrom (40th). The return was also a third-round pick, which, for a roster player that is expected to start for the time being, is not much to give. It isn’t as bad for Minnesota as it was when the Avalanche traded Reto Berra for a second-round selection, nor is it as horrible for Arizona to part ways with Dubnyk, as it was for the Washington Capitals to trade Jaroslav Halak for a fourth-round pick.
The problem derives from the sole player involved in the trade; Devan Dubnyk. His numbers portray that of a decent goaltender playing on a bad team, but it doesn’t go without saying that this very same goaltender was put on waivers twice, once by the Nashville Predators after Pekka Rinne was re-activated, and the other time by the Montreal Canadiens, directly after they acquired him (for future considerations). In just eight games with the Hamilton Bulldogs, Dubnyk recorded two wins and a measly .893 save percentage. It was a wonder if Dubnyk’s NHL career was in jeopardy, until the Coyotes signed him to a one-year contract, leaving many scratching their heads.
He is expected to be the solution to everything that is wrong with the Wild’s goaltending, and with a career-best 20-win season and .920 save percentage, both held as a member of the Edmonton Oilers, Dubnyk can’t be any worse than Kuemper and Backstrom, but at the same time, can’t be expected to bring the Wild to a wild card seeding. At best, he’s a streaky goaltender that shows flashes of brilliance before vanishing in a cloud of smoke.
For the Coyotes, they lose the goaltender who was having the better season between himself and their usual-starter, Mike Smith. On the other hand, should Smith continue on his downward spiral, the Coyotes inch closer towards a higher draft pick, and a chance to select either Jack Eichel or Connor McDavid. The Coyotes currently sit in 13th place in the Western Conference (36 points), while the Wild are just ahead of them by five points. Dubnyk could possibly play as soon as this Thursday, and it will be interesting if Mike Yeo opts to play him on Saturday, when Arizona is in town.
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