Givanni Damico | December 29th, 2018
Minnesota Wild defenseman, Mathew Dumba, left Saturday’s game against the Calgary Flames in the first period. He sustained an upper-body injury, which we have now discovered will force Dumba to miss three months.
Before he went down with the injury, Dumba led all NHL defenseman in goals with 12. This is a big loss for the Wild, as Dumba was arguably their best player throughout the season so far. Dumba had surgery on Wednesday to repair a ruptured right pectoral muscle. The severity of his injury wasn’t known until today due to General Manager Paul Fenton being worried that opponents would target Dumba. This injury will force the Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon to step up and pick up the slack. Dumba had 22 points on the season before being shut down, as well as being on pace for a career high in shooting percentage, which currently stands at 12.9%. He was also on pace for a career high in points. Despite being on pace for career highs, his plus-minus rating is at the lowest point in his career at -5. The Minnesota Wild are currently having a very underwhelming season, sitting in fifth place in the Central Division, 13 points out of first place. The Wild are currently on a four-game losing streak and will face the Blackhawks on Thursday. Jonas Brodin is currently having a bad year for the Wild, only putting up 10 points in 35 games and posting a -4 plus-minus. Jared Spurgeon is having a better season than Brodin, with 19 points in 35 games and a 2 plus-minus. The other main piece of this defensive core is Ryan Suter who has 26 points in 35 games and a -4 plus-minus. This injury will force journeyman, Greg Pateryn to step up into a line two defensive role, and another journeyman, Nate Prosser, onto the line three defensive unit. Hopefully, Minnesota can go on a role, and come Dumba’s return in March, maybe be in contention for the playoff.
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