The Minnesota Wild added defenseman Mathew Dumba of the WHL's Red Deer Rebels with the seventh pick in the 2012 NHL Draft on Friday night. Dumba was the fifth blueliner selected among the top seven picks. How are Wild fans reacting to the decision to draft Dumba?
Reaction to Dumba at Hockey Wilderness, SB Nation's Wild blog, was positive.
Dumba meets every single one of our needs. Dumba was always talked about as having one of the top upsides in the draft, as much impact potential as Nail Yakupov and Alex Galchenyuk.
The problems were his defensive game as he is a risk taker, and some of those risks sometimes don't pay out.
But imagine a Brodin-Dumba duo. A mobile unit with one guy who is a wizard in the offensive zone and one guy who is a wizard in the defensive zone. Seems like a match made in heaven. Positives and negatives attract.
He wasn't my first choice, but I don't see why I didn't have him as such. He is top in almost every single category in this draft class besides defensive game, but even that, he is arguably decent.
Dumba, who turns 18 in July, may require some seasoning before joining the Wild. Hockey Wilderness explains:
Dumba is dominate in the WHL, is already NHL ready in terms of athleticism, and has tons of offense to offer. But his flaws in learning when to make a big hit or just to make a simple play, is something he needs to slowly develop. That isn't something you fix over night.
A safe range would be 2-4 years, one more year in the WHL, then at least one year in the AHL. Maybe a bit longer if he struggles abit.
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