Before the Montreal Canadiens traded for Jake Allen of the St. Louis Blues, Habs general manager Marc Bergevin apparently had his eyes on a different netminder. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the Canadiens called the Minnesota Wild about Devan Dubnyk.
Friedman noted today the Canadiens did consider Dubnyk before eventually trading for Allen and investing over $14.8 million in the goaltending tandem. And, considering the Wild might have retained some money on Dubnyk’s nearly identical salary, it begs the question, why not see if the Wild would eat half of Dubynk’s salary?
He’s in the final year of a contract that will see him make $4.33 million this season and for Minnesota, retaining part of his salary would have been a better option than a buy out. Clearly, the Canadiens must believe Allen is just a better goalie.
Will Dubnyk Be Moved?
Dubyk’s name continues to come up in the rumor mill and the Wild have started to become players in the trade market, moving out Eric Staal and adding Marcus Johnasson and Nick Bjugstad. Michael Russo of The Athletic touched on the goaltender in his latest piece, saying he’s heard the Wild will not buy out the netminder.
With Alex Stalock set to take a bigger role, the Wild will probably need another goalie considering Stalock’s .890 save percentage in 2019-20 is not enough to warrant giving him the starting job.
Dubnyk has a modified no-trade clause and he submitted a list of 19 teams he would be willing to accept a trade to on Tuesday.
At best now, the Wild will hope to move Dubnyk to a team with cap room and in return, but give up a draft pick or more valuable asset to convince the team to take Dubnyk on. Then, with the cap space, the Wild can go out into the very deep goaltender market and try to land another netminder.
Next: Insider Names 3 Possible Trade Options for Canucks’ Loui Eriksson
