SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Give a big help to Nick Bjugstad when Matt Dumba came to the desert.
Under pressure from his former teammate in Minnesota and seeing what Arizona is building, Dumba signed a one-year, $3.9 million contract with the Coyotes on Monday.
“Bjugy was texting me every other day and he caught me, he put the clamps on me at one of the weddings we were at a couple of weeks ago as well,” said Dumba, who lives and training in Arizona during the off-season. “He always put it in my ear and it was awesome to see that the boys really like Arizona, the coaching staff, the style of play they are growing into.
Dumba played 10 seasons with Minnesota after being selected by the Wild with the seventh overall pick in the 2012 NHL draft. He was the other captain for the Wild the past two seasons, playing more of a shutdown role after becoming one of the NHL’s best two-way defensemen.
The 29-year-old had a 50-point season while playing all 82 games in 2017-18 and has scored at least 20 points seven times. The Saskatchewan native had four goals and 14 assists in 79 games last season.
“He is a talented, dependable, physical defenseman who competes hard every night and delivers offensively,” Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong said in a statement. a great leader who will add a veteran presence to our blue line. We are thrilled to have him on our team this season.”
Dumba should give the Coyotes a big boost on the blue line and bring veteran leadership to a young team. He won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 2019-2020, an award given to the player who best demonstrates leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a special humanitarian contribution in his community.
Dumba will likely fill the top four spots on a Coyotes blue line that also includes Sean Durzi, who was acquired from the Los Angeles Kings in an offseason trade for a 2024 second-round draft pick. also Alex Kerfoot, former Wild player Jason Zucker and brought back Bjugstad while the franchise was going through the third year of a rebuilding project.
“Playing against them last year, I thought they played really hard, played free, saw a lot of good things,” said Dumba. “I’m really happy to join to this team.”
