Re-signing Dubnyk is top priority as Wild prep for draft, free agency
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Chuck Fletcher's busy week will include a quick stop in Las Vegas before the Minnesota Wild general manager flies to Florida for this weekend's NHL Draft.
The league meetings in Las Vegas will include plenty of talk between his fellow general managers prior to Friday's first round of the draft but Fletcher visits the desert with an agenda as big as what's ahead with the draft.
Fletcher will meet with goaltender Devan Dubnyk and try to entice the goaltender who spear-headed Minnesota's second-half playoff run to re-sign with the Wild.
"I think they've been pretty standard, pretty typical," Fletcher said Monday of the talks with Dubnyk and his agent. "They've been amicable and I think we've had good dialogue and we'll continue that dialogue this week. And again I'm hopeful we'll get it done, mainly because I think it's a good fit for both sides. I don't think either one of us can overlook that."
Dubnyk, 29, was 27-9-2 with a 1.78 goals-against average and .936 save percentage after a mid-January trade from Arizona. The pending free agent is in Las Vegas this week as a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, given to the league's top goaltender, and the Masterton Trophy awarded for perseverance during the annual league awards show on Wednesday.
Fletcher will speak in person with Dubnyk and then talk with Dubnyk's agent, Mike Liut, when he gets to Florida as the two sides try to come to an agreement.
Dubnyk helped solidify the Wild's goaltending, which has seen five goaltenders play in at least 12 games over the past two seasons.
"We like to have four or five goalies every year play in the NHL," Fletcher joked Monday as he spoke with reporters in advance of Friday's draft.
Minnesota has Darcy Kuemper and Niklas Backstrom under contract for next season and hopes to bring back Dubnyk after his stellar 2015 with the Wild. Dubnyk started a franchise-record 38 straight games after being acquired for a third-round pick in this weekend's draft.
"That's certainly a priority of ours, to try to lock him up," Fletcher said. "Like any pending unrestricted free agent, he will control where he goes and that's his right, and he's earned that right through the CBA. He will ultimately decide where he wants to play and for how much. We think he was a great fit for us, but we also feel we were a very good fit for him with our defensive structure, the way we play. We think we're a very competitive team. I'm hopeful it will work out, but it will probably take a little bit more time."
The time, in a way, adds to Fletcher's busy week.
Fletcher and assistant general manager Brent Flahr will participate in the draft this weekend and Fletcher is sure to hear about trade possibilities throughout the week. But Fletcher has made re-signing Dubnyk his first priority. Fletcher and the rest of the league are also still waiting to hear what the salary cap will be for next season.
"You're flying blind a little bit," Fletcher said of negotiating with Dubnyk without knowing the salary cap number. "If it's $68 million or 71, it's a pretty dramatic difference, to put it mildly. So, I think you always have to tread a little bit cautiously when you're not fully aware of the environment you're working in."
Fletcher already released forward Matt Cooke in a salary-cap related move, buying out the final year of Cooke's contract. Also needing to re-sign restricted free agents Mikael Granlund, Erik Haula and Christian Folin, Fletcher hopes he doesn't need to alter his roster further for salary-cap reasons.
"We think it's manageable," Fletcher said. "I certainly don't want to be in a position where we have to move pieces to manage our cap. That's our goal, to avoid that, to return the best team we can. I think the strength of our team is our depth. . . . If we lose that, then I think we'll sort of lose the identity and the strength of our team.
"We want to keep our team and certainly we want to work hard to keep Devan and keep Granlund and we think we can do that while keeping our team together. If we can make hockey trade, certainly we'll look at anything. But my goal is not to make trades from a salary-cap perspective."
Dubnyk and Liut will also have the chance to speak with other NHL teams on July 1 when Dubnyk becomes an unrestricted free agent.
"At this point, that could be part of their thinking too, which would make sense," Fletcher said. "But it's hard to predict, these things can happen quickly. They can change in one phone call and my expectation is I'll have a chance to sit down with Mike in the next few days and go from there. We're certainly aware of their goals and they're aware of ours, and I believe there's ability there to get it done. We'll see how it plays out."
Fletcher said he doesn't think "we're very far apart" when it comes to re-signing Granlund and hopes for a resolution soon with its young center. Working on a resolution with Haula and Folin, and free agents like Jordan Leopold, will follow.
"Once we get the cap number and hopefully once we see where Dubnyk fits, then we can get our abacus out and we'll see what's left over," Fletcher joked. "We try to be as transparent as we can. We'd like to keep as much of our team together as possible. Goaltending's the No. 1 priority once we get the salary cap number. No. 1 priority is getting the number, No. 2 is getting Dubnyk and then from there it's just simple math."
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