Real reason confirmed on why Matt Dumba was a healthy scratch

Matt Dumba is aware of the trade rumours and wants to ignore them. But the Minnesota Wild defenseman could not ignore when his head coach Dean Evason told him that he would miss Thursday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes as a healthy scratch.

Evanson explained that it was not injury-related, and was strictly a hockey decision, stating that Dumba was aware of why he was sitting out. Later that night, Darren Dreger revealed what happened with Dumba to miss the contest on Insider Trading on TSN:

“Well, it’s 100 per cent performance based, and the reality is Matt Dumba, as veteran defenceman for the Wild, hasn’t been good of late. And he was no good versus the Washington Capitals on Tuesday. So this is Dean Evason, the head coach – the latest head coach – to send the message to try and wake up a big name, big money player. We’ve seen it in Vancouver with Oliver Ekman-Larsson. We saw it in Philadelphia with John Tortorella and Kevin Hayes. So I don’t know if it’s trendsetting, but there’s more of a willingness to deliver that message. But there remains trade interest in Matt Dumba. He just has to get his game back on track.”

Dumba was surprised to be a scratch, but reiterated that “it’s an organization decision.” He stated that he “never not tried my hardest” and believes his game has been consistent. He has four goals and eight assists in 43 games for the Wild this season.

His name is been uttered often in trade circles, so much that Dumba might have to listen to the chatter to see what is next for him.

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