The Wild have added four forwards already today, announcing the depth additions of Luke Johnson and Gabriel Dumont. The duo sign matching two-year, two-way deals worth the minimum $700K at the NHL, although Dumont is set to make a higher AHL salary than Johnson.
The 24-year-old Johnson has showed some promise as he has continually improved in his three years in the AHL with the Chicago Blackhawks’ affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs. He finally broke out with an 18-goal season there in just 53 games and got some ice time with Chicago, playing in 15 games, but failed to score a goal and only registered a point, averaging just 10:49 of ATOI. He will compete for a fourth-line spot, but is more likely going to end up with the Iowa Wild for another season.
The 28-year-old Dumont bounced around Montreal, Tampa Bay and Ottawa as he struggled to crack an NHL lineup. Tampa Bay eventually claimed him back from the Senators in 2018 and he was immediately sent to the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL where he played since then. Minnesota is likely expecting him to join Johnson with Iowa to provide some veteran depth for their younger players.
Depth moves…for the minor league team. Anyone know what the hit would be to dump Koivu…Parise…Dubnyk…Suter? Blow it up and start over. Minnesota will be a middle of the road team until those guys are gone. They need young blood and contracts that don’t corner them for a decade plus.
I’m guessing the team is on the hook for their entire contract. I agree with you, they are going to be average at best unless by some miracle, some young guys get better fast. It seems like the talk is always, “he could be a 20 goal scorer.” That’s great, but they need a few guys scoring 35-40 goals. A goal every 4 games doesn’t do much more for me if these are your top goal scorers.