The Wild continued a busy week Wednesday by acquiring forward Marcus Johansson in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres for center Eric Staal. That came after Minnesota acquired center Nick Bjugstad in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins for a conditional pick in the 2021 NHL Draft on Friday and signed defenseman Jonas Brodin to seven-year, $42 million contract extension Tuesday.
The signing of Brodin sparked speculation the Wild will trade Dumba because they might not be able to protect him in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft for the Seattle Kraken. Minnesota has Brodin and defensemen Ryan Suter and Jared Spurgeon under contract for at least five more seasons.
"Right now, if I were to move Matt, I don't have to rush," Guerin said. "We can play all year with him. We like Matt Dumba. He's a heck of a player. He's a great kid. We're very happy with him. We think right now our top four will go up against anybody. I'm confident of that.
"But like I said, I don't promise anybody anything. I know the business well enough from the player side and I wouldn't want to make an empty promise."
Dumba, a 26-year-old, right-shot defenseman, has three seasons left on his contract. He scored 24 points (six goals, 18 assists) in 69 games this season and one assist in four postseason games.
Guerin said he hasn't fielded a lot of calls about Dumba.
"I think everybody's still trying to see what everybody's up to and gather information," Guerin said. "Matt's a heck of a player. Who wouldn't want Matt Dumba? We have him right now and we're happy with that and we'll leave it at that."
Guerin again declined to discuss the future of captain Mikko Koivu. The 37-year-old center can become an unrestricted free agent Oct. 9.
Koivu, who is the fourth-longest tenured captain in the NHL (12 seasons), scored 21 points (four goals, 17 assists) in 55 games, his fewest since his rookie season in 2005-06, when he scored 21. He did not have a point in Minnesota's four-game loss to the Vancouver Canucks in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.
Guerin said it's unlikely the Wild will re-sign pending unrestricted free agent forward Alex Galchenyuk, who scored 24 points (eight goals, 16 assists) in 59 games this season, including seven points (three goals, four assists) in 14 games after being traded from the Penguins on Feb. 10, and no points in the postseason.
