NASHVILLE – Part of being a pro athlete is finding a way to overcome the distraction of seeing and hearing your name in trade rumors.
For the first time, Wild defensemen Matt Dumba and Jonas Brodin are living this.
With the Wild slumping with 29 goals (including four empty-netters) in 15 games, including none the past two nights, many around the NHL are expecting the team to make a trade.
General Manager Chuck Fletcher, who just completed scouting meetings in Florida, said before Saturday night's 3-0 loss to Nashville that nothing is imminent.
"You can't overreact and force trades," Fletcher said by phone as he drove to Des Moines to watch the Iowa Wild. "You do that, and that's when you can turn a small slump into a bigger problem. If something's there that makes you better, it doesn't matter if you're playing well or struggling, you're going to make a move. When you start to force trades, that's dangerous and when you make poor decisions.
"Time will tell. We're not going to make a trade for the sake of making a trade. But if we can make a trade that helps our team, we'll trade anybody, whether they're young or old."
While coach Mike Yeo said it's imperative that the team doesn't sit around waiting for outside help, he did say: "There's no question you get three young defensemen [Dumba, Brodin and Marco Scandella] that are reading the paper and they're looking at the fact that they might be getting traded or at least they're reading that that's a possibility, and that's a distraction. But when we talk about the journey at the end of the year, those teams that are in the playoffs, you have to get through tough times, you have to be able to fight through distractions."
The Star Tribune reported last week that the Wild offered Brodin in a package to Columbus for Ryan Johansen before he was dealt to Nashville and that Dumba's name has come up in talks with Tampa Bay about Jonathan Drouin.
