Coyotes Suffer Big Blow To Back-End

The Arizona Coyotes suffered a big blow to their defense as it was revealed by the team that Matt Dumba would be out week-to-week with an upper-body injury. He left early in the Coyotes' previous game on Monday and didn't return. He didn't travel with the team for their road trip, meaning he will be out at least three games and not return until after the All-Star break at the earliest.

Dumba isn't the point producing defenseman he once was in his early days in Minnesota, but he is a good veteran presence on a younger Coyotes team, especially on the back-end where there isn't much experience. Arizona brought Dumba in this past offseason on a one-year deal at $3.9 million AAV and was not only expected to help push this team to contend for a playoff spot, but maybe even be a trade candidate if they fell out of the race.

The Coyotes sit outside of the playoff picture at the moment and have only won four of their previous 10 games, but they are right there with games in hand. I don't believe that the team is ready to make a playoff push, so it is likely that Dumba will be moved if he returns before the trade deadline and the Coyotes get what assets they can back to add to their fully stocked shelves over the next few years. Dumba is more defensively focused now and right-shot defensemen are harder to come by for buyers at any point in the year.

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