And then they would've lost Dumba...

They would have lost dumba or brodin. They made the best choice

Haula didn't want to be here anymore and we didn't think Tuch would be quite as good as he is. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Also I know officially we protected Brodin but I think we would have protected Dumba and might have lost Brodin if we didn't have a trade in place. Dumba is younger and has more upside.

wild were never giving haula and tuch the opportunity they have with vegas. people dont under stand that. they are good players and are looking great with vegas but with the wild they would only been a 3rd n 4th line players .

MN played the expansion draft okay. They would have had to expose (one of each) Brodin/Dumba and Staal/Zucker.
- Haula would have been the 3/4C in MN last year with no PP time (other than to account for injuries). Plus he was in the doghouse as the season ended.
- Tuch would have been used as an injury call-up in G4 (lost Granny, Coyle, Nino, and Foligno the previous game) of the season. Maybe he sticks as players get healthy and maybe he doesn't. He also looked lost on the ice the previous year when he got a cup of coffee.

- Dumba gets exposed over Brodin. Dumba was still a trainwreck in the d-zone too many times, and the Scandella/Dumba pair was ugly. Brodin's ability to play both LD/RD gave the Wild better options for the top-4 going into the next season.
- Staal gets exposed over Zucker. Cap and age/team control mainly.

Where the Wild really messed up is the Scandella/Pommer for Foligno/Ennis trade.

There isn't a person in the world with a working hockey brain that would trade Dumba for Tuch and Haula today! Fletcher was a bumble F managing the expansion process, but not because he chose to protect Dumba.