Matt Dumba Swatch Card

Mathew Dumba is one of almost too many prized prospects coming up the ranks in the Minnesota Wild organization. The 6-foot, 185-pound defenseman chosen 7th-overall in 2012 - ahead of Jacob Trouba (9th), Filip Forsberg (11th), Mikhail Grigorenko (12th), Cody Ceci (15th), Tomas Hertl (17th), Teuvo Teravainen (18th), Scott Laughton (20th), Olli Maata (22nd), Malcolm Subban (24th), and Tanner Pearson (30th) - comes with an impressive resume, having captained Team Canada at U-18 tournaments and winning a bronze medal with the team.

We're talking about the almost-perfect current-day NHL defenseman: booming slap shot, dazzling speed, and a knack for open-ice ''big'' hits. All he needs is to put on maybe 25 to 30 pounds and he'll be all he can be. Whether that happens with the Wild's stacked defense remains to be seen, though...

Because he played 13 games last season, he still qualifies for all rookie honors, but is now considered in his second contract year. While with the Wild, he was loaned to the Canadian team for the World Juniors, but the team finished in fourth place; he was also traded from the Red Deer Rebels, with whom he'd spent his previous 4 WHL seasons, to the Portland Winterhawks, with whom he was a point-per-game player from the back end.

Here he is with the Wild's green alternate uniform, from Panini's 2013-14 Titanium set (card #RG-MDB of the Rookie Gear sub-set, part of the Dual Rookie Class), with a matching event-worn swatch:

I like that almost every single picture he's in shows him with stoner eyes. I had made custom cards to have signed by him last year, I forget if I sent them or not.