Penguins acquire defenseman Matt Dumba from Stars

The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired defenseman Matt Dumba and a second-round selection in the 2028 NHL Draft from the Dallas Stars in exchange for defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok.

This transaction follows a pattern established last offseason by Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas in acquiring veterans with large contracts along with relatively high draft picks from teams trying to create salary cap space.

A right-handed shot, Dumba appeared in 63 games last season and scored 10 points (one goal, nine assists) while averaging 15 minutes, 18 seconds of ice time.

Dallas goal!

Scored by Jason Robertson with 01:07 remaining in the 2nd period.

Assisted by Mathew Dumba and Mikko Rantanen.

Dallas: 3
Utah: 4#UTAvsDAL #TexasHockey #UtahHC pic.twitter.com/ozzW3oYy18

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) April 13, 2025

During the postseason, Dumba was a healthy scratch for all 18 of the Stars’ games.

Dumba, who turns 31 on July 25, is entering the final year of a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $3.75 million.

A Regina, Saskatchewan native, Dumba (6-foot-1, 185 pounds) was a first-round draft pick (No. 7 overall) of the Minnesota Wild in 2012. In addition to the Wild and Stars, Dumba has skated for the Arizona Coyotes and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Kolyachonok’s tenure with the Penguins was brief after the club claimed him off waivers from the Utah Hockey Club on Feb. 9.

In 12 games with the Penguins, the left-handed Kolyachonok (6-foot-2, 195 pounds) recorded two assists while averaging 14:20 of ice time.

Of a possible 25 games with the Penguins, Kolyachonok was scratched for 13.

Kolyachonok, 24, is entering the final year of a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $775,000.

Following this transaction, the Penguins have $12,066,904 of salary cap space, according to PuckPedia.

Over the past 13 months, the Penguins regularly have pursued trades along these parameters.

In June 2024, the Penguins brought on forward Kevin Hayes and a 2025 second-round selection from the St. Louis Blues for future considerations.

A little less than two months later, the Penguins acquired forward Cody Glass along with a third-round selection in 2025 and a sixth-rounder in 2026 from the Predators in exchange for low-level forward prospect Jordan Frasca.

As recently as June 28, on the second day of the NHL Draft, the Penguins added veteran defenseman Connor Clifton and a second-round pick (used to select defenseman Peyton Kettles) from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for defenseman Conor Timmins and defensive prospect Issac Belliveau.

With Dumba on board, the Penguins have four veteran right-handed defensemen signed to NHL contracts: Clifton, Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang as well as reserves Phil Kemp and Jack St. Ivany. Additionally, rising prospect Harrison Brunicke figures to make a push in training camp.

The left side of the blue line includes veterans Alex Alexeyev, Ryan Graves, Ryan Shea and Parker Wotherspoon along with reserves Sebastian Aho and Caleb Jones. Another prospect, 2022 first-round draft pick (No. 21 overall) Owen Pickering, could make a push for a permanent roster spot as well after making his NHL debut last season.