Penguins acquire Matt Dumba, 2nd round pick from Dallas

Pittsburgh adds veteran defender in summer move with Stars

The Penguins have acquired defenseman Matt Dumba from Dallas.

Dumba was once a good player, very good even with a 50-point season in 2017-18 and he was even a major driver of offense as late as 2021.

Those days are long over, though. Since leaving Minnesota in 2023 and playing for three different teams (Arizona, Tampa, Dallas), it’s been tough going for Dumba, ending with the Stars having to attach a second round pick to drop him.

This move is mostly a salary cap dumb for Dallas, who need wiggle room and can’t afford the luxury of paying Dumba’s $3.8 million salary cap hit to stick around given those limited results. Dumba only managed one goal and nine assists in a role with a 15:18 per game average with the Stars last season and was a healthy scratch for their entire playoff run.

The Penguins will have to be hoping for some bounce-back and redemption on the ice so that come February or March a playoff team out there will be looking for a gritty, right shot defender to add depth to their squad. Dumba’s got the experience going for him (54 playoff games) and could be able to help someone (or at least give the impression he’s worth picking up) much the way Pittsburgh flipped Luke Schenn for a second and fourth round pick at last deadline.

The Pens send young defender Vladislav Kolyachonok to Dallas in the deal. Kolyachonok was picked up off waivers and played uneven at best in a 12 games sample. He can skate but his puck skill and decision making out there is spotty, and the Pens clearly have enough players in that mold having signed Ryan Shea, Parker Wortherspoon and Alexander Alexeyev as left handed depth options for next season. Kolyachonok would have been the odd man out sooner than later during training camp, easy come easy go there.

Acquiring Dumba could foretell of another move still to come, being as the Pens are overloaded with right shot defenders. Between Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Connor Clifton and prospect Harrison Brunicke, Pittsburgh was already set at that spot. Adding Dumba to the mix crowds the picture that much more.

For now, though, the Pens had plenty of cap space. The Stars didn’t. The Stars had a somewhat expensive player that they didn’t need, and the Penguins certainly can find a spot for him somewhere in their lineup, much like they did with Cody Glass and Kevin Hayes last year as players that teams paid assets to get rid of. The Pens are still collecting the junk players in order to compile more draft picks.