Grading Matt Dumba trade between Stars, Penguins

Yahoo

18-07-2025

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The Dallas Stars and Pittsburgh Penguins have completed a trade in this NHL offseason. The Stars have traded Matt Dumba to the Penguins. This was a necessary trade for Dallas, but one that could have benefited both teams.
Dumba was the seventh overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft by the Minnesota Wild. He would break into the NHL for the first time in the 2013-14 season, but spent part of the next year in the AHL as well. The Canadian became a top-two defender in his time with the Wild. His best campaign was in 2017-18, when he played all 82 games and had 50 points. He also developed into a leader with the franchise. The defender would win the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for leadership on and off the ice in 2020. Still, the Wild would not re-sign him in the summer of 2023, and he signed a one-year deal with the Arizona Coyotes. The Coyotes would trade him to the Lightning during the season. After his contract expired, he signed a two-year deal with the Stars last offseason.
Now, Dumba will be playing with his fifth team in his NHL career. He was sent along with a second-round draft pick in the 2028 NHL draft to Pittsburgh. In return, Dallas received Vladislav Kolyachonok. Kolyachonok is a defender who was drafted by the Florida Panthers but spent time in the NHL with the Coyotes/Utah Hockey Club and the Penguins.
The Stars dump salary
After Dallas traded away Mason Marchment, it was rumored that general manager Jim Nill would be making more moves. He has lived up to that rumor. The Stars were in a precarious cap situation. They were nearly $2 million over the cap and needed to make a move to get back under before the start of the season. Trading away the $3.75 million contract of Dumba puts them back under the cap, and gives them just under $2 million to still work with.
Further, the Stars may have upgraded long-term. The former first-round pick of the Wild is not the same level of defender as he used to be. He still stops the rush well, but many of his other defensive stats are down. He had become a top-four defender in the NHL, but is not anymore. His shots blocked and hits have both declined. He is also taking more hits, while he had the most giveaways of his career this year.
His offense has also been on the decline. He was once a 50-point scorer and regularly scored in the high 20s. Over the past three seasons, he has not scored more than 15 points in a year. This year was one of his worst, with just one goal and nine assists. Meanwhile, the Stars snag a player on an expiring contract in Kolyachonok. Still, he is just 24, and if Dallas chooses to keep him around, he could develop into a solid defender.
He is not a major offensive threat, but he has improved year over year in that category. Further, he has shown he can block shots and create takeaways. This past year, he had 32 shots blocked in just 35 games. If he can develop into a bottom-four defender, Nill may have pulled another steal.
The Penguins make a confusing move
The Penguins lost a prospect who has been moved around a fair amount. If he does not develop into a regular NHL player, general manager Kyle Dubas will not be praised for the move. Still, they only got back a second-round pick for helping the Stars with their cap situation. While a second-round pick can be great in a deep draft, such as is expected in the 2026 NHL draft, he got a 2028 selection.
What makes this deal more confusing is that Dumba is a declining defender and regularly plays on the right side of the defense. That is the same position as Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, and Connor Clifton. Letang or Clifton could move to the left side, but, like their new acquisition, they are aging as well. Karlsson, Letang, Clifton, and Dumba are all 30 or older. If the Penguins were trying to reach the salary cap floor, this would have made more sense, but they are well above that.
Further, if they were getting a pick in next year's draft, it would have been a more valuable trade. Instead, they bring in a declining defender for a 2028 pick. The only saving grace is the fact that his contract is expiring this year.
Final thoughts and grade on Matt Dumba trade
The Stars needed to make this move. They no longer needed Dumba on their roster, and they needed to make room under the salary cap. The Stars did lose a second-round draft pick, but that is not until 2028. That will give them time to recover that pick as the class gets evaluated closer to their draft time. Meanwhile, they get a prospect that may or may not work out.
The Penguins lost on this trade. They still have some solid players, although contention for the playoffs seems unlikely. Pittsburgh will be finishing off the final years of Sidney Crosby, looking towards the future without him. They may be in the running for Gavin McKenna, the top prospect in the 2026 NHL Draft, but a pick in this upcoming draft would have been more valuable than one three years from now. Overall, Nill showed why he has won the GM of the Year award three times, while Dubas may have shown the Penguins' plan on tanking.
Dallas Stars Grade: A
Pittsburgh Penguins Grade: D+
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