The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired defenseman Mathew 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 15:18 of ice time per contest.
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
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 native of Regina Saskatchewan, 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 of those contests.
Kolyachonok, 24, is entering the final year of a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $775,000.
Over the past 13 months, the Penguins have regularly pursued trades along these parameters.
In June of 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 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.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at [email protected].