Matt Dumba announces retirement from NHL after 13 seasons
Veteran defenseman Matt Dumba officially announced his retirement from the National Hockey League on Friday after 13 seasons with the Minnesota Wild, Arizona Coyotes, Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars, and Pittsburgh Penguins.
Dumba spent the bulk of his career with the Wild, who selected him with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft. The Regina, Sask. product appeared in parts of 10 seasons with the Wild between 2013 and 2023, collecting 236 points in 598 games with the club.
The 32-year-old defenseman most recently played with the Penguins organization during the 2025-26 season, appearing in 11 NHL games with Pittsburgh and an additional 27 games with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
A standout with the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels and Portland Winterhawks, as well as with Team Canada at the 2014 IIHF World Junior Championship, Dumba remained a premier offensive defenseman through his early years with the Wild, most notably collecting 50 points in 82 games in 2017-18. Although a series of injuries limited his effectiveness later in his tenure, Dumba still served as an alternate captain in his final two seasons in Minnesota.
Dumba signed with the Coyotes as an unrestricted free agent from the Wild in 2023 and split the 2023-24 season between Arizona and Tampa Bay, making his ninth and final Stanley Cup Playoff appearance with the Lightning that spring. He joined the Stars as a UFA ahead of the 2024-25 season but was limited to reserve duty down the stretch and did not appear in any of Dallas’s 18 playoff games; the following summer, the Stars traded Dumba to the Penguins, with whom he played out the rest of his contract.
In 748 career NHL games over parts of 15 seasons in Minnesota, Arizona, Tampa Bay, Dallas, and Pittsburgh, Dumba collected 85 goals, 261 points, and 558 penalty minutes. He added five goals and 15 points in 54 playoff contests with the Wild and Lightning.
