Matt Dumba Discusses Taking on a New Role With the Penguins in His 13th NHL Season
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As Matt Dumba embarks on his 13th NHL season he recently discussed taking on a new role with the Penguins after being a star in the league for many years.
This summer, the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Matt Dumba in a trade with the Dallas Stars.
When Dumba signed with the Stars he was expected to be the high level star type player that fans knew him to be for close to a decade with the Minnesota Wild.
Dumba, despite playing almost every night, failed to live up to expectations and as a result was dealt to Pittsburgh.
Now with Pittsburgh, Dumba has taken on a depth role playing sparingly for the Penguins which has been a major adjustment.
This evening, Dumba addressed handling that adjustment and being the best player he can in this fresh start with Pittsburgh.
Matt Dumba Opens Up About New Opportunity With the Penguins
First, Dumba spoke about what went wrong for him last season and admitted he holds himself to a higher standard than he showed with Dallas.
At the end of the day, when I look back and reflect, a lot of different variables that went into last year and the season that I had. I wasn't happy with that. I had to look in the mirror this summer, challenge myself and understand that that's not good enough
Although Dumba has seen the lineup sparingly so far under head coach Dan Muse he has a plan of attack for when he does finally get his next opportunity.
Just be a dog. Bring that tenacity, that intangible but also I think I trust my skills that I can make plays with the puck and jump into plays. There's a lot of great guys on this team with exceptional vision, so moving your feet and getting to those holes creates opportunities. You've just got to seize those.
At the moment, the Penguins remain relatively healthy on defense but if someone goes down Dumba will likely be the first one to get an opportunity and that will be a moment he absolutely has to seize if he wants to prove he still belongs in the NHL.
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