A quality NHL veteran who spent the last two years of his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins is hanging up his skates.
Matt Nieto announced Monday that he's retiring from professional hockey.
Nieto cited injuries in his announcement that confirmed that he was done with hockey for good at age 33.
He had actually already stepped away from the game before the 2025-26 season. He wanted a full year to try and get healthy.
Evidently, that time away helped make up Nieto's mind on what comes next, and it's not a playing career.
It's worth a look to see what Nieto accomplished in his dozen seasons of NHL action.
Nieto was originally from Long Beach, California, at about the time when warm-weather locales began to produce pro hockey players.
He came up in the U.S. National Team Development Program.
From there, Nieto went to Boston University and was a star for three years.
Nieto then became a pro in 2013 and joined the San Jose Sharks .
He played in 66 games as a rookie and recorded 24 points, clearly comfortable right from the outset.
Nieto then played for the Colorado Avalanche , the Sharks again, the Avalanche again and then the Penguins.
His highest-scoring season was 2014-15 with the Sharks when he had 10 goals and 17 assists in 72 games.
Nieto then had 26 points in 2017-18 on a career-high 15 goals to go with 11 assists.
He finishes his NHL career having played in 705 games and recorded 87 goals and 119 assists — as well as 435 hits and 382 blocked shots.
Over the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, Nieto suited up for 54 games with the Penguins, and he had just two goals and five assists in that span.
After that is when Nieto decided to step away for a bit to focus on himself. And after some more chatter and some more time, Nieto decided that his decision to move away from hockey would have to be permanent.
The good news for Pittsburgh is that this isn't a sudden loss.
Nieto had been a decent player for the Penguins, but he wasn't still with the team. That season away from the NHL gave him a great chance to recognize how he truly still felt about the league, and he chose to retire rather than work to return and keep grinding.
The Penguins had no plans to use Nieto this season. He was just lingering on the open market.
Apparently, Nieto may have already made it clear that he's close to done. Otherwise, maybe someone would've signed him.
But now it's official. Nieto is retiring.
He finished his career with 87 goals and 119 assists (206 points).
The one-time No. 47 overall pick (second round) by the Sharks will sign off on his NHL career knowing he reached most of his potential.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post Penguins' 12-Year Veteran Retires At Age 33 appeared first on HEAVY .
