Matt Nieto announces retirement from NHL after 12 seasons

A gritty veteran is moving on from his playing days.

Longtime forward Matt Nieto announced via Instagram on Monday that he is retiring from the NHL.

Nieto, 33, most recently played for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2024-25 season, in which he had a goal and two assists for three points in 32 games. He also put up three goals and four assists for seven points in 15 games for Pittsburgh’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

The Long Beach, California native took last season off, and has now decided to hang up his skates for good.

In his announcement, Nieto expressed his reasons for retiring.

“After 12 years in the NHL, I’m officially announcing my retirement from hockey,” Nieto wrote. “The last few years, I’ve battled injuries that made playing hockey at the highest level difficult. I took last season off and did everything I could to find my way back. I’m not stepping away because I stopped loving hockey. I’m stepping away because I loved it enough to give it everything I had.”

Nieto was forced to deal with serious injuries in the latter portion of his career, including missing roughly a calendar year (from November 2023 until November 2024) due to knee injuries that required surgery.

Initially selected by the San Jose Sharks in the second round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, Nieto played for three teams over his 12-year career, including two stints with the Sharks, two stints with the Colorado Avalanche, and the Penguins.

Nieto finishes his career with 87 goals and 119 assists for 206 points over 705 games played.

He also made it clear in his announcement that while his playing days are over, the game of hockey will never leave him.

“Hockey will always be a part of who I am,” he stated. “It’s been a part of my life ever since I was a three-year-old kid playing roller hockey in California. I’ll always be thankful for everything this game has given me. I’m not saying goodbye to hockey, just to being a player.”