- Matt Nieto is retiring after 12 NHL seasons and 705 games
- Injuries forced the 33-year-old to sit out all of last season
- Read below for his full message and a hat trick video from his Avalanche days
Matt Nieto is done playing hockey.
The veteran forward announced his retirement Monday on Instagram, closing out a 705-game NHL career split between the Sharks, Avalanche and Penguins. The 33-year-old said his body simply wouldn’t let him keep going.
Nieto explained why he’s stepping away now:
“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.”
Here’s his full announcement:
Knee trouble was the big one. Nieto missed roughly a full calendar year, from November 2023 to November 2024, after surgery. He got into 32 games with Pittsburgh in 2024-25 and put up three points, plus seven more in 15 games with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, before sitting out all of 2025-26.
San Jose drafted the Long Beach, California native in the second round, 47th overall, in 2011. Nieto came through the U.S. National Team Development Program and played three seasons at Boston University before cracking the Sharks’ roster in the fall of 2013. He had 24 points as a rookie.
That was it for the minors. Nieto never topped 27 points in a season, but he went about a decade without playing an AHL game, sticking around as a quick, reliable bottom-six forward who could kill penalties.
His best regular-season night came with Colorado on Oct. 24, 2017, when he scored the first hat trick of his career in a 5-3 win over the Stars. Watch the hat trick:
Spring was when he showed up most. In 2019, Nieto scored four goals and seven points in 12 playoff games for the Avalanche, matching the goal total from his 64 regular-season games. Two of those came shorthanded in back-to-back games against Calgary in the first round.
He finishes with 87 goals, 119 assists and 206 points in the regular season, along with 21 points in 62 playoff games. Nieto had two stints each in San Jose and Colorado before wrapping up in Pittsburgh.
Nieto is the second longtime NHL forward to walk away this month, after Kevin Hayes called it a career following 805 games.
In his post, Nieto said the game isn’t leaving his life, even if his playing days are over:
“Hockey will always be a part of who I am. It’s been a part of my life ever since I was a 3 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.”
