As Jim Nill builds out the 2025-26 Dallas Stars roster, he acquired some depth along the blue line in defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok.
In four years at the NHL level, Kolyachonok has played in 74 games, totaling four goals and 10 assists with 75 blocked shots. He appeared in a career-high 35 games between his stints with Utah and Pittsburgh last year in which he tallied seven points and blocked 31 shots while averaging 12:20 of ice time in Utah and 14:20 in Pittsburgh.
Here are five things to know about the Stars’ 24-year-old defenseman who will be competing for a depth spot along Dallas’ blue line.
1. The basics
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Name: Vladislav Kolyachonok
Position: Defenseman Shoots: Left
Birthday: May 26, 2001
Hometown: Minsk, Belarus
Drafted: Florida Panthers, 2nd round of 2019 NHL draft
2. How he got to Dallas
With the Stars in a cap crunch, they needed to dump Matt Dumba’s contract. They accomplished that in a deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins, sending Dumba and a 2028 second-round pick to the Penguins in exchange for Kolyachonok.
Dumba had a year left on his contract with a $3.75 million cap hit and the deal made the Stars cap compliant. Kolyachonok has one year left on his deal and makes the league minimum $775,000.
3. Already a team leader in this stat
Kolyachonok instantly becomes the longest name on the Stars roster at 20 letters.
For the record, the pronunciation is: “koh-lee-ah-CHOHN-ahk,” according to NHL pronunciation guides.
4. One of the few NHL players from Belarus
In a league filled with foreign players, there aren’t many guys that share Kolyachonok’s home country. He is one of just seven active players from Belarus in the NHL.
The others are: Calgary forward Yegor Sharangovich, Washington forward Aliaksei Protas, Chicago defenseman Artyom Levshunov, Calgary defenseman Ilya Solovyov, Canucks goalie Nikita Tolopilo and Philadelphia goalie Alexei Kolosov.
5. Where he’s been
The Florida Panthers selected Kolyachonok with the 52nd pick in the 2019 NHL draft, but never suited up for their NHL squad. In July 2021, Kolyachonok was traded to the Arizona Coyotes, where he made his NHL debut in the 2021-22 season.
He remained with the Arizona franchise through its relocation to Utah until the Utah Hockey Club placed him on waivers during the 2024-25 season. Kolyachonok landed in Pittsburgh when the Penguins claimed him off waivers from Utah on Feb. 10, 2025.
After the offseason trade to the Stars, he begins a stint with his fourth different franchise (and fifth city) in Dallas.
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