Defenseman Matt Dumba is now a member of the Arizona Coyotes. It turned out the Coyotes' promising young core and a chance to take on a bigger leadership role lured Dumba to Arizona.

Dumba shared his thoughts on signing with the Coyotes, per the team's official Twitter PR account.

How can Matt Dumba help the Coyotes in the 2023-24 NHL season?

Matt Dumba signed a one-year, $3.9 million deal with the Coyotes on Sunday. While Dumba is just 29 years old, he enters his 11th NHL season in 2023. His veteran smarts and savvy will serve a young Coyotes team well this year.

Dumba, an alternate captain the previous two seasons, was leaning toward re-signing with the Wild for an 11th straight year. Unfortunately, Minnesota's salary cap issues prevented that from happening.

Dumba is a veteran two-way defenseman who gives the Coyotes another scoring option. He had 18 points on four goals and 14 assists for Minnesota in the 2022-23 NHL season. Dumba previously scored more than 10 goals during a four-season span for the Wild from 2015 to 2018

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“He is a talented, reliable physical defenseman who competes hard every night and will contribute offensively,” Arizona general manager Bill Armstrong said in a statement ESPN obtained on Monday. “He is also a great leader who will add a veteran presence to our blue line. We are very excited to have him on our team this season.”

Dumba joins a Coyotes blue line that also includes Sean Durzi, Alex Kerfoot, Nick Bjugstad, and Jason Zucker. Dumba reunites with Zucker, his teammate with the Wild from 2013 to 2019.

The Coyotes had a 28-40-14 record and missed the Stanley Cup playoffs for the 11th time in the past 12 seasons. However, if Armstrong's praise of head coach Andre Tourigny is any indication, it seems Arizona is headed in the right direction.

Adding Matt Dumba to their young core marks an important part of the Coyotes' rebuilding process.