Last week, the John Klingberg era came to an end in Dallas. The unrestricted free agent found a new home in the Anaheim Ducks. It’s very common, especially in the age of the salary cap to see guys, even long time players, jump ship to another team. But here we are going to be looking at the highlights of John Klingberg in the Dallas Stars sweater.
Off to Anaheim
On July 29th, the Ducks of Anaheim signed John Klingberg to a one year, seven hundred million deal. Will most likely play alongside Cam Fowler on defense. With Klingberg unable to reach a deal with the Stars, or find a long term deal with another team, the Ducks we’re able to land the offensive defenseman and are looking forward to the addition of his talents.
“We are extremely excited to add John to our group,” Ducks General Manager Pat Verbeek said in a statement. “John is a gifted player who can quarterback a power play and give us needed scoring from the blueline. He also adds veteran leadership and character to our team.”
Eight years in Dallas
John Klingberg spent his first eight career NHL seasons with the Stars. For anyone to spend that much time with one team, especially in this case where Klingberg only played for one team, that player will have made an impact with those fans. Klingberg will be missed not only for his on ice production, but by all the fans that cheered him on for almost a decade. Whether it was from his play, signing autographs, or meeting fans anywhere in the Dallas community.
Game 6 vs Nashville Predators
John Klingberg’s highlight of his time with the Dallas Stars is undoubtedly his shot in the playoffs vs a division rival. Up there games to two, and a chance to move on to round two, John Klingberg caught a pass to the right of Preds goalie Pekka Rinne,and shot it past him in overtime of game six to push the Stars past Nashville. A wild card team knocking off the central division champs.
Offensive defenseman
For a team that has spent the last five seasons looking for more offense, John Klingberg was often the guy who would step up. With great scoring abilities comes great in game instincts.
“John Klingberg has instincts about where he needs to go, where the puck might go, and where everyone is expecting him and/or the puck to go at any given time. All hockey players have such instincts, in fact, especially in the NHL. With Klingberg, such instinct looks less like the execution of an idea and much more like a casual reflex fueled by limitless creativity, a semiconscious flicking of the fly near one’s face while bigger things are pondered.”
Photo credit: Giphy/Dallas Stars
While nobody is quite saying John Klingberg was the second coming of Sergei Zubov, he certainly came the closest aside from maybe Miro Heiskanen. Everybody wants to have an offensive defenseman to quarterback the offense, especially on the power play. Klingberg certainly did, and he will be missed for that. As well as being brightly remembered for his jokes, and smile.
Featured photo: Tony Gutierrez/AP
