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Confirmed with Link: Klingberg signs in Edmonton

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When the Klingberg talk first broke out, I figured he was near sure thing for us, but also tempered my expectations if he did come here as to not expect top 4 play. But man, the more I see on this guy the more excited I am. Louie was on Oilersnation Everyday today and brought up his past physicality as well as his offense. Has had his run ins with Tkachuk, which any enemy of Matthew is a friend of mine.

Man, if he really is feeling better than ever this could be so huge for us. If he looks mobile in practice, I wouldn't mind a bit of a D shake up for a few games.

Nurse-Bouch
Ekholm-Klingberg
Kulak-Emberson

Bouch-Nurse have been good this year in limited mins, and tbh Ekholm is looking more his age lately. Nurses skating should help, and Bouch's breakout and shot cover Nurse's biggest weaknesses. I'd also like to see that pairing more for Bouchards contract negotiations.

Then you pair the Swedes together, and it gives Ek a bit of a break in minutes to keep him fresh. I think Nurse has a case to be as good or better than any of our D this year, but he isnt the best partner for someone coming back and looking to fit in and whom you'd want to build confidence in quickly. A couple classic Nurse gaffes end up in the back of the net, and you don't know how Klingberg who's new here and hasn't played in 14 months will react. Give him the steady vet that I believe he has played with before, internationally(?), and it helps both guys out imo.

Then just what we all expect for the 3rd pairing.

Try him and Nurse out when he shows he is up to speed, we still have 16 games until TDL to do a little experimenting here while giving Ek a much needed break imo.
 
Mr Positive said:


It definitely feels like we've maybe underestimated how big a deal this surgery was for him. He says he's been playing through pain his entire career and now there is none
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His explanation about how his declining mobility (over the last few years) made it more difficult to play proper defence made a lot of sense.
He is certainly saying all the right things and if his surgery was as successful as he claims (and his mobility really is better than ever) then this could work out spectacularily well.
 
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guymez said:
His explanation about how his declining mobility (over the last few years) made it more difficult to play proper defence made a lot of sense.
He is certainly saying all the right things and if his surgery was as successful as he claims (and his mobility really is better than ever) then this could work out spectacularily well.
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The way he opens, you can tell this was a significant improvement to his life. Hopefully it translate on the ice, but good for him to finally through those physical difficulties.

He's previously been bad a defending zone entries, clearly the hip issue was part of that. I also appreciate that he knows he needs to better on the defensive side. I think you might be right guymez, he might be gem.
 
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Jimmi McJenkins said:
The way he opens, you can tell this was a significant improvement to his life. Hopefully it translate on the ice, but good for him to finally through those physical difficulties.
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Absolutely. You would think that he is extremely motivated.
How brilliant would it be to have the full mobility version (the early Dallas version) of Klingberg on the 2nd pairing?!
Here's hoping.
 
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alphahelix said:
Klingberg is like the height of Ekholm combined with the weight of Yamamoto and the defensive competence of Justin Schultz and the physical dominance of Linus Omark.

Or maybe not, I dunno, my judgement of him may be clouded by his hip problems. But he is lanky.
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Coached by Coffey playing in Stuart's system.

If he can't play he won't be on the ice. We've seen that with many players, including Skinner, Ryan, and Brown this year
 
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Jimmi McJenkins said:
The Oilers could have signed a 29 year old Nik Lidstrom and you would say about the same thing.
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You’re comparing Klingberg and Lidstrom? Lidstrom was shorter, heavier, better defensively, more physical and already had multiple cups and was like career +150++ by the time he was 29. Why Lidstrom, because he’s Swedish?

Theres a difference between a player who hasnt had a good season in YEARS and a player coming off back to back cups and Norris trophies. Klingberg will never win a Norris trophy, but will he dig his way out of being a career minus player? -40… thats his own personal Stanley cup.

This is a player who had his last contract cancelled, not a hall of famer.

We’re scraping the bottom of the barrel and hoping theres some useful dregs down there. I have no problem with that strategy, I’ve advocated for it before (although I’d prefer to keep the spend below 1.2M so we can bury if necessary and add big at TDL)..

…but don’t piss in the cup and call it champagne. When we sign peak Lidstrom, I’ll holla @ you and let you know.
 
TheSuperElite said:
say Klingberg works out perfectly on the second pairing - who would you snag with the rest of our cap?
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In a perfect world I still think we need a goaltender that can fill in for Skinner if he struggles. I think we need another forward that can produce. Our forwards outside of McDavid and Draisaitl aren’t scoring much.

Our PP doesn’t have the same swagger that it used to have. The league isn’t also going to do us any favours.

If we want to win, we have to put the best roster as possible. Hopefully Bowman is smart and aggressive.
 
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Morpheus said:
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So Kranken or Wings most likely.
He chose a good week to join the Oil, as the team should get a ton of practices in.

guymez said:
The Nurse/Barrie pairing which worked out well could very well become the Nurse/Klingberg pairing with similar results.
This could be interesting.
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It's something to work up to, but at least to start I think he'll be capped at about 15 min/night.
Considering Kulak is a near-perfect partner for him, I've got no problem with him being on the 3rd pairing for the first couple months.

Now that Emberson's also settled in with the team, he can get Stecher's role of starting next to Nurse and being spelled by Kulak for key situations.

Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Emberson/Kulak
Kulak-Klingberg
Stecher

Jarvi said:
When the Klingberg talk first broke out, I figured he was near sure thing for us, but also tempered my expectations if he did come here as to not expect top 4 play. But man, the more I see on this guy the more excited I am. Louie was on Oilersnation Everyday today and brought up his past physicality as well as his offense. Has had his run ins with Tkachuk, which any enemy of Matthew is a friend of mine.

...
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Imo the biggest thing he gives the Oil is someone that can control the play from blueline. Something they haven't had since... Vishnovsky? Schultz got to that level in Pittsburgh, but failed to show it here.

Bouchard and Barrie both have a ton of talent, but neither really attacks and works to break down defences. (A healthy) Klingberg controls the play far more like a Doughty or Karlsson, where they love to hold the puck, walk the line, and get defenders out of position.
 
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