Confirmed with Link: Leafs sign RHD John Klingberg (1 year, $4.15M) | UPD 11/23: LTIR

[Cleetus]

Yeah, but Toronto offered the deal to ROR and he chose Nashville over us. I would have wanted him back too.

posters have to see that he did not want to be a maple leaf!

 

[Menzinger]

I honestly like this signing a lot more than most people. This team needs more skating and more skill from the backend. He brings that to the 2nd/3rd pairing.

I never expected him to be a target but it makes sense. For 1 year, this is a very good move to give us more puck movement.

There's a lot of upside to Klingberg bouncing back. He wouldn't be the first player in the NHL to do so.

I'm coming around to it more. It's definitely the best Leafs move of the day and ultimately no risk long term

 

[Martin Skoula]

Yeah, but Toronto offered the deal to ROR and he chose Nashville over us. I would have wanted him back too.

We won’t ever know what the conditions for ROR returning were but between offering an extra year, NTC, 100-300k extra per year, better signing bonus structure, trading one of the core earlier and setting a clear direction to success, a coaching change, doing literally anything to show him we’re serious instead of running every major part of the team back, I think he could have been convinced.

I don’t blame him for not wanting to come back to a team that seems to have absolutely no idea what it wants to be or what it’s building to.

I’m glad someone finally identified another offensive D as a priority but getting a dollar store Karlsson to kind of plug the hole for a season is more of the same mediocre problem solving we’ve seen this era.

 

[Dekes For Days]

Well they are neck and neck in playoff suspensions...

That's actually one of the few things Kadri leads in.

 

[thusk]

Klingberg’s career average time on ice is almost 23 minutes a night. He’s not playing with Giordano on a sheltered third pairing.

Also hopefully Giordano retires or is a #7.

You know between 2020-2022, Sergachev was playing 22 min by game playing most of the time on 3 rd pair


A smooth skater who can join the rush and help in theboffensive side playing with a slow D but still able to play defensive side, blocking shot..

But i still think need need a physical D to play with rielly

 

[Stephen]

We won’t ever know what the conditions for ROR returning were but between offering an extra year, NTC, 100-300k extra per year, better signing bonus structure, trading one of the core earlier and setting a clear direction to success, a coaching change, doing literally anything to show him we’re serious instead of running every major part of the team back, I think he could have been convinced.

I don’t blame him for not wanting to come back to a team that seems to have absolutely no idea what it wants to be or what it’s building to.

The simple answer is it didn't work out with ROR and the Leafs spent their ROR budget on something different. I would have liked to have kept ROR too, but failing that I'm glad they spent the money on a piece with some upside.

 

[KPower]

Brutal contract, bad start for Tre.

 

[Martin Skoula]

The simple answer is it didn't work out with ROR and the Leafs spent their ROR budget on something different. I would have liked to have kept ROR too, but failing that I'm glad they spent the money on a piece with some upside.

If you get dumped once, yeah it’s reasonable to say it just didn’t work out, onto the next one. We seem to be paying for a lot of dinners but not getting any second dates, when do you start asking whether it’s something about us that’s causing this?

Oh well I bet Klingberg has a great personality for a backup choice.

 

[danny90]

This means that Matthews, Marner and Nylander will all need to backcheck.

? this was a complaint when they were rookies maybe but Matthews and Marner are both known for strong defensive play and Nylander has been consistent in the takeaway department.

 

[TMLAM34]

You know between 2020-2022, Sergachev was playing 22 min by game playing most of the time on 3 rd pair


A smooth skater who can join the rush and help in theboffensive side playing with a slow D but still able to play defensive side, blocking shot.. and keefe will be able

But i still think need need a physical D to play with rielly

We definitely need someone to play with Rielly. There really isn’t much left through free agency. With the way this off-season is going, Treliving will probably just sign Hamonic. Lmao

 

[Stephen]

If you get dumped once, yeah it’s reasonable to say it just didn’t work out, onto the next one. We seem to be paying for a lot of dinners but not getting any second dates, when do you start asking whether it’s something about us that’s causing this?

All well and good but to use your analogy you can’t blame Klingberg for giving us a shot just because we’ve had some bad breakups.

 

[Maple Leaf]

Brutal contract, bad start for Tre. it is only one year

 

[Martin Skoula]

All well and good but to use your analogy you can’t blame Klingberg for giving us a shot just because we’ve had some bad breakups.

I guess that’s the crux of why this seems so bad, how did we get to the point that a guy who, if he has another bad season could realistically end up in Europe or as a piece for Arizona/Chicago to reach the cap floor with, has to give US a shot rather than the other way around?

 

[thusk]

We definitely need someone to play with Rielly. There really isn’t much left through free agency. With the way this off-season is going, Treliving will probably just sign Hamonic. Lmao

Personally, would not be against signing hamonic at good price 2m or less... still better than schenn at 3,25 or 7 year contract of mayfield

 

[Dekes For Days]

I guess that’s the crux of why this seems so bad, how did we get to the point that a guy who, if he has another bad season could realistically end up in Europe or as a piece for Arizona/Chicago to reach the cap floor with, has to give US a shot rather than the other way around?

And why are we paying 4.15m for them to give us a shot, especially when we know they were horrible to their previous partner.

 

[TheDoldrums]

Its difficult to understand why Klingberg get this and Gustaffson gets $850k

 

[Future]

I hope you're right, I really do. It's nice to see some positivity in this thread.

I was saying at the end of last season that we needed to add a true PP QB and shooting threat on the blue line. At that time I liked Klingberg and Chychrun for this role.

It’s no secret that we’ve largely struggled to score in the playoffs. Looking into it further, the stats show how poor the Leafs power play has been in the playoffs.

I think a factor could be that they’re too predictable in a 7-game series. You’re able to be more aggressive on the walls to take time and space away from Marner & Matthews because you know you won’t be punished by Morgan Rielly. Rielly is a great player but he doesn’t walk the line well or present a viable shooting threat. For him to score, it takes a perfect screen or tip. The power play is missing a QB worthy of respect, that can beat your goalie clean. Klingberg is that guy.

You can point to the Tampa series where Rielly was exceptional and scored multiple goals and that’s true. But that wasn’t really the norm when you consider the bigger picture with Rielly, and our entire defense in general struggles to get pucks through to create high danger opportunities.

I also think Sandin was our best or at least most deceptive passer on the blueline. Timmins was okay in that area as well. But Klingberg is on another level.

 

[Gabriel426]

ROR walked away from a Toronto offer that was similar to Nashville's, so how could he be counted?

Reaves is not the best at over a million. Kampf is probably overpaid by $500K and a year too long.

But while we're counting our last $500K in cap space we also have a $4.7 million goalie, vanity bet gone wrong.

I think Leafs could had afford both ROR and Acciari and I would bet that even Schenn too if Leafs add another year or two to lower the caphit.

The fact that they left the Leafs showed they don’t want to be here. The question is why?

 

[Sypher04]

I was saying at the end of last season that we needed to add a true PP QB and shooting threat on the blue line. At that time I liked Klingberg and Chychrun for this role.

It’s no secret that we’ve largely struggled to score in the playoffs. Looking into it further, the stats show how poor the Leafs power play has been in the playoffs.

I think a factor could be that they’re too predictable in a 7-game series. You’re able to be more aggressive on the walls to take time and space away from Marner & Matthews because you know you won’t be punished by Morgan Rielly. Rielly is a great player but he doesn’t walk the line well or present a viable shooting threat. For him to score, it takes a perfect screen or tip. The power play is missing a QB worthy of respect, that can beat your goalie clean. Klingberg is that guy.

You can point to the Tampa series where Rielly was exceptional and scored multiple goals and that’s true. But that wasn’t really the norm when you consider the bigger picture with Rielly, and our entire defense in general struggles to get pucks through to create high danger opportunities.

I also think Sandin was our best or at least most deceptive passer on the blueline. Timmins was okay in that area as well. But Klingberg is on another level.

I actually don’t think Sandin did literally a single thing better than Rielly. I think Rielly is a very underrated player by many in this market, but he needs help. Our offense from the backend has been abysmal for at least the last two years.

 

[Future]

Its difficult to understand why Klingberg get this and Gustaffson gets $850k

Different stratosphere in talent level. The Stars wanted to lock him up long term at over 7m per at one point, but he made a bad bet on himself in Anaheim. We’re talking a premier player and one bad 3/4 year playing for one of the worst defensive teams of all time under a clueless coach.

 

[Brobust]

How does Klingberg help our transition game? He’s good from the point, that doesn’t mean he’s good from behind his goal line.

You're kidding, right?

Klingberg is one of the best in the league at moving the puck.

 

[Sypher04]

Personally, would not be against signing hamonic at good price 2m or less... still better than schenn at 3,25 or 7 year contract of mayfield

Wait, is Hamonic a ufa?

 

[Brobust]

Klingberg can be another option for Marner and Willy’s superior creativity and as a result open up Matthews for different launching spots

Lindell - Klingberg as a pairing didn't work too well even though I liked Klingberg individually.

I think McCabe is significantly better than Lindell, so hopefully the results are better.

 

[Rare Jewel]

Different stratosphere in talent level. The Stars wanted to lock him up long term at over 7m per at one point, but he made a bad bet on himself in Anaheim. We’re talking a premier player and one bad 3/4 year playing for one of the worst defensive teams of all time under a clueless coach.

That goal vs. Wpg.

Deary me.

 

[Dreakmur]

Its difficult to understand why Klingberg get this and Gustaffson gets $850k

One guy is has been a top-4 defenseman for every season of his 9 year career. The other guy has been a top-4 for one full seasons and two partial seasons.