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

[al secord]

I really feel like TOR fans have found their new scapegoat/whipping boy before he even has his first practice with TOR.

It's a shame. Kris Versteeg said some good things about him and thought it was a good signing by TOR. I'll post what he said on The Fan590 later.

Hopefully it's him and not the goaltending

Play this guy on the wing
And then get a real defender

I miss those dumb Gardiner takes.

 

[Fonzieleaf]

I get people not liking the deal and we will never know for sure, but it seems pretty obvious to me that Sandin asked to be moved or had a standing agreement from his difficult RFA negotiations that if he’s not going to be a regular he’d be traded (which he wouldn’t be after McCabe and Schenn were added)

I’m not overly concerned about what Sandin may become as I think he’s a pretty flawed player, but I’d have rather let things play out. I think if we had just opted to move him without a trade request we would have targeted a different return.

That's exactly why he was moved, especially with those additions. But even before then. when you're getting scratched in favour of Justin Holl when you're the more superior defenceman, then I'd be pretty pissed off too.

 

[Puckstuff]

Play this guy on the wing
And then get a real defender

The reason we signed Klingberg at 4+ instead of Gustafson at 850 k is they believe he can be more then just a Barrie/Gus type D, who are really like forwards. If they wanted a pure OFD they could have just brought back Gus for cheap. But Klingberg has size and apparently he can be more physical and when he was on his game he was more defensively sound. It’s hard to know what we will get but it sounds like in his prime he was closer to Morgan Rielly level then Tyson Barrie.

 

[WestCoastLeafs]

Reilly, Klingberg and Lili on different pairings for puck movement. Two on the right, one on the left. One guy out there all the time.

That's what it's looking like right now. I am a little worried because that doesn't really give us a good shutdown pair. I think Gio-Lili would be the closest, but that still involves Lili taking another step. And personally, I'd like to see Gio limited to 50-60 games this year - hopefully this leaves more in the tank and he can be effective in the playoffs.

Actually, with the current D group, a huge amount comes down to how Klingberg performs. Is he just another Barrie (who got too much of a bad rap here, but definitely had his limitations), or does he show he has something more?

 

[aingefan]

That's what it's looking like right now. I am a little worried because that doesn't really give us a good shutdown pair. I think Gio-Lili would be the closest, but that still involves Lili taking another step. And personally, I'd like to see Gio limited to 50-60 games this year - hopefully this leaves more in the tank and he can be effective in the playoffs.

Actually, with the current D group, a huge amount comes down to how Klingberg performs. Is he just another Barrie (who got too much of a bad rap here, but definitely had his limitations), or does he show he has something more?

I’m with you, I don’t mind the 7 d right now. Play Lili, he’s ready and earned it. Mix in Timmins to rest Gio (and the rest) from time to time.
See what those two have, and keep their development happening. The other five have been through the wars enough to be good mentors.
And if something is glaring at the deadline, there’s lots of time to address it.
Someone’s gonna end up a public enemy tho, one way or the other.

 

[ACC1224]

It seems like a no brainer, but who knows with Keefe?

'No brainer' and Keefe go hand in hand.

 

[13pacheco31]

I’m with you, I don’t mind the 7 d right now. Play Lili, he’s ready and earned it. Mix in Timmins to rest Gio (and the rest) from time to time.
See what those two have, and keep their development happening. The other five have been through the wars enough to be good mentors.
And if something is glaring at the deadline, there’s lots of time to address it.
Someone’s gonna end up a public enemy tho, one way or the other.

I think the problem with liljigren is that he needs top 4 minutes which I don't think he'll get with this group

 

[hockeywiz542]

 

[BayStBullies]

My biggest issue with the signing is that they already have Morgan, who is worse offensively and barely better defensively. If he were gone, it would make sense. With both of them, I feel bad for the Leafs goalie.

 

[Srsly]

My biggest issue with the signing is that they already have Morgan, who is worse offensively and barely better defensively. If he were gone, it would make sense. With both of them, I feel bad for the Leafs goalie.

Rielly is better offensively than Klingberg. Klingberg was better defensively during his tenure with the Stars. I think the Leafs are gambling on the Ducks making him look worse than he is.

 

[Martin Skoula]

The reason we signed Klingberg at 4+ instead of Gustafson at 850 k is they believe he can be more then just a Barrie/Gus type D, who are really like forwards. If they wanted a pure OFD they could have just brought back Gus for cheap. But Klingberg has size and apparently he can be more physical and when he was on his game he was more defensively sound. It’s hard to know what we will get but it sounds like in his prime he was closer to Morgan Rielly level then Tyson Barrie.

Gus Barrie and Klingberg are completely different players. “OFD” might be my most hated hockey term, it communicates almost no info other than the player is likely bad defensively.

Gus and Barrie are puck dominant breakout machines that need to skate with it to be effective, their shots from the point aren’t anything crazy and they get their points either off the transition or by pinching into quiet spots on the ice for a shot from the circles like Rielly.

Klingberg shoots pucks from the point, he’s not running your transition game or skating the puck from the D zone to the offensive blue line most possessions, he should never be below the circles or god forbid behind the opponents net like the other 3. He’s a better skating Franson that likes to take more gambles, and that’s not an insult because we need a guy like that on our PP.

We did not sign him for his defense or physicality in any way, he just plays a completely different role offensively than Gus, Barrie, or Rielly do. Liljegren is the only one with any semblance of being a threat from distance and he’s still somewhere between a skating PMD and a big stationary artillery piece like Kling/Franson/Kubina/McCabe.

 

[MilkofthePoppy]

I like this signing. Our offense from defense last year was woeful. This directly addresses that need.

 

[Stephen]

Rielly is better offensively than Klingberg. Klingberg was better defensively during his tenure with the Stars. I think the Leafs are gambling on the Ducks making him look worse than he is.

I think we'll find that Rielly and Klingberg are different offensive defensemen. Rielly is more of a puck rusher and relatively poor distributor along the blueline, whereas Klingberg will be able to walk the line, distribute and give us the poor man's John Carlson look of being a rangy RHD with a shot from the point.

 

[BM14]

43 pts this season with a +4 rating. Book it.

 

[Sypher04]

For people wigging out about his defense (largely due to his horrible plus minus the last few years), I’m just gonna post this here again.

Klingberg: 21gp, 3g, 10a, +5 (with Minnesota, regular season and playoffs combined)

 

[mydnyte]

Klingberg has tons of potential with our team
He was the #1D on Dallas (paired with a defensive specialist) before Heiskanen showed up
We may not be getting the 60+ point version, but 40+ should be simple for him, maybe even on the PP alone if he gets to QB the #1 (which he should).
He'll likely be paired with McCabe, and hopefully, that will cause McCabe to stay back, and just defend.
But, i expect/hope more changes to the D are still to come.

 

[banks]

It's going to be a bumpy ride. I think the recent memory of Tyson Barrie still has me scared about someone described as "offense only". But I'll save my panicked criticism for now.

He played a ton of minutes with Anaheim, probably being asked to do way too much. Maybe here he'll be given a more reasonable assignment and he can make it work. He certainly adds an element to the blueline that Toronto could use.

 

[notbias]

For people wigging out about his defense (largely due to his horrible plus minus the last few years), I’m just gonna post this here again.

Klingberg: 21gp, 3g, 10a, +5 (with Minnesota, regular season and playoffs combined)

More scoring chances happen against him when he is on the ice than for McDavid when McDavid is on the ice... that should mean something.

He may end up being a sheltered 6th D who can run a PP, or he may rebound, but he is BADDDDDD defensively.

Low risk because it is one year, and it is a high reward, but let's not pretend he is anything more than a liability defensively recently.

Having said that, it could change in a different system, and he wasn't always terrible.

 

[Guy Boucher]

For people wigging out about his defense (largely due to his horrible plus minus the last few years), I’m just gonna post this here again.

Klingberg: 21gp, 3g, 10a, +5 (with Minnesota, regular season and playoffs combined)

I watched some of the Wild playoff games and Klingberg was...really rough defensively. Only thing I can say in his defense is that they had him playing LD since Faber was RD.

But he was heavily sheltered and still would turn it over a lot in his own zone. Get's easily pushed off the puck, etc.

 

[Duffman955]

A shot from the point is gonna make the opposing team challenge the point shot.

This is going to open up a ton of room for the big 4 down lower.

It's gonna be huge boost in the offensive zone.

He did play huge minutes in Dallas, so even though he's not good defensively, he's at least passable

Just don't have him on the shutdown pair

 

[Mess]

A shot from the point is gonna make the opposing team challenge the picture shot.

This is going to open up a ton of room for the big 4 down lower.

It's gonna be huge boost in the offensive zone.

He did play huge minutes in Dallas, so even though he's not good defensively, he's at least passable

Just don't have him on the shutdown pair

With Bertuzzi crashing the net and screening on the PP, and Klingberg firing away from the point Leafs PP is going to have a whole new look this year.

 

[Sypher04]

More scoring chances happen against him when he is on the ice than for McDavid when McDavid is on the ice... that should mean something.

He may end up being a sheltered 6th D who can run a PP, or he may rebound, but he is BADDDDDD defensively.

Low risk because it is one year, and it is a high reward, but let's not pretend he is anything more than a liability defensively recently.

Having said that, it could change in a different system, and he wasn't always terrible.

That’s kinda my whole point. Im definitely not saying he was good defensively. He was a mess in Anaheim, he was a mess in his last couple years in Dallas notably after a coaching change. He’s not without any blame obviously for his performance in those situations but I believe there’s more to it than just he’s bad. Is it possible to get just his defensive metrics over the 21 games in Minnesota? Because at first glance it certainly looks like it was a much better fit. Whether that’s him playing better, him being coached to his actual strengths and maybe sheltered for his weaknesses, maybe a more appropriate partner stylistically. I’d love to understand why he wasn’t a mess in Minnesota but was for 3 years prior so we can replicate it.

 

[mjd1001]

I agree with others above that have said he is not good defensivly. Its not just the numbers, he doesn't make good decisions in his end and it is noticable how many loose pucks he doesn't get to/loses battles. HOWEVER, as others have also said, he gets his 3.5-4 minutes per game as your #1 PP guy. After that he gets 15-16 minutes of ice time per game even strength, making him effectively a 2nd pair guy. You have a 1 or 2 goal lead late in the 3rd, you nail him to the bench so he can't hurt you in that situation. Up by 3 or 4 in the 3rd or down by any total and you want him on the ice.

 

[Mess]

FYI - John Klingberg turned down massive offer before free agency​

He has to be furious with himself now!​

It was announced, sort of unexpectedly, that John Klingberg had agreed to a one-year contract with the Anaheim Ducks. It was a surprise that Klingberg agreed to a one-year deal. Sure, it will pay him $7 million, however, it was believed that Klingberg was looking for a long-term deal.

And now we find out that he had a long-term offer on the table! Jeff Marek revealed that the Dallas Stars had offered Klingberg an eight-year deal at at $7 million AAV earlier in the year, but Klingberg’s camp wanted closer to eight years, but at $8 million (which Marek reported at the time).

Since his agent told him to turn him down and we now see what happened in the days leading to his contract with the Ducks, we get why Klingberg fired him. Klingberg switched agents, from Peter Wallen to Newport Sports, possibly in the hopes of making something happen in order to sign a lucrative deal as a free agent. Wallen was Klingberg’s agent when he signed a seven-year, $29.75 million deal with the Dallas Stars back in 2015.

Not so long ago Klingberg was viewed very differently.

 

[mydnyte]

With Bertuzzi crashing the net and screening on the PP, and Klingberg firing away from the point Leafs PP is going to have a whole new look this year.

if only they would eliminate the drop back pass, I'd be happy