Defenceman John Klingberg appears to be looking to make a return to the NHL, and the Vancouver Canucks are one of the teams taking a look at bringing him onto their team.
TSN insider Darren Dreger reported that Klingberg was close to resuming his NHL career, and has received interest from several teams, with five to seven believed to be in the mix. A decision is expected to be made within the next two weeks.
Among the teams looking at Klingberg, Dreger reported that the Canucks are one of the teams that have “kicked tires” on signing the defenceman. However, he also added that, unless something changes, Vancouver isn’t nearly as interested as other teams. Dreger mentioned that the Edmonton Oilers, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs are believed to be some of the teams in the mix.
Klingberg last played on November 11th, 2023. with the Maple Leafs but stepped away after undergoing a hip resurfacing surgery and rehabbing the injury in hopes of returning to the NHL. It was believed that he had been dealing with a hip problem for the entirety of his playing time during the 2023-24 season and possibly even earlier than that, which may have explained his struggles in recent seasons.
Klingberg had just five assists in 14 games with the Maple Leafs in the 2023-24 season and struggled mightily in his own end with an expected goals against regularized-adjusted plus-minus per 60 minutes of +0.243 (via Evolving Hockey), the sixth worst among defencemen that season.
Once considered one of the better offensive defencemen in the league during his time with the Dallas Stars, Klingberg hasn’t quite hit that level since his last season with the Stars in 2021-22, with the hip problem possibly being the reason why. Perhaps the resurfacing surgery and rehab will allow him to return to that form, but at 32 years old, he may already be past his prime.
