Even though the news wasn’t at all surprising, Oscar Klefbom’s retirement was officially announced yesterday, and I’d be lying if I wasn’t a little bit sad to see that once promising chapter in Oilers history finally limps over the finish line.
Sometimes life’s not fair, and that’s how I’d categorize the raw deal the Oilers got dealt when it came to Klefbom’s body falling apart despite being in his 20s. Klefbom last played hockey on August 7th, 2020, when Edmonton lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup playoffs’ qualifying round, and we haven’t seen our handsome prince since.
Frankly, the Oilers didn’t get enough sympathy for losing Klefbom to injury as young as he was. When you think about it, Edmonton lost a quality pairing of Klefbom-Larsson for no return at all, and I don’t think I’m talking out of school when I say that hole put them back a long way. Regardless, when the body screams “Uncle” then what can you really do about it?
A couple of weeks back, we shared an interview with Klefbom by our friend Rasmus Kågström. While you could tell that Klefbom was at peace with his decision, that didn’t mean he had to like the way things ended.
“It was a choice I made. I talked to Edmonton about wanting to keep a very low profile about what would happen and how the situation was. They were completely fine with that. From my side, it was also because I found it so hard to talk about it. I am very satisfied with my career. I am just grateful that I got the chance to play as many games as I did—even though I was injured. I got a lot of trust and got to be part of a fantastic journey. There are really two sides to the coin—for even though I am grateful, I would have liked to be here today. On the ice. As a player. I am 31 years old and itching to get back. I am fresh enough that I want to go out and hit Joel Eriksson Ek down in the corner. I don’t feel old enough to sit at home and enjoy a retired life.”
As a 39-year-old blogger with lower-back issues, I can absolutely understand how frustrating it can be to want to do things but not be capable of executing as well as you’d like. One can only imagine how frustrating these last four years have been for Klefbom to sit back and watch, knowing how much his team would have loved to have him but that his body wouldn’t allow it to happen. Pro sports are a cruel mistress, and Klefbom’s shoulder falling off during his prime is a fine example. Pain.
Being an Oilers fan can be a painful experience, and I would certainly include Klefbom being lost to injury when we needed him most to be another chapter in that same story. That said, complaining about the past and whining that losing Klefbom was an unfair move by the Hockey Gords accomplishes nothing, so I want to wrap up this article with some of my favourite memories of the
GOODBYE OLD FRIEND
While there’s little doubt that bad teams and injuries overshadowed the bulk of Klefbom’s time in Edmonton, he was involved in some huge moments once the club started to turn itself around. There is no better example than this forgotten moment of Klefbom scoring the first Oilers playoff goal in a decade.
That playoff goal wasn’t the biggest one he scored, though. How can you not remember this third period tying goal that he scored against the San Jose Sharks? For this baby, just uttering the word “PING” is usually enough for any of us to remember how things played out.
Speaking of goals, how could we forget that Klefbom’s lone healthy season with the Oilers was also his most productive? In the 94 games he played in 2016-17 — regular season and playoffs — Klefbom produced 14 goals, which was a total we hadn’t seen by a defenceman in a while to that point. At the time, I remember thinking that he would be an absolute stud on the blue line for the next decade or more, and it’s a real bummer to know how things played out with the benefit of hindsight.
If we’re talking goals, I should probably include his first NHL goal, right? Of course. Handsome devil.
And finally, we’re Oilersnation, after all, and sometimes that means we run jokes into the ground for years at a time. That was, of course, the case with Oscar Klefbom’s abs. As a founding member of the Swedish All-Abs Team, we used the following picture of Klefbom no less than 200x on this site over the years, and I want to thank him for the strict dieting and core workouts needed to provide us this meme. It was indeed a blessing.
In conclusion, the official news of Klefbom’s retirement wasn’t at all surprising, but I still think it was sad. This dude has all kinds of potential and skill that were desperately needed around these parts, and having him vanish due to injury was a swift kick to the shin that none of us needed.
Sometimes, I wonder where the Oilers would have been if Klefbom’s shoulder issues hadn’t robbed him (and us) of the NHL career he probably deserved. Yet, the story went differently. Instead, we got a player who faded away because his body wouldn’t play nice anymore, and that’s a cruel piece of history for both the player and the fanbase. Even so, I wanted to take a minute to write a farewell to a player that was a lot of fun to watch, endlessly handsome, and a massive part of getting this team back into the playoffs for the first time in a decade.
While the end of Klefbom’s career didn’t go how we would have wanted, I still appreciate everything he did while he was here. All the best, Oscar. Here’s to a fantastic retirement, and it’s my hope that you’re still maintaining those abs. Sail on, good sir. We’ve missed and will continue to miss ya.
