The contract
John Klingberg signs a one-year, $4.15 million AAV deal with the Maple Leafs.
Dom Luszczyszyn: There’s a reason many Leafs fans were so downtrodden that a slightly above-average GM was pushed aside a little over a month ago: Fear of the alternative. Even if Kyle Dubas wasn’t perfect — and we’re seeing that first-hand with his new team — Leafs fans understood all too well how much worse it could be. They’ve lived through it and early returns suggest they’re about to live through it again.
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First, it was David Kampf. Then it was Ryan Reaves. And now the latest in a list of sub-optimal deals: John Klingberg for one year at $4.15 million.
It could’ve been worse, yes. It could’ve been more money and it could’ve been more term. That it was a short and somewhat stomach-able deal keeps this from being an abject disaster.
It could’ve been a player without much of any pedigree. If you squint there’s a way to see this working for the Leafs. This team needs offensive firepower from the blue line besides Morgan Rielly, a real creative threat that can jump-start the offense from the back end with elite puck-moving ability. Klingberg has been that before and the best part of the deal is that even if it looks bad on the surface there is some real home run potential. If he can be anywhere close to the player he was a few years ago this can be a big win.
It’s much more likely though that this will be a huge swing-and-a-miss, one that in one fell swoop massively hurts a defensive game that the Leafs have spent years fortifying. Klingberg isn’t just your ordinary defensive black hole, he was objectively the most porous defenseman last season. It’s possible that’s the Anaheim effect, but even in a short stint with the Wild, Klingberg allowed a massive amount of chances relative to the team. And that was mostly in a sheltered role.
On a better team, Klingberg might work and if there’s anywhere it could happen Toronto feels like it. There’s a great staff and development program that can cure what ails him, plus the possibility of playing with defensive stalwarts like T.J. Brodie or Jake McCabe. That’s best case scenario. Worst case? The most maligned defenseman in franchise history — and that’s saying a lot.
Contract grade: C-
Fit grade: B-
Sean Gentille: Twitter is still functioning well enough, somehow, to make one bit of consensus pretty clear: Online Leafs fans are upset about this one. Real upset. Probably a little too upset.
Was Klingberg catastrophically bad last season in Anaheim? Yep. No sense in arguing otherwise. His defensive game had been on a steady decline, then bottomed out. In terms of evaluating him as a player, though, it might be smart to tap the breaks just a little bit — because the 2022-23 Anaheim Ducks are going to go down as one of the worst defensive teams of the era. They were legitimately disorienting to watch. It was weird to see an NHL team look the way they looked.
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On that front, I guess I’m not willing to blame Klingberg all that much. He wound up somewhere he shouldn’t have, playing for a team without much to offer him, and he paid the price. Does accounting for that make him worth $4.15 million a year? No. It should, though, stop Leafs fans from sprinting for the emergency exits.
In Toronto, he’ll join a defensive group that could benefit from what he theoretically does well (skating the puck out of his own zone, joining the rush) and an overall roster that’s still quite good. They’re certainly not one of the worst defensive teams you’ll ever see, and I’m not sure I can say the same about last season’s Ducks.
The bigger issue is a little more conceptual. Paying a guy like Klingberg $4.15 million, especially when a comp like Erik Gustafsson signed with the Rangers for less than a quarter of that, is probably not what you’d want to see from a new front office. It isn’t a huge deal on its own, but the implication feels a little ominous. This isn’t going to make or break the Leafs’ season, though, and the commitment is short enough to shrug at, then move along. It should be, at least.
Contract grade: C-
Fit grade: C
Eric Duhatschek: I saw Klingberg play lots in Anaheim last year and it’s fair to say it was a disastrous marriage between player and team. Five-on-five, Klingberg can’t play above the third pair. He is a turnover machine, someone with a high skill level that consistently plays with too much risk. He tries to force plays that aren’t there. He needs to pick his spots far more carefully than he has the last couple of years. It’ll be up to Leafs’ coach Sheldon Keefe to rein him in and play him protected even-strength minutes. Can he run a power play effectively? Maybe. He has in the past — 12th overall in defensive scoring only two years ago. He didn’t do nearly as well with the Ducks, but the quality of forwards playing for Toronto suggests the opportunities are going to be far greater there. He has a lot to prove and a lot at stake, which can be highly motivating.
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But I’ll also add this: When new Leaf GM Brad Treliving speaks out about what Klingberg brings to the mix in Toronto, I suspect he’ll mention how well Klingberg played for Dallas in the NHL bubble playoffs. That year, back in 2020, Dallas lost in the Stanley Cup Final to Tampa Bay but defeated Calgary in the first round to get there. Treliving was GM in Calgary at the time. He saw how Klingberg, at his best, can change the direction of a game. Klingberg had 21 points in 26 playoff games that year. It might be the high point of his career.
The goal in Toronto is pretty obvious: To do better in the playoffs this coming year than last year. Klingberg playing at his 2020 playoff level would help the cause. Klingberg playing at the level he played at during the past 12 months? Frightening.
Contract grade: B-
Fit grade: C-
(Photo: Bill Streicher / USA Today)