John Klingberg announced his retirement from the NHL on Friday morning, ending the Swedish defender's career early after injuries eventually caught up to him.
Klingberg's journey in the NHL was unfortunately cut short after several injuries kept him off the ice, though at one point he was one of the NHL's premier offensive defencemen. The former fifth-round pick of the Stars in 2010 managed 443 career points in 700 games (92 goals, 351 assists) while spending time with Dallas, Anaheim, Minnesota, Toronto, Edmonton, and San Jose.
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Klingberg went from a 67-point Norris-calibre season to managing a hip problem he had carried for years
But while he was fantastic early on in his career, managing to average 51.8 points over his first five seasons, before injuries really started to affect him. He's missed a combined 241 games since the 2019-20 season, including back-to-back seasons in Toronto and Edmonton where he appeared in only 25 games in two seasons.
It went from being able to rely on Klingberg to wondering if he was able to stay healthy for more than a couple of weeks, and while you can't necessarily fault Klingberg for getting hurt so much - it did really cut things off sooner than they should have.
When the issues started to become about his hip, requiring resurfacing in December 2023, it really showed that time was running out for Klingberg. Since he admitted his hips have always been an issue in his career, it was a problem that just had a time limit already hidden away:
It's been there my entire career. It's always been something that's been there and I've been able to play through. But then over the last few years it's been gradually getting worse and worse.
If he has already been dealing with hip issues for years now, then there's only so much grinding and surgery that can help before he needed to decide about his quality of life beyond hockey.
Toronto paid $4.15M for a puck-moving solution and got only 14 games before Klingberg's hip gave out
Toronto's gamble was understandable at the time. Klingberg had produced 33 points the season before signing, and the Leafs needed another right-shot puck mover behind Morgan Rielly. What they could not know was that the hip issue Klingberg had managed for years was about to become career-altering.
It wasn't a bad start either, as Klingberg showed some pretty solid offensive chops early on with five assists in his first 14 games. But those were the only games he would end up playing after his hips gave him issues, and he went to have that aforementioned surgery a month after he went down.
It was an unfortunate string of luck for both the Maple Leafs and Klingberg as the team needed offensive help and Klingberg was proving that he could have been that option but his health said otherwise. You can't fault Toronto for signing him - no one expected it.
Instead of fighting through another season of pain and potentially at risk for another injury, Klingberg has decided to accept that his career is done, and his livelihood is more important than a contract. With 700 games, it's not like he didn't have a long career - just sadly wasn't long enough for a player of his calibre.
Do you think John Klingberg could have continued playing in 2026-27?
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