Bad News For the Toronto Maple Leafs Regarding John Klingberg's NHL Return
John Klingberg's potential NHL comeback has piqued a lot of interest, which means there's some unfortunate news regarding his chances of reuniting with Toronto.
With the news that defenseman John Klingberg has recovered enough from his hip resurfacing surgery to work toward an NHL comeback. The one potent offensive defender has a bit of a ways to go, but if he can get healthy could be an impact player.
There are a few teams linked to Klingberg including the Toronto Maple Leafs; the team he last played for. But there's roster issues, cap concerns and the fact that the team has much bigger assets to acquire in order to help their team. However, there's no doubt he could bring some much needed offense at the back end.
But a new report from NHL Insider Darren Dreger has added a new wrinkle in Brad Treliving's quest to acquire Klingberg.
Colorado, Edmonton, and Dallas Now Emerge As Potential Trade Destinations
In a post on X, Dreger continued his observation of the John Klingberg situation and added a few more teams are now in the mix:
The addition of the three Western Conference teams means that Brad Treliving really needs to work hard if he wants to bring in the defenseman.
Not only do all three teams offer a playoff push, but Klingberg's connection to Dallas goes back to his rookie season, and is where he plied his trade for eight seasons.
Last season with the Maple Leafs he had five assists in 14 games before having to undergo the hip surgery.
The other factor that Toronto needs to take into account is their cap situation. Both Dallas and Edmonton hold the advantage there, and unless Toronto makes a move to dump some of their bigger deals, it's a lot of work for Treliving.
The Maple Leafs do need to add some offense desperately to their blueline, and Morgan Rielly's struggling season hasn't helped.
The team's second best scoring defenseman is Oliver Ekman-Larsson and while it's great to see the veteran do solid, it's definitely not the type of playmaking Toronto needs.
For his career, Klingberg has 81 goals and 331 assists, with 21 goals and 139 assists on the powerplay; another huge reason why Toronto needs to go after him.
