John Klingberg said he is still looking for a longer contract and knows he has to produce after defender signed for one year with the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.
“I want to say it’s probably part of the plan, but I’m not going to look too far ahead,” Klingberg said Monday. “I want to be long term at the end of the day. Right now, I’m signing (for) a year in Anaheim and we’re going to have to take it from here. I can’t focus on what’s going to happen.” be there in a year It has to be this season.
“Obviously, I’m going to need to have a good season and the team is going to need to have a good season as well. If the team is successful, I’m going to be successful. I had a great conversation with (Ducks GM) Pat Verbeek as well, where we think the team is going to be at the future. Let’s take this year to start and see where we are.”
Financial terms of the contract for Klingberg, who turns 30 on Aug. 14, were not disclosed. He had 47 points (six goals, 41 assists) in 74 regular-season games for the Dallas Stars and one assist in seven Stanley Cup Playoff games last season. He scored 374 points (71 goals, 303 assists) in 552 regular-season games for the Stars, who selected him in the fifth round (No. 131) of the 2010 NHL Draft. Of those points, 148 came in the game. power (39.6 percent). The Ducks ranked 14th in the NHL last season with the man advantage (21.9 percent) after ranking last in 2020-21 (8.9 percent).
“Where we were with our defense right now, adding John is huge for us,” Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins said. “He’s a complete player, he has great experience in all aspects of the game. I think everyone was quick to see his ability to run a power play and a lot of teams lack right-handed defense, and he brings that.” also. We think we have a really strong individual, someone who will really fit in well with our group and help us a lot on our back end.”
Klingberg has 35 points (seven goals, 28 assists) in 59 playoff games and helped Dallas advance to the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games. The Stars lost to the Calgary Flames in seven games in the Western Conference First Round last season.
Anaheim (31-37-14) finished seventh in the Pacific Division last season and has missed the playoffs four straight seasons. Klingberg was arguably the best defenseman available when free agency opened on July 13, but he remained on the market until he and the Ducks reached a deal Friday.
He said he is sure he made the right decision.
“For me individually, with what I’ve said about where I think the Ducks are as a team, where the organization is and what they’re trying to build going forward, I think it’s exciting for me to start with a year and see where things go. [and] moving forward,” Klingberg said. “But that’s the kind of thought process I was going through, when we reduced teams, that it was going to be a year. Going into free agency, we were looking for the long haul. That is not a secret. The market is what it is now, and we had to change the tactics a bit. At the end of the day, I realized that it’s going to be a short-term deal that moves into the future.”
“Obviously with the COVID world and the flat cap and all that, it’s a little bit different than it has been in previous years. More and more over these 2-3 weeks, I understood that the long term and the fit, I was looking for because he probably wasn’t there this year so we cut him down to a shorter term deal some teams were interested in me and I was interested in them but at the end of the day I cut him down and create the anaheim ducks [are] It’s going to be the best for me this year.”