John Klingberg’s NHL run is over.
The former Maple Leafs defenceman announced his retirement on Friday after 12 seasons in the league, closing the book on a career that stretched from Dallas to Toronto and ended with a final stop in San Jose.
Klingberg, a native of Gothenburg, Sweden, spent the 2023-24 season with the Maple Leafs. He came out playing well, but a hip injury eventually caught up to him. After skating through pain for a month, he was moved to long-term injury reserve in November and later had season-ending surgery.
Before his time in Toronto, Klingberg built his reputation with the Dallas Stars as a skilled offensive defenceman. He helped push Dallas to the Stanley Cup final in 2020 and reached his only all-star game in 2017-18, when he put up a career-high 67 points while playing all 82 regular-season games.
The 6-foot-2 blueliner also played for the Anaheim Ducks, Minnesota Wild and Edmonton Oilers before finishing his career with the San Jose Sharks last season. His final game was the 700th of his NHL career.
The NHLPA marked the occasion on social media, posting: "John Klingberg is officially announcing his retirement from professional hockey after 700 NHL career games played - wishing all the best to this former blue liner in the future! pic.twitter.com/ebjLBp7sKM"
Over 700 games, Klingberg finished with 92 goals and 351 assists for 443 points. He also recorded 287 penalty minutes, finished minus-53, and averaged 22:25 of ice time per game.
According to Spotrac, Klingberg earned $4 million US on a one-year deal with San Jose last season and made more than $47 million across his career.
His international résumé was just as decorated. Klingberg represented Sweden at both the junior and senior levels, won the 2012 world junior championship, and helped his country take gold at the 2017 and 2018 world championships. At the 2018 event, he was named Best Defenceman.
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