Anaheim Ducks sign defenseman John Klingberg to one year, $7 million contract
The Anaheim Ducks made another free agency splash on Friday morning, signing this year’s top available defenseman, John Klingberg, to a one year, $7 million contract. The 29-year old former Dallas Star will join a Ducks defensive group this season that also includes LHDs Cam Fowler, Urho Vaakanainen, and Josh Mahura (or Simon Benoit), along with fellow RHDs Jamie Drysdale and Kevin Shattenkirk in the projected defense corps.
Klingberg tallied six goals and 41 assists with the Stars last season and has been a consistent point producer in Dallas since his first season with the team in 2014-2015. His 2021-2022 tracking data (shown below and provided by Corey Sznajder as part of the All Three Zones Project) indicates that Klingberg was elite among defensemen in many offensive categories this past season, including assists and controlled zone entries. He was also very effective at both retrieving pucks in the defensive zone, and at defensive zone exits. His primary weakness was in denying entries into the defensive zone.
Klingberg’s three-year RAPM chart from 2019-2022 (provided below courtesy of Evolving Hockey) shows that he excelled at generating quality offensive chances and shot quantity, especially on the power play. However, this larger sample over three seasons shows that Klingberg is primarily an offensive defenseman, as he struggled at limiting quality chances and shot quantity from opposing teams.
Evolving-Hockey projected Klingberg’s most likely contract outcome at six years and $6.9 million AAV based on historical comparables. This is truly what makes this singing a huge home run for Ducks GM Pat Verbeek, as his patience and belief that other teams were not willing to offer such a lengthy term allowed him to eventually land Klingberg on a one-year deal for roughly the same AAV that was projected for a longer deal.
Evolving Hockey also points out that historically, there is not really a precedent for a player of this quality that was projected to get such an extensive deal in free agency to take a one-year contract at roughly the same AAV as was projected.
The signing of Klingberg also brings the Ducks above the cap floor, meaning that they are not required to add any more salary to be cap-compliant for the upcoming season. All things considered, this deal is a massive win for Anaheim with a ton of upside and no downside. They add an elite offensive defenseman on a one-year term that can easily be flipped at the trade deadline if the Ducks are out of contention. GM Pat Verbeek’s already stellar tenure in Anaheim just got undoubtedly more impressive.