Johnston: What I’m hearing about John Klingberg’s NHL return and who’s interested in signing him

John Klingberg is on the verge of trying to resurrect his NHL career after spending more than a year working his way back from a double hip resurfacing procedure.

The free-agent defenseman hasn’t played in the league since November 2023 and is trying to become the fifth NHL player to resume his career after that surgery, following Patrick Kane, Jesse Puljujärvi, Nicklas Bäckström and Ed Jovanovski.

Klingberg is currently seeking an opportunity with a competitive team. The Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators and Dallas Stars are among those who have expressed interest, according to multiple league sources.

What none of them can know — what even Klingberg can’t know — is how his body will respond after the invasive procedure and the long recovery layoff. There is both hope and heartache to be found in the individual tales of players who have traveled this road before him.

However, NHL teams with interest have been told that Klingberg feels good after putting in a lot of hard work on the ice in recent months. He followed essentially the same regiment used by Kane following his hip resurfacing procedure in June 2023 — including seeing the same specialist while ramping back up in suburban Toronto — and Kane is the surgery’s most successful proof of concept to date.

The veteran forward has averaged 0.84 points per game over parts of two seasons with the Detroit Red Wings since the procedure after producing 0.78 points per game for the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers the season immediately prior to going under the knife.

For the teams looking at signing Klingberg, there is very little risk associated with extending him a contract now. He’ll come in at a modest cap hit on a deal effectively spanning a few months through the end of the 2024-25 season. He is also eligible for performance bonuses under the collective bargaining agreement as a player with more than 400 career games on his NHL resume who spent at least 100 days on long-term injured reserve last season.

In other words, the 32-year-old is poised to sign the ultimate “prove it” contract as he looks to re-establish himself in the league.

When Klingberg was last seen in the NHL, he looked like a shadow of his former self. He only managed 14 games with the Maple Leafs before he was shut down for the season in December 2023 after having his hip issues exacerbated by taking the long flight to Stockholm when the team made the trip to his homeland for the Global Series.

After making that journey, Klingberg wasn’t physically capable of dressing for either of the games Toronto played there.

He’d been managing ongoing hip discomfort since at least the 2022-23 season. That was a campaign he split between the Anaheim Ducks and Minnesota Wild, with his on-ice results taking a precipitous turn for the worse following eight years in Dallas. Klingberg took a pay cut of more than 40 percent when he signed a one-year contract with the Leafs the following summer.

After electing to undergo a double hip resurfacing procedure with Dr. Edwin Su at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City last season, he sought advice from the other NHL players who’d gone through it before him.

“He was asking me a lot of questions about it,” Kane told The Athletic. “We had a few conversations. I was the same way because there’s not too much known about it even now. I was reaching out to guys like Bäckström and (Carl) Hagelin. I think it could be something that becomes more popular in the future, although I don’t know if it’s something that you’re necessarily looking to do because it’s a pretty invasive surgery.”

Resurfacing is an alternative to a full hip replacement that involves shaving damaged bone and cartilage from the femur, capping that bone with metal and popping it back into a lined socket.

It’s not pleasant.

“Klingberg texted me after he did the surgery and he said ‘I’m dying’ because he had so much pain,” Puljujärvi told The Athletic, noting that it was consistent with his own experience following the same procedure in June 2023.

Klingberg’s rehabilitation started more than a year ago when he began working out with a physical therapist on a low-impact skating treadmill last January.

While still under contract with the Leafs at the end of last season, he was occasionally seen around the team’s practice facility or in the press box during games. Included in the work he’s done more recently after becoming a free agent are sessions with a skating instructor to help rebuild strength and get his body and mind realigned.

At his peak, the smooth-skating defenseman was among the NHL’s elite offensive forces at his position. He had tremendous vision and a booming shot — both major assets that allowed him to effectively quarterback a power play.

It’s an appealing enough skill set that multiple teams with Stanley Cup aspirations are interested in taking a roll of the dice on him now.

Potentially working in Klingberg’s favor is the fact that he’s younger than both Bäckström and Jovanovski were when they had a resurfacing done. Neither player had much left in their careers post-surgery. Puljujärvi is still only 26 and has endured his own ups and downs with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization and was recently demoted to AHL Wilkes-Barre.

Kane had the resurfacing done on his right hip — not both sides like Klingberg — but sounded an optimistic tone when asked how his body responded to contact and the return to the day-to-day rigors of NHL life.

“Since I’ve been back, I’ve felt no pain, nothing, with the hip joint,” Kane said. “That’s obviously been a huge positive.”

As Klingberg prepares to take that step himself, it’s a reason for him to do so with an invigorated outlook on his own future.

(Photo: Claus Andersen / Getty Images)