Klingberg to make debut on Oilers blueline against Red Wings

Edmonton Oilers defenceman John Klingberg at team practice on Jan. 20, 2025. (Credit: TSN)

The new guy is making his debut.

And if he can live up to his resume, John Klingberg will be quite the addition to the Edmonton Oilers' roster.

Klingberg, a former top-pairing defenceman who starred for the Dallas Stars for eight seasons until three years ago, will don the Oilers' blue and orange for the first time Thursday night at Rogers Place against the Detroit Red Wings.

Edmonton signed the 32-year-old to a one-year contract on Jan. 17.

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The right-shooting Klingberg has been out of NHL action for 14 months after having season-ending hip surgery. He last played on Nov. 11, 2023, for the Toronto Maple Leafs, for whom he recorded five assists in 14 games after signing a one-year, US$4.15 million contract.

“The workload with him coming in, it’s not going to be a 25-minute night for him,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch told media after the morning skate.

“You’ll probably see numerous partners (for Klingberg) throughout the night.”

The six-foot-two, 198-lb. Swede – who has played internationally with new Oilers teammates Mattias Ekholm, Mattias Janmark and Viktor Arvidsson – is slated to start Thursday’s game with Darnell Nurse as his defensive partner.

When asked about adding another veteran player to the lineup – the Oilers already were the oldest team in the NHL, with an average age of 30.6 at the start of the season, before Klingberg’s debut – Knoblauch said Edmonton wants the “best players possible, no matter what their age is.”

“I don’t think there’s a benefit or detriment on their age,” he said. “Ultimately, it comes down to what they’re bringing and how good they are. If they do have some experience, that’s great. It’s going to help when the team goes through tough times.”

Klingberg has played 633 career NHL games over 11 seasons with the Stars, the Anaheim Ducks, the Minnesota Wild and the Maple Leafs, scoring 40-plus points from the blueline six times (all with Dallas) en route to career totals 81 goals and 331 assists.

He has also appeared in 63 playoff games, scoring eight goals and 31 assists, and helped lead the Stars to the 2020 Stanley Cup final held in Edmonton’s pandemic ‘bubble.’

Eklholm said after the morning skate he and his teammates are “excited” to have Klingberg join the lineup but also understand “it’s going to take some time to get back to his old ways, where we all know how great he can be.”

“For him, it’s just a matter of (playing) games,” said Ekholm, who was named an alternate captain for Team Sweden at the upcoming 4 Nations Face-off. “He’s been out for a bit with his injury, and I know it’s hard to come back.

“For him, just to get some minutes under his belt, some games, some consistency with that, can help tremendously.”

Current players dominate top quarter-century roster

Is that a starting lineup for the Detroit game or an in-house all-star squad representing the best of the Oilers' last 25 years?

It’s the latter, but it could be both the way Knoblauch tweaks any game day’s roster.

Present-day members Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Evan Bouchard, Darnell Nurse and 2006 playoff goaltending hero Dwayne Roloson were named to the squad’s all-quarter century first-team, the Oilers said in a media release Thursday morning.

The second-team lineup includes four other players from the ’06 run to the Stanley Cup final – Ales Hemsky, Shawn Horcoff, Tommy Salo, Jason Smith and Ryan Smyth -- as well as current Oilers blueliner Ekholm.

Lineup adjustments

Speaking of lines in blenders, Zach Hyman – often on a line centred by McDavid (who was named an alternate captain for Canada’s 4 Nations team on Thursday) – is slated to start Thursday’s game alongside centre Adam Henrique and winger Jeff Skinner.

Hyman said Thursday morning he thinks “it’s great” the coaching staff is tinkering with different forward combinations.

“The more you can, as a coach, understand what works, the different options you have, the better equipped you are to kind of maneuver every situation going forward,” Hyman told reporters.

“We’re fortunate to be in a position that we are in. Every time Knobber tweaks the lines, they seem to work. As a player, you trust in the coach and the coaching staff to put you in the best position to have success, but more importantly, the best position for the team to have success.”

Connor Brown will start the game on the top line alongside McDavid and Nugent-Hopkins. Mattias Janmark moves from the wing to centre the fourth line, with Noah Philp moving over to left wing and Corey Perry shifting to the right side.

Forward Kasperi Kapanen and defenceman Troy Stecher are slated to be healthy Oilers scratches against the Red Wings.

Projected Oilers lineup

Forward

• Ryan Nugent-Hopkins • Connor McDavid • Connor Brown

• Vasily Podkolzin • Leon Draisaitl • Viktor Arvidsson

• Jeff Skinner • Adam Henrique • Zach Hyman

• Noah Philp • Mattias Janmark • Corey Perry

Defence

• Mattias Ekholm • Evan Bouchard

• Darnell Nurse • John Klingberg

• Brett Kulak • Ty Emberson

Goal

• Stuart Skinner • Calvin Pickard