Fantasy Impact: Maple Leafs Sign John Klingberg
Dobber
2023-07-01
The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed defenseman John Klingberg to a one-year deal worth $4.15M.
The Leafs get: a smart, skilled offensive defenseman. Klingberg is only 30 (turns 31 next month), coming off several semi-productive seasons riddled with short-term injuries. He had a 67-point season back in 2017-18, but has been unable to top 47 points since. That's not to say he can't or won't, but his first step in that quest would be to stay healthy.
Fantasy Players Impacted: Klingberg is a right-handed shot who excels on the power play, particularly as a distributor. Klingberg showed, upon his arrival in the Minnesota at the trade deadline, that he is still quite effective. He had 13 points in 21 games, which included five PPPts. Defensively, he is somewhat suspect, and will need a bit of sheltering. But feeding pucks to the likes of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander gives him the best power play that he's ever had the opportunity to quarterback. If healthy, he'll flirt with career highs.
Morgan Rielly is a left shot. So while the two might (and occasionally will) man a power play together, in all likelyhood he just lost his power-play spot. He will now run (and improve) a second PP unit, likely with right-shot Conor Timmins, as well as possibly Matthew Knies, Calle Jarnkrok and either Nick Robertson or Ryan Reaves (just kidding about Reaves).
I like this pickup in terms of helping boost the likes of Matthews, Marner, John Tavares and Nylander even more. When healthy, Klingberg is one of the best at this.
Fantasy Players this helps, in order:
- Klingberg
- Matthews (the best sniper)
- Tavares, Nylander (the next best snipers)
- Marner
Fantasy Players this hurts, in order:
- Rielly