Wednesday Dallas Stars Roundup: Catching up with John Klingberg, Jason Robertson's Latest Comeback, and Old Teammate Rivalries

Also: a little trip back to 2008

Photo Credit: @tseguin92 on Instagram

One of the reminders of how cool the hockey world can be happens when old friends and teammates end up on opposing teams in a playoff series.

Sometimes it’s not as big of a deal. Joel Kiviranta has some really wonderful memories in Dallas along with some good friends, but it was business as usual for him in the first round with Colorado. I would imagine the same is true for Valeri Nichushkin, though he opted not to speak with media for the entire series, so that’s something we’ll have to speculate about.

John Klingberg is different, though. The flashy Swedish defenseman spent eight seasons in Dallas, which means he was there in the second year of Jim Nill, which was also the second year featuring both Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin.

Just for some era-specific context: Klingberg played with Jason Spezza, Dan Hamhuis, Kris Russell, Alex Goligoski, Jordie Benn, Vernon Fiddler, Alex Radulov, Kari Lehtonen, Ben Bishop, Joe Pavelski, Esa Lindell, Johnny Oduya, Stephen Johns, Patrick Sharp, Aleš Hemský, Patrick Eaves, Mattias Janmark, Roope Hintz, and Miro Heiskanen.

He saw Lindy Ruff, Ken Hitchcock, Jim Montgomery, and Rick Bowness behind the bench. And then he left, when his former agent pushed for a better deal than the rumored neighborhood of $7 million for eight years the Stars were willing to discuss, and he ended up playing for three teams in two years before being shut down in November of 2023 due to an issue with his hips that would require surgery.

Klingberg would return to the NHL on January 30, 2025, having signed with Edmonton. And even then, it wasn’t an easy comeback.

“You don’t really know where you’re gonne be at when you haven’t played hockey in almost one-and-a-half, two years,” Klingberg told Stars Thoughts on Wednesday morning. “And I knew coming back, it was going to be a process, just getting to know everything in a game situation. I was struggling to start, and then I got the ankle infection and all that.”

Yes, “all that.” Klingberg blocked a shot late in March, and his ankle got infected, requiring him to go on medication and miss the rest of the regular season while his body recovered. When it rains, it pours.

“It’s never easy to just change teams, either. Then doing it every year has not been ideal, but I trusted myself that I could be part of a good team and have a meaningful role,” Klingberg said. “But then with the struggle to start, the injuries, hips… ankle, and all that… You never know what’s gonna happen, and I felt like it was do-or-die.”