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You might think it’s a little too early to start thinking about the NHL trade deadline on March 3, but that just means you haven’t been trying to make your favorite team look better since the season began.
Every team in the league wants to gain an edge for the playoffs, even if you’re the Boston Bruins or Vegas Golden Knights, who have looked like they’re playing the game on “easy” mode. Being able to one-up any potential future opponent is a chance any general manager will want to take.
Trades aren’t always a slam dunk for teams. Sometimes a trade that looks like it’ll be one to put a club over the top is one that will sink them instead. The last thing we want to see here at Bleacher Report is to see your team—yes, you reading this—fall flat on their face. We’re a kind and considerate lot like that.
That’s why we’re going to give you a few names to give pause to when you consider penciling them into the imaginary lineup in your head. Their skills may be tantalizing, and their history may point to potential success, but buyer beware, for these players might not be the help you think they will be.
John Klingberg, Anaheim Ducks
A year ago, John Klingberg was an impending unrestricted free agent with the Dallas Stars, and his offensive prowess figured to be in high demand come summertime. After all, defensive misgivings can be forgiven when the points pile up, even for defensemen. The market dried up for Klingberg’s services after he hoped for a long-term deal, and he signed a one-year contract with the Anaheim Ducks to prove what he could do. If he stays in Anaheim, the prospects of that don’t look good.
Klingberg is on pace for roughly 25-30 points on a Ducks team that’s defied even the middling expectations we had for them by being one of the worst teams in the NHL. Although he’s known best for his work on the power play (20 of his 47 points in 2021-22 came on the man advantage), it hasn’t clicked there yet.
A contending team in need of a power-play quarterback, and a right-handed shot at that, will find Klingberg’s particular set of skills tantalizing. His poor stats could be blamed on playing for the Ducks, but his offensive numbers and injury luck haven’t been quite the same since 2017-18.
He’s been a consistent 40-plus point per seasons scorer since he came into the NHL, but his 0.36 points per game rate this season are the worst of his career by a long shot. Klingberg’s modified no-trade clause also means he might not even approve a trade, depending on the team. Maybe your favorite team can turn him around…or maybe this is the start of a trend that won’t improve.