The Dallas Stars had a brilliant comeback to topple the Pittsburgh Penguins today, with goals from Denis Gurianov, Joe Pavelski, and Roope Hintz to take the team to 17-12-2 on the season. One of the assists on Pavelski’s game-tying goal went to John Klingberg, a player who has been in the news lately due to a report that he requested a trade out of Dallas recently.
Klingberg was asked specifically about that report and the trade rumors that have surrounded him all season, and explained his side of the story (video via Bally Sports Southwest):
Yeah I don’t think it’s entirely true. It’s not like I’ve been going up and asking ’I want to get traded now.’ Nothing like that. It’s something that’s been going on with the [contract] negotiations and stuff like that.
I’m not going to lie, it’s been a few frustrating years individually. As a player it all ends up coming to your next contract, obviously. I’ve been a Dallas Star since day one. I’ve been pretty clear that I want to stay here. I grew up here. I had my daughter here. At the end of the day it’s a business, but it’s a business on both sides. I have to take care of my part as well. It’s been standing still.
After last season I was pretty clear that I wanted to start negotiating right away and see where we were at. They wanted some time with free agency, the draft, and stuff like that. I understand that, but at the same time I’ve been here proving the kind of player I’ve been for eight years now. Other guys have signed right before the season and I wanted to do that as well. Lately it’s just been going more quieter and quieter.
For me as a player, I don’t feel as though I’ve been appreciated in that way, when we don’t even negotiate. It’s quiet. So for me as a player, and with my agent, we talked with Jim [Nill] a couple months back, and he agreed we could start talking with other GMs to see where we were at. Negotiation wise with the Stars has been very quiet, so it’s been a little disappointing.
Klingberg, 29, is in the final season of a seven-year, $29.75MM contract signed in 2015. He currently carries a $4.25MM cap hit and is earning $6MM in actual salary this season. He has been eligible to sign an extension since the start of last offseason, with reports indicating that he was looking for a new eight-year contract in the range of $62-66MM. That would represent a substantial raise, but not one that would put him ahead of teammate Miro Heiskanen, who signed an eight-year, $67.6MM deal last July.
He’s not the only big-ticket player that is on an expiring deal in Dallas either. Pavelski and Alexander Radulov are both pending unrestricted free agents, while Gurianov and Jason Robertson are both set to become restricted free agents.
Even while these rumors have swirled around Klingberg, his play has remained relatively strong. Through 26 games he is averaging almost 22 minutes a night and has 17 points. While there has been an obvious shift to Heiskanen as the team’s lead defensemen, Klingberg is still an extremely important part of the Stars’ roster and a trade would certainly weaken them for any potential playoff push they have in mind.
With the win today, the team has now taken four in a row and climbed within one point of the Winnipeg Jets for fifth in the Central Division. They’re still six points behind the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche.
not to be that guy, but how do you say “I don’t think it’s entirely true”? you should know if you made a trade demand.
I think he is saying he wants a new contract to be negotiated or to be dealt somewhere they will negotiate a new contract. So he is not demanding a trade, but would like some security someway somehow.
Ya seems like a reasonable request especially after giving the team such a friendly contract
It is a sign me now or I will walk ultimatum. Stars have no incentive to overpay now when they have no idea what the market is. Klinger is on the decline and stars would be wise to move him now for a return rather than let him walk.
To allow Klingberg’s agent to talk to other teams probably means two things: (1) the Stars don’t intend to sign him; and (2) they are trying to maximize their return in a trade deadline move. Trading a “rental” who is moving to the UFA narket once the year ends gets a team “X”. Trading a player to a team with which his agent has worked out a contract is worth “X++”. Good for the player, even better for the team.
It just may give the Stars a decent counter to the offer Kligberg gets from another team…..But I think the Stars are ready to let him go. After all, they let Modano go, and he was willing to sign for relatively little.
Good time to trade him if you are not going to sign him..Detroit or Anaheim good landing spots…
Wrong age and wrong side for Detroit.
The guy turns 30 in the offseason, he’s already in decline, and he wants eight years and $8 million per? Sayonara! If some chump GM wants to hand Dallas the sun, moon and stars for the honor of giving Klingberg a huge overpayment that they’ll be buying out three or so years from now, that’s good luck for Dallas.
Stars don’t want to go 8×8. That’s why they aren’t talking contract with him, obviously. Klingberg knows it.