Klingberg is still looking for a long-term deal after signing with Ducks

John Klingerberg said he was still looking for a longer contract and knew he would have to produce after the defender signed for one year with the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.

“I mean, it’s probably part of the plan, but I’m not going to look too far ahead,” Klingberg said Monday. “At the end of the day, I want to work long-term. Right now I’m signing with Anaheim for a year and we have to do it from here. I can’t focus on what’s going to happen a year from being there, it has to be this season.

“Of course I have to have a good season and the team has to have a good season too. If the team is successful, I will be successful. I had a great chat with (Ducks General Manager) Pat Verbeek and where we think the team is headed in the future. We’re going to take this year to start with that and see where we’re at.

The financial terms of the deal for Klingberg, who turns 30 on August 14, were not disclosed. He had 47 points (six goals, 41 assists) in 74 regular-season games for the Dallas Stars and one assist in seven games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season. He had 374 points (71 goals, 303 assists) in 552 regular-season games with the Stars, who selected him in the fifth round (#131) of the 2010 NHL Draft. Of these, 148 came on the power play (39.6 percent). The Ducks finished 14th by man advantage in the NHL last season (21.9 percent) after finishing bottom in 2020-21 (8.9 percent).

“Where we’re at with our defense at this point, the addition of John is tremendous for us,” said Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins. “He’s a versatile player, he has great experience in all aspects of the game. I think everyone was quick to look at their ability to run a power play and many teams lack right-handed defenders and he brings that with him as well. We believe we have a really solid person, someone who fits in really well with our group and will help us a lot in our backend.

Klingberg has 35 points (seven goals, 28 assists) in 59 playoff games and helped Dallas advance to the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games. The Stars lost to the Calgary Flames in seven games in the first round of the Western Conference last season.

Anaheim (31-37-14) finished seventh in the Pacific Division last season and missed the playoffs four straight seasons. Klingberg was arguably the best defenseman available when free agency opened on July 13, but stayed on the market until he and the Ducks reached an agreement on Friday.

He said he was confident he made the right choice.

“For me personally, with what I’ve said where I think the Ducks are as a team, where the organization is and what they want to build on going forward, I’m excited for me to start at a year old and see where the thing goes [and] carry on from there,” said Klingberg. “But that’s kind of a thought process I went through when we narrowed down the teams that it was going to take a year. When we went into free agency, we were looking for the long term. That’s no secret. The market is the way it is right now and we had to change tactics a bit. At the end of the day, I realized that this was a shorter-term deal, moving into the future.”

“Obviously with the COVID world and the flat cap and all, it’s a little bit different than years past. The more I understood over those 2-3 weeks that I was looking for the long term and the fit because probably wasn’t there this year so we narrowed down to a shorter term deal. A few teams were interested in me and I was interested in them, but at the end of the day I narrowed it down and I think the Anaheim Ducks [are] will suit me best this year.”