Klingberg has quietly been a playoff X-factor for Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are on the verge of eliminating the LA Kings for a fourth-straight season, and it’s been a full team effort this time around.
Edmonton’s star players have been leading the way, with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard all having a significant impact, but the depth is starting to shine as well. Mattias Janmark scored the winner in Game 5, and players like Corey Perry, Evander Kane, and Connor Brown have found ways to chip in as well.
But the most important depth impact may not be any of those players, as John Klingberg has provided some much-needed stability on the Oilers’ blueline so far this series, and he’s pitching in at the right moments.
He assisted on Kane’s game-tying goal on Tuesday night with a nifty pass.
EVANDER KANE TIES IT FOR THE OILERS 👀 pic.twitter.com/2PjTNCro4o
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 30, 2025
Klingberg’s boxcars aren’t the most impressive, with two assists in two games, but it’s how he’s affecting the game outside of the scoresheet that is making the bigger difference.
Edmonton had to plug in some holes on this defensive group with Mattias Ekholm out of the lineup with an injury. That meant finding a new defensive partner for Evan Bouchard and figuring out how to configure the other two pairs as well.
The veteran Swede has been able to come into the lineup and revert to that steady, solid, top-four offensive specialist that he was in his prime. Through four games, he is third among regular Oilers defencemen with a 62.36 expected goals-for percentage (xGF%) behind only Jake Walman and Brett Kulak.
The Oilers have also outchanced the Kings by a 42-26 margin (61.67 chances-for percentage) with Klingberg on the ice. He has spent most of his time playing next to Walman and has evolved into being one of the team’s most effective pairings in this series.
This is a very unexpected development as Klingberg struggled in the regular season after coming off a lengthy rehab for a hip injury. He also missed 20 of the Oilers’ last 21 games of the season with an undisclosed injury. There was doubt that he would even play in this opening-round series, and now he’s looking like a difference-maker.
Edmonton needs every bit of help they can get without Ekholm playing, and Klingberg is giving them everything they need, and a bit more, to help weather his absence.