Unexpected aspect to John Klingberg's new contract

Earlier on Friday, Kevin Weekes and Eric Stephens reported that the Anaheim Ducks have signed coveted free agent defenseman John Klingberg.

What however surprised everyone is that Klingberg has agreed to a one-year contract. Sure, it will pay him $7 million, however, it was believed that Klingberg was looking for a long-term deal.

Cam Lewis of Daily Face-Off believes the free-agent might not have gotten the long-term he was originally seeking and might be pulling a Taylor Hall:

“For Klingberg, this situation is fairly reminiscent of what happened with Taylor Hall a few years back. He couldn’t find the big, multi-year deal he was looking for and wound up taking a one-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres. He was traded from Buffalo to the Boston Bruins at the 2021 trade deadline and wound up signing there long-term.”

A few teams had been battling to land Klingberg’s services as a free agent. Even the Stars re-entered the fold at one point. Earlier this week, Klingberg switched agents, from Peter Wallen to Newport Sports, possibly in the hopes of making something happen in order to sign a lucrative deal as a free agent. Wallen was Klingberg’s agent when he signed a seven-year, $29.75 million deal with the Dallas Stars back in 2015.

However, the Ducks are coming off on top with the veteran defenseman for the upcoming season.  They also got center Ryan Strome under contract with a five-year, $25 million deal earlier in the summer. Signing both Klingberg and Strome at a combined $12 million annually will help the Ducks reach the salary cap floor next season. 

In 74 games last season, he had six goals and 47 points in 74 regular-season games.

This was the first in his NHL career that Klingberg was an unrestricted free and could go through the same process in 2023…