John Klingberg has fantasy players of all levels buzzing. He had a rather nice breakout rookie campaign with 11 goals and 29 assists on a Dallas Stars team that had problems scoring on special teams. That should change this year with the upgrades Jim Nill has made to the club’s offence.
Klingberg had nine even-strength goals in 2014-15 which surprised quite a few people. Some argued that the 23-year-old had as good a season as Calder Trophy winner Aaron Ekblad, but Klingberg finished fifth in the voting. So, it’s kind of goofy to see Ekblad’s ADP (Average Draft Position), rank so much higher than Klingberg, despite the fact the Swede has the higher offensive upside.
Considering his upside and the improved Stars lineup around him, it’s a bit of a surprise that more poolies haven’t taken advantage of the Swedish defenceman since he is a clear value pick.
Klingberg is being picked as late as the 13th or 14th round in 12-team leagues. Furthermore, in Yahoo! he is ranked 32nd among defencemen. His overall ranking is 166. People seem to have more or less forgotten about the young player.
The Swede is set up to succeed. Consider he was deployed 50 per cent of the time in the offensive zone last year. Expect offensive zone starts to go down in his second year as his ice time increases, but the overall impact should be positive. The Stars have seen their future and are willing to give the keys to the offensive defenseman.
A few thoughts on Klingberg:
1. The biggest knock on him are the number of shots that actually hit the net. Out of 237 shot attempts, Klingberg only had 98 shots on goal. He has an above average shot he needs to use more often. Wild shots are not going to help. Dallas needs him to harness that strength.
2. Competition will be tougher. How will Klingberg handle this? The quality of competition against him should get harder as his workload increases. Klingberg jumped over every hurdle that was thrown at him last season. An uptick in offence is likely given Dallas’ roster upgrades, but even his floor is higher than last year.
3. Klingberg was one of the few defencemen in Dallas who handled adversity well. He did a great job under the circumstances. If he hits on special teams as people expect, he could easily top 20 power play points and come close to 20 goals as well.
Projection: 53 points (16 goals)
Floor: 45 points
Ceiling: 60 points
Klingberg will get his chance to be the No. 1 defenceman in Dallas. He will play in all situations. Trevor Daley’s departure means a huge opportunity for an increase in usage. If Klingberg plays all 82 games or close to it, he should surpass the 40 points he got last season. His current draft ranking is way too low to pass up in all formats.
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