The John Klingberg trade rumours just aren’t going away, especially after the defenceman voiced his frustrations about the situation.
Now it appears that the Dallas Stars are ramping up their attempts to offload the blue-liner ahead of the March 21 trade deadline.
“We can report today that the Dallas Stars have stepped up their efforts to trade John Klingberg,” Jeff Marek said during the 32 Thoughts segment on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday. “We believe very much he is getting dealt. Hard to say exactly when, but Dallas does seem aggressive in wanting to get something done soonish.”
Klingberg was dropped to the third pairing with Joel Hanley ahead of Dallas’ game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. His ice time has slowly declined over his last five games, going from 21:48 on Jan. 6 to 18:07 in the team’s blowout loss to the Florida Panthers on Friday.
The Swedish defenceman is an unrestricted free agent after the season and carries a $4.25-million cap hit.
In 29 games for the Stars this season, Klingberg has one goal and 17 assists with a minus-11.
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