Maple Leafs defenseman shut down for rest of season

John Klingberg’s tenure with the Toronto Maple Leafs looks to be over.

Leafs GM Brad Treliving told reporters on Wednesday that the veteran defenseman will have hip surgery at the end of December and will be shut down for the remainder of the 2023-24 NHL campaign.

Klingberg signed a one-year contract with the Maple Leafs this past summer with an AAV of $4.15M. Despite registering five assists in 14 games, Klingberg has struggled mightily in his first season playing in Canada. sitting second last on the Leafs with -2.1 goals above replacement and -0.3 wins above replacement, according to Evolving-Hockey.

Klingberg was placed on long-term injured reserve last month, giving the team some extra cap relief. Alongside Jake Muzzin ($5.625M), Matt Murray ($4.687M) and Timothy Liljegren ($1.4M), the Leafs currently have $15.862M in LTIR alone, according to CapFriendly. Mark Giordano is on regular injured reserve but holds a cap hit of $800,000. Muzzin, Murray and Klingberg are all expected to miss the rest of the season.

CapFriendly has the team’s current cap space at $1.459M, but that’ll close back up once Liljegren returns. Still, it’s expected the Leafs will look to address the hole left on their blueline through the trade market. Last week, Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin suggested Calgary’s Chris Tanev, Columbus’ Andrew Peeke and Nashville’s Alexandre Carrier as options, among others. Nikita Zadorov, one of the more notable names on the market this year, was traded to Vancouver last week.

The Leafs currently sit fourth in the Atlantic Division with 28 points, three points behind Detroit in second. Toronto has played two fewer games but will return to face Ottawa on the road on Thursday. Their next home game will be Saturday against Nashville before heading out to face the New York Islanders on Monday and the Rangers on Tuesday.