FRISCO, Texas — John Klingberg is finally getting recognized on a league-wide scale.
He leads all defensemen with 46 points, and only three forwards have more assists than the 40 that Klingberg has dished out this season.
Klingberg is headed to his first NHL All-Star Game later this week, and while he may not win the award, the Dallas Stars defender has solidified himself as one of the favorites in race for the Norris Trophy, given annually to the NHL’s top defenseman.
And Klingberg might not be in that position without Esa Lindell, who has emerged as a true top-pairing defender in his second NHL season.
Heading into this season there was speculation that Lindell and Klingberg would be separated after a good, but far-from-great 2016-17 season. Marc Methot was the big-name acquisition on defense, and it seemed like he was specifically acquired to play with Klingberg — in Methot’s initial conference call with the media after the trade with the Vegas Golden Knights he and general manager Jim Nill talked about a potential fit with the Swede.
But Lindell kept his job on the top pairing and impressed Stars coach Ken Hitchcock. That turned into an unforeseen blessing as Methot has has been limited to just 16 games with a knee injury.
On multiple occasions Klingberg has talked about the importance of chemistry and consistency with his defensive partner. Had he been paired with Methot from the onset, Klingberg and Lindell may have to rebuild old chemistry on the fly when Methot was hurt.
And that confidence can go a long way. Both Lindell and Klingberg said they don’t see any drastic changes in their game from last season, but both of them quickly hit the buzz words — confidence and communication.
“Nothing different, really, I think we both just have a lot more confidence now,” Klingberg said. “He’s not the flashiest player, but he does everything right, and he can play both offense and defense, we got chemistry for sure. It’s a good communication he talks a lot, even if he’s Finnish. I think it’s more comfortable and more confidence, that’s the biggest thing.”
Lindell and Klingberg have found confidence in different realms at the same time. Klingberg, who was never lacking for confidence in the offensive zone, has improved defensively and is a more all-around player this season. While the Norris chatter may have been driven by point total, he’s actually one of the better all-around defenseman in the NHL.
Lindell has started to find his stride offensively. While he defers to Klingberg on most occasions, he’s not shying away from offensive moments, and already has a career-high 20 points.
“One guy is getting better in making smart decisions from the red line back in Klingberg, and Lindell is starting to accept more responsibility as a guy who helps on the rush that helps on the attack and knows when to join in,” Hitchcock said. “I think one guy is increasing the offensive part, while one guy is increasing the offensive part of his game since he’s been good defensively, and the other guy is addressing the part of the game where he’s lowering the risk in his game, so it makes for a really good pair.”
Lindell said the foundation was built last season. That’s where the chemistry started to grow, many fans forget he was still a rookie that season, and with a long-summer both players entered this season in better physical shape.
“I think last summer was so long, (so) it was a big deal to practice really well, get strength and be ready for more (work this season),” Lindell said. “Now when we been playing a lot of games. Like the last road trip, we had four games in like a week, or December we had a bunch of games, we didn’t get as tired and got the same consistency every night.”
If Klingberg is the marquee actor, Lindell should be nominated for best supporting actor with his role this season.
By traditional metrics, his plus-18 ranks 11th in the NHL overall and fourth amongst defenseman.
If you want to dig deeper, his advanced analytics also look pretty good. With a 54.11 CF%, Lindell ranks 11th amongst defenders that have played more than 700 minutes this season (Klingberg ranks ninth in CF% with 54.24).
In defensive point shares, a stat tracked by Hockey Reference similar to WAR in baseball, Lindell is fifth in the league at 3.5.
The only players ahead of him? Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty (4.5), Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara (3.9), Anaheim Duck Josh Manson (3.7), and Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman (3.7).
So why isn’t Lindell getting more attention on a league-wide scale? Let’s ask the man who seems to be an expert in that category.
“It feels like, what I’d have to do? Score that many points for me to be recognized? It’s stupid,” Klingberg said. “(If) we were playing in the east we would probably get more media probably, but that’s just the way it is.”
Lindell doesn’t want the extra attention or the extra media. He prefers the one-on-one chats. Interviews that start with topics about something other than himself, while sitting on the other side of the locker room from the media horde (which has grown since the Dallas Cowboys season came to an end) surrounding Stars captain Jamie Benn on Monday.
In fact, after Lindell did the interview for this story, which was almost interrupted by fellow Stars defenseman Stephen Johns holding a water bottle as a fake microphone, he turned to Klingberg, who had just received his All-Star weekend itinerary.
“Be nice, I just got done pumping your tires,” Lindell said.
Hanzal out again
Martin Hanzal is likely going to miss another game with a lower-body injury.
Hanzal left a 7-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday and didn’t practice on Monday. Hitchcock called it a maintenance day, but later admitted that Hanzal was unable to practice.
Injuries have been a theme for Hanzal this season, and frankly throughout his career. It doesn’t look like he’ll play before the all-star break, and if it continues any further the Stars may have to call-up another forward from the AHL, likely Jason Dickinson.
But it’s not a problem that’s going away. Hitchcock admitted that at the end of his media scrum on Monday.
“It’s not best for the team,” Hitchcock said. “I think we’ve got to realize we’re not going to have a healthy Martin Hanzal (this season). We’re going to have a percentage of what we can get. And at 70 or 80 percent, he’s a hell of a player. At 100 percent he’s a great player. So we’ve got to get him to where we’re comfortable and he’s comfortable.”
“We also got to monitor for the rainy day,” Hitchcock added. “So we’ve got to get ready for the rainy day. If that means putting a player in the middle of the ice and keeping him there, or bringing a guy from the American Hockey League and just placing him there, this is what you got to. We’ve got to be ready.”
Practice lineup
I would expect a similar look when the Stars play the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, Hitchcock confirmed that Bishop will start in goal.
Antoine Roussel — Radek Faksa — Tyler Pitlick
Jamie Benn — Tyler Seguin — Alexander Radulov
Gemel Smith — Devin Shore — Brett Ritchie
Remi Elie — Jason Spezza — Mattias Janmark
Esa Lindell — John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis — Greg Pateryn
Dillon Heatherington — Stephen Johns
Julius Honka
Ben Bishop
Kari Lehtonen
Not skating: Marc Methot (knee), Martin Hanzal (lower-body).
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