When the 2025-26 season started, General Manager Mike Grier knew that he needed to add a veteran defenseman who could move the puck and feed his group of dynamic young forwards. He also knew that the high-end defensive free agents weren’t going to run to San Jose, a team that is still a few years away from true contention. So the general manager had to get creative. He had to make offers to second-tier defensemen and players with the hopes that they might pan out in the end. Which is how the Sharks ended up landing right-shot defenseman John Klingberg on the first day of free agency.
Klingberg’s 2025-26 production
Unfortunately for the Sharks and the defenseman, things didn’t always turn out the way both sides had hoped. Klingberg was in and out of the lineup last season, sometimes because of injury and other times because he was a healthy scratch. Ultimately, he played 56 games for the Sharks, with his final game coming in the Sharks’ 82nd game of the season, where he reached a personal milestone of 700 games played.
| Games Played | Goals | Assists | Points | +/- | Shooting % | TOI/Game |
| 56 | 10 | 17 | 27 | -13 | 12.7% | 20:28 |
Even though 56 games and 27 points don’t seem like a ton for the defenseman whose career started out so promising with the Dallas Stars, it is better than he has been for the past five seasons. 56 games is the most since Klingberg has played since 2021-22 with Dallas, when he played 74 games.
What’s more, his 10 goals are the most he’s scored since 2018-19, also with the Stars. His 27 points are the most he’s registered since the 2021-22 season.
Klingberg is still impactful offensively
What’s more, for all of his defensive flaws, the defenseman can still impact the game offensively. Looking at his regularized-adjusted plus-minus (RAPM) chart from Evolving-Hockey, you can see that Klingberg still had a positive impact on goals for per 60 minutes and expected goals for per 60 minutes.
While the Sharks didn’t get the Klingberg of his prime, the team did get a typical NHL offensive defenseman, emphasis on the offense. Teamed with a more defensively reliable left-side, stay-at-home defenseman, and the Sharks might see the benefit of bringing Klingberg back for a season.
Adjustments in Klingberg’s game
One thing that might bode well for the Sharks is that Klingberg made adjustments to his game as he gained more playing time throughout the season. It was pretty clear as the season wore on that certain aspects of what he used to do as a player were no longer working. There were moves that he made on the ice that did not hold up to the way he used to play. Klingberg made adjustments to his style of play and that, in turn, made a difference in his on-ice impact.
According to Natural Stat Trick, in his 845:37 minutes of ice time before 2/15/26, Klingberg had a CF% (Corsi for percent) of 54.62% at all strengths. His xGF% (expected goals for percent) during the same time span at all strengths was 53.40%. At even-strength, his CF% was 47.99% and his xGF% was 42.08%.
Klingberg had less ice time after the Olympic break, just 278:06 at all strengths; however, it did look like he made some changes to his game. Those changes appeared to show in his numbers. His CF% at all strengths was 56.34% and his xGF% at all strengths was 56.95%. He also showed improvement at even-strength, where his CF% was 49.26%, and his xGF% was 46.07%.
In other words, the Sharks were possessing the puck better and creating better scoring chances with him on the ice post-Olympics.
Klingberg’s future with the Sharks
Klingberg wrapped up a one-year deal worth $4 million dollars. There were a few no-movement clauses in the deal, basically ones that guaranteed he wouldn’t be moved until halfway through the season and then, after that, only to a list of teams of his choosing. The latest news has been that Klingberg is open to coming back to the Sharks and the Sharks are considering bringing him back.
Since the team has the cap space and the desperate need for right-side defensemen, it seems like a deal could be worked out. If Klingberg is willing to take a short-term contract, the Sharks might be willing to overpay once again, knowing that his deal will come off the books before things start to get hairy and the younger players start to exit their entry-level deals.
Editor’s Note: Over the next few weeks, we will be rolling out the player reviews for the San Jose Sharks. We realize there were a lot of guys rotating into and out of the lineup and some of the key depth players were traded. As a result, Fear the Fin plans to focus on the players who are 1) still with the Sharks and 2) played 20 or more games for San Jose this season.
