It is no secret that John Klingberg has struggled on the blue line for the San Jose Sharks this season.
The veteran defenseman has had a long leash as one of the top-four d-men and the top power-play quarterback, but that leash has since run out. After going 1 for 6 on the man advantage and finishing a -3 against the Seattle Kraken, Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky is healthy-scratching Klingberg.
Klingberg has rarely been in this position of not playing due to performance. After Tuesday’s morning skate, Warsofsky explained how Klingberg took the news.
“I mean, he wasn’t happy, and I don’t expect him to be happy. That’s what makes hockey players and competitive people who they are,” Warsofsky said. “He’s a competitive guy. He wants to be out there to help his team, help us win hockey games, and do well for himself.”
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Warsofsky went on to explain that this move isn’t permanent and that the San Jose Sharks still view him as an important player.
“He knows he’s got better. We’ve talked about it. It’s a reset. It’s not [that] he’s going to never go back in there. We need him to help our team. That’s really the message,” Warsofsky said.
“He knows he can be better. I never expect a guy to be happy when they come out of the lineup. If you’re happy coming out of a lineup, you’re probably not the right guy we want here.”
In 13 games, Klingberg has two goals and three assists and is a -5. Following the game against the Kraken, Klingberg admitted he can play better than he has shown.
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The bench boss is sending a message not only to Klingberg but also to the rest of the Sharks roster with this move.
“Look, we got eight defensemen, kind of [Vincent Iorio], he’s nine, so we obviously have some competition. We’re going to put the best team out there that we think can help us win the hockey games,” Warsofsky said. “Each guy is in a different situation [and] has a different plan. You go from [Shakir Mukhamadullin] to [Sam] Dickinson to [Timothy Liljegren] to Mario [Ferraro]. Everyone is in a different spot in their career, and you’ve got to balance that out. But ultimately, it’s a team game, and we need individuals to play really well, to have team success.”
Earn it was the message of San Jose Sharks training camp. This move is proof of that, but veterans were given some earned time to adjust before decisions like this one have to be made.
The Sharks coach wasn’t firing shots at anyone, but he has seen the discourse of calling for the lineup to change and for veteran players not to play.
“That’s part of it. I think it’s more you guys than anyone who thinks that, oh, we just get a veteran defenseman. You plug him in, and here he goes,” Warsofsky said. “It takes a little bit of time for them to get used to the systems, the structure, the coaching, the communication, the meetings, and the way we practice.
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These [people] are not robots. They’re human beings. They go through emotional changes in their lives. Mentally, it’s tough. For us to just say, hey, let’s move them to the side and push them out of town after 17, 18, 19 games is, to me, kind of ridiculous. We believe in the guys in there. We know we got better from individuals, but there is also a small sample size here.”
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