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Former Wild Defenseman Retires After 12 NHL Seasons
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- Former Wild Defenseman Retires After 12 NHL Seasons
Former Minnesota Wild defenseman John Klingberg has officially called it a career.
Klingberg announced his retirement from professional hockey Friday after 12 NHL seasons and exactly 700 regular-season games. The 34-year-old finished his career with 92 goals, 351 assists and 443 points while playing for six different teams.
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His time in Minnesota was brief, but Klingberg played an important role for the Wild down the stretch of the 2022-23 season.
Minnesota acquired Klingberg from the Anaheim Ducks at the 2023 NHL trade deadline in exchange for defenseman Andrej Sustr , the rights to prospect Nikita Nesterenko and a fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. Anaheim also retained 50 percent of Klingberg's salary in the deal.
Klingberg appeared in 17 regular-season games for the Wild, recording two goals and seven assists for nine points. He then added a goal and three assists in four playoff games as Minnesota was eliminated by the Dallas Stars in six games in the first round.
He left Minnesota that summer and signed a one-year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs . He underwent season-ending hip surgery during the 2023-24 season before eventually returning to the NHL later.
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He spent the 2025-26 season with the San Jose Sharks and showed he could still produce offensively, finishing with 10 goals and 17 assists for 27 points in 56 games. It ultimately proved to be his final NHL season.
For Wild fans, Klingberg's stay in Minnesota amounted to only 21 games between the regular season and playoffs, but he remains part of Bill Guerin's aggressive 2023 trade-deadline push that also brought Gustav Nyquist , Marcus Johansson and Oskar Sundqvist to Minnesota.
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