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Winnipeg Jets Top 25 Under 25 – #19 Carl Klingberg

Rank DOB Age Acquired Pos Garret Terrell Tim Ryan Travis TJ Daniel Jacob
19 1991/01/28 23 #34, 2009 RW 14 14 21 17 19 19 16 24

Previous Rank: Honourable Mention

Carl Klinbgerg's development has been a bit of a roller-coaster ride. Klingberg placed in the Jets top 10 in 2013 after scoring 37 points in his AHL rookie 2013 season, plus earning a six game call-up for the main club. However, he fell all the way out of the top 25 with struggling the very next season. Which leads us to here.

Klingberg started the season as a healthy scratch and slowly worked his way up to becoming a mainstay on Eric O`Dell’s wing. The big and fast winger simplified his game, which led to a more effective Carl Klingberg.

AIH Authors' Thoughts:

Tim:

Carl Klingberg entered last season at risk of washing out of the Winnipeg Jets system. As a player with high end skating and NHL size, Carl was looked at as a good bet to make the NHL, but his game wasn’t progressing as expected. That is, until last year. Near the middle of last season Klingberg found some consistency in his game and it paid dividends. Klingberg isn’t a skill player, nor a high end scorer, but he is a force on the forecheck and can easily turn defenders with his speed off the rush. Klingberg needs the right linemates to maximize his skill set, but he should have a legit shot of making the NHL in a depth role this year.

Allan:

Last season was make or break for Klingberg, and he showed enough promise to get another contract. Potting 22 goals helped reverse his fortune. High chance he starts the season with the big club due to needing waivers. An excellent player on the forecheck, he once stripped the puck from Chara.

Garret:

Klingberg was a fun player to watch this past year; the Klingberg-O`Dell-Mouillierat/Samson line combinations were my absolute favourite. He generates a huge amount of shot volume, although some is from the outside when he fails to break past the defenders.

Daniel:

Klingberg has NHL size, NHL skating, and a strong “work rate”. He’s not the most skilled offensive player, but still manages to generate offense at the AHL level, usually by using those skills to go to the net. Once thought of as having second line potential, Klingberg’s spent three seasons in the organization and barely made a dent at the NHL level. He’s coming off of his best AHL season to date though, in which he scored 22 goals and directed 178 shots on goal (3rd on the team) in 66 games with the IceCaps.

Klingberg is now 23 and while there’s still some room for improvement, he’s probably not going to get that much better from here on out. The days of having second line potential are gone; his ceiling is more like a 3rd/4th line “tweener” now. Still, I think Klingberg could be an NHL regular tomorrow if the Jets give him a shot over guys like Chris Thorburn, Anthony Peluso, and Matt Halischuk.

Related Links

Prospect Snapshot – Make or Break Carl Klingberg

By the Numbers – AHL Player Season Review

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