John Klingberg Announces Retirement After 12 Seasons
John Klingberg is officially announcing his retirement from professional hockey after 700 NHL career games played – wishing all the best to this former blue liner in the future! pic.twitter.com/ebjLBp7sKM
— NHLPA (@NHLPA) September 11, 2026
The 34-year-old finished with exactly 700 games played, recording 92 goals and 443 points. He was an All-Star back in his days as an elite puck-moving offensive D with the Dallas Stars, where he spent the first eight years of his career.
His career was marred by multiple hip surgeries, and often required him to play through pain.
“As a professional athlete, all I’ve done for 30-plus years is breathe hockey and try to become better and better in every aspect of the game,” Klingberg said recently to The Athletic. “But especially for me as a player who’s been skating up and down the ice my entire career and been playing a lot through my skating and my ability to move the puck and join the rush and beat guys one-on-one, right?
“Bottom line is my body doesn’t allow me to do it anymore, and I’ve been trying everything to get it to a point where I can be the best version of myself, but I haven’t seen any positive feedback of my body wanting me to do it anymore. So what do you do as a perfectionist and as a competitor when you start losing hope that it’s going to come to a point where you want it to be? You start losing motivation, right?”
Klingberg said his summer workouts convinced him his body couldn't hold up any longer
He said that while training this summer, the condition of his hips convinced him that this was it.
“The motivation, I think, moving into last year, was really high with San Jose, but as the season went longer and longer and I’m not seeing my body changing and reacting the way I want to, I think I realized more and more that it probably would be the last year,” Klingberg said.
In addition to those eight years with Dallas, Klingberg also had short stints with the Anaheim Ducks, Minnesota Wild, Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers and San Jose Sharks, where he played his final season this past year. He recorded 10 goals and 27 points in 56 games.
He'll now move into the broadcast booth, where he'll be analyst for national games on SVT in Sweden.