Report: Maple Leafs Have Expressed Interest In Defenseman John Klingberg As He Eyes Return To NHL

"A decision expected in next 2 weeks," Dreger posted to X on Tuesday morning. "5-7 teams in the mix."

The 32-year-old defenseman underwent bilateral hip surgery in late 2023 and hasn't played a game since Nov. 11, 2023 — against the Vancouver Canucks — with the Maple Leafs.

Klingberg signed a one-year, $4.15 million contract with the Maple Leafs on July 1, 2023, after playing the 2022-23 season with the Anaheim Ducks and Minnesota Wild. The defenseman played 14 games with Toronto — scoring four assists and averaging 20:33 of ice time — before undergoing hip surgery.

The defenseman has played 633 NHL games. He's scored 412 points (81 goals, 331 assists) in that span, split between the Maple Leafs, Ducks, Wild, and Dallas Stars.

Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported on Dec. 21 during Saturday Headlines that Klingberg was looking at returning to the NHL closer to the end of January.

"Sometime after Christmas, he's going to resume skating with a junior team," Friedman reported. "Now, he has seen the hip surgeon that did Patrick Kane's hips. He's skating with the same people that brought Patrick Kane back and he does want to resume his career."

Rick Bowness, Klingberg's former coach in Dallas, was on Sportsnet when Friedman reported on the defenseman's hope for an NHL return. Bowness revealed that Klingberg dealt with hip issues while in Dallas.

"He needs the right partner because John is a puck-moving defenseman, he's going to be coming up all the time. For him to be really effective, he needs the right partner," Bowness said.

"Now, can he skate and move the puck and everything else? Yeah, so you hope that hip surgery has helped him because I know when he played for us in Dallas, we had issues with that. He had a tough time with it."