Early Trading: Leafs, Oilers, Senators among teams interested in Klingberg

Reda: Remember John Klingberg's brief stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs last season before a hip problem knocked him out for the year? Well the big Swede could be coming back. To talk about that and more, here's our insider Darren Dreger.

Dregs, you broke some news today on Klingberg, walk us through the latest on his situation.

Dreger: Well the latest is this is a story of recovery, and we all recall how Klingberg went through some difficult times, post-Maple Leafs. He had the hip resurfacing surgery in the fall of 2023.

For hockey fans familiar with this type of surgery, it's similar to what Patrick Kane had, what Jesse Puljujarvi had, and there's an extensive rehab and recovery process that goes along with that.

Klingberg has finally reached the point where he's pushed his recovery as far as he can, now he needs to step it up and take it to the next level, and that's skating in the NHL. Needless to say there are a number of teams that would be interested in the services of the veteran defenceman, including the Maple Leafs, and why wouldn't he be interested in going back to the Maple Leafs, not that the Leafs have room on that blue line, there would have to be some sort of move made by general manager Brad Treliving, but there's been a good relationship that's been ongoing there.

I know that the Ottawa Senators have expressed some interest, the Edmonton Oilers' blue line has been a question mark all season long, so no doubt that Stan Bowman is in this game, and really what was a longer list has been narrowed down to five-to-seven teams.

The expectation is that Klingberg and his representatives, Newport Sports, will continue to have dialogue with these clubs and a decision should be made on the resumption of his NHL career in the next couple of weeks.

Reda: We certainly wish him all the best. Speaking of injuries, when the 4 Nations roster was announced in December, the management team gave those bubble guys a heads up that they might get the call if guys got hurt - are we starting to hear some chatter on that front?

Dreger: We are - from a Team Canada perspective, knock on wood if you're a Canadian hockey fan, there's not a lot of injury to be concerned with, but that's what the Team Canada management group is concerned with - what does that list look like up front, on defence and in goal if somebody goes down.

The Americans have a bit more concern, and that's of course the captain of the Maple Leafs, Auston Matthews - he's played well in his return from the latest aggravation.

I know that Team USA general manager Bill Guerin, GM of the Minnesota Wild, is in constant communication, keeping close tabs with what's going on. As Treliving expressed on Monday, there's no real concern there, and there's no real timeline, aside from the fact that we're inside a month now from the start of the 4 Nations in Montreal and Boston.

So literally it's a day-by-day and the assumption is, assuming Matthews doesn't aggravate his upper-body issue again, that he will play for Team USA in the 4 Nations.

Then I shift over to the Ottawa Senators, maybe a more concerning issue there for Team Sweden with Linus Ullmark. We know he's been on the ice but he's yet to practice with the group. The Swedes are in good hands from a goaltending perspective, they have [Filip] Gustavsson, they have Jacob Markstrom, but they'd like to bring Ullmark along for the ride, provided he's healthy, so really it's just a day-by-day monitoring process for the management groups of all the teams at the 4 Nations.

Reda: There's an interesting angle to all this, as you mentioned puck drop for the 4 Nations is less than a month away, trade deadline is just over seven weeks away, how do you think the tournament might effect the way general managers handle the trade deadline?

Dreger: Well I haven't polled all 32 GMs, but I have spoke to a number of them, and more than a few have suggested that they're looking at the 4 Nations as really a soft deadline, if you will, and I think when we look at the critical dates of the NHL calendar, there are two obvious deadlines in season.

One is the holiday roster freeze, we've come through that, there was a flurry of activity around that one and then obviously the next one would be March 7, and that is the firm trade deadline, which expires at 3p.m. ET.

Some GMs are looking at the start of the 4 Nations and saying 'Hey, Id like to get my business done before that tournament gets underway" and there's at least a short pause in the NHL.

There's been some media speculation around the league as to whether or not you can actually make a trade during the 4 Nations and you can. There are no restrictions around that. It's a surprise to me, anyway, the league and the players association didn't give it any consideration as to whether they needed to create any sort of stop, or block, or restriction around player movement or trade activity. It depends on the GM that you talk to, but some look at the 4 Nations as a bit of a bump, 'Let's get going, let's get some trade activity before the 4 Nations.'

Reda: Can you imagine getting dealt while you're playing in that tournament? A bit of a distraction. We're all keeping an eye on what the Vancouver Canucks are going to do with J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson - what are you hearing out of Vancouver and the impact the situation could have on other potential moves?

Dreger: I'm going to jinx myself by saying it's quiet on all fronts, but quiet isn't a bad thing for the Canucks, because that means the focus is where it needs to be and that's on the ice and winning hockey games.

As we witnessed on Saturday night against the Maple Leafs, things are trending well for the Canucks.

All the speculation around Miller and Pettersson has had some influence on the overall trade market. I think there are a number of factors - at least three anyway - that could contribute as to why it might be quiet.

Look through the Eastern Conference, or across the NHL, we see a glaring example of the parity that exists in the NHL regular season.

There's literally a log jam that exsts for the wild-card spot in the east so that has an influence on deciding who is a seller and who is a buyer.

Then you've got those who might be projected as a seller looking at what's going on in Vancouver - if Miller is willing to waive his no-trade clause, and there's no guarantee he'd be willing to do that, he hasn't been asked to do that yet - he gets traded somewhere, what is the return?

How does that impact the trade market, or a Pettersson, for example. They get moved, the pieces that come back to Vancouver, how does that influence the trade market? There's always a layering process when it comes to big trades, and there are some out there, at least in the category of the seller, that are waiting to see what, if anything, happens in Vancouver.

Reda: Gives us lots to talk about my friend.