SAN JOSE Defenseman John Klingberg obviously did not want to be a healthy scratch earlier this week when the San Jose Sharks began a four-game homestand. But at the same time, considering how he was playing, it wasn’t a shock to him, either. “It’s never easy to sit out,” Klingberg said Thursday of being scratched from the Sharks’ game against the Utah Mammoth two days earlier. “But it gives you some time to think and take a step back and then just reevaluate your own game.” After a conversation with Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky, Klingberg will be back in the lineup for Thursday’s game with the Los Angeles Kings, hoping to take a new approach. “Limit the obvious mistakes and play the game the right way,” said Klingberg, who had 421 points in 657 career NHL games before Thursday. “Sometimes feel like I have to put a leash on myself, like I’m trying to really be involved in the game, and I take pride in being the player I once was and still am. “Obviously, it’s a little bit different with all of the history of injuries and getting older, too, so you have to adapt a little bit. But simplify the game and let the game come to me.” Before being scratched for Tuesday’s game, Klingberg was not taking enough care of the puck during 5-on-5 play, with too much risk in his game and not enough reward. Known for his offensive production throughout his NHL career, Klingberg, 33, was scoreless in five straight games and entered Thursday with just five points in 13 games. Klingberg and Timothy Liljegren will both return to the lineup for Thursday’s game, and Shakir Mukhamadullin and Nick Leddy will be scratched. Klingberg on Thursday is set to be paired with Mario Ferraro and return to the first power play unit with forwards William Eklund, Will Smith, Macklin Celebrini, and Alexander Wennberg. “It might not happen in one or two games, but just keep building on that game, and make fewer mistakes in the long run,” Klingberg said. “That’s going to create confidence in my game that I’m going to be able to take a step forward.” Klingberg, who signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the Sharks in July, said his conversation with Warsofsky included having “a little bit better communication of where my game is at.” The lines of communication with Warsofsky were open before, Klingberg said, but he added, “he’s still getting to know me. I’m still getting to know him a little bit, but we’ve had a great relationship so far. But if there’s something on your mind, I don’t feel like I’m not going to go and talk to him about it.” Asked about communicating with Klingberg, Warsofsky said, “I have a lot of communication with all the players, and then where they stand, and if they’re not playing, why they’re not playing.” It would be in everyone’s best interest to see Klingberg get his game back in order. The Sharks, before Thursday, were two points out of a playoff spot and could use more production from the back end to help stay in the hunt. Entering Thursday, the Sharks ranked 22nd in the NHL with only a combined 34 points from the nine defensemen who have played games this season. If the Sharks are out of the playoff picture around the March 6 trade deadline, Klingberg could be an attractive player for contending teams to add, if his game is in a good place. Klingberg played in 19 playoff games during the Edmonton Oilers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final and recorded four points, averaging just over 19 minutes of ice time. “If I’m going to continue to be in this league, you have to find a role on the team,” Klingberg said. “I had success in Edmonton as well and was able to stay in that lineup throughout the playoffs.” THORNTON HONORED Sharks legend Joe Thornton, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Nov. 10, was set to be honored before Thursday’s game. The Sharks, in their 35th year in the NHL, are celebrating some of their alumni throughout the season. The Sharks acquired Thornton from the Boston Bruins on Nov. 30, 2005. With San Jose, Thornton had 1, 055 points, including 804 assists, in 1, 104 games played, with 402 power-play points and 40 game-winning goals. He had his number 19 retired by the Sharks last season. During his induction speech in Toronto, Thornton said in San Jose, “Everything just clicked, and it was easy to go to the rink. I felt dominant.” “He’s so passionate and so emotional and speaks from the heart,” Warsofsky said of Thornton’s speech. “It was phenomenal, very touching and very moving.” The recognition for Thornton came on the same night that the Kings’ captain, Anze Kopitar, played his final regular-season game in San Jose. Kopitar announced in September that this season, his 20th in the NHL, would be his last, and the two teams only meet one more time, on Jan. 7 in Los Angeles. “It was an honor to watch him play every single night, see the work that he put in on both sides of the puck,” said Sharks winger Tyler Toffoli, who was teammates with Kopitar in Los Angeles from 2013 to 2020. “Not only the on-ice stuff, but the off-ice stuff that he took me under his wing. “Just a great human being and great family. Definitely very grateful to be friends with him, and very fortunate to win the Stanley Cup, and kind of be connected in that sense as well.” Before Thursday, Kopitar had 75 points in 98 career regular-season games against the Sharks, and 17 points in 19 playoff games in memorable series meetings with Thornton and the Sharks in 2013, 2014, and 2016. “It’s funny and kind of a coincidence that this is (Kopitar’s) last regular season game here at SAP and Jumbo’s getting honored,” Toffoli said. “They definitely had many, many battles together and against each other. It was fun to watch.”.
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Sharks update: Can Klingberg turn his season around? Here’s his approach
