Top Prospect Carl Klingberg Makes Winnipeg Jets Debut

Welcome to the Winnipeg Jets, Carl Klingberg!

After being recalled yesterday from the AHL's St. John's IceCaps, the 6'3" Swede made his Winnipeg Jets debut during tonight's tight 1-0 win over the visiting Phoenix Coyotes.

Playing on the sparsely used fourth line with Jason Jaffray and Tim Stapleton in just his second career NHL game, Carl played 5:22 in ice time and played a vital role by having the puck deep in the Coyotes zone on every one of the few shifts he played.

Arguably the top Jets prospect next to maybe Mark Scheifele, Klingberg is a 20-year-old NHL rookie from Gothenberg, Sweden; and although he is from Sweden, he plays a North American-style game.

Klingberg is an extremely hardworking player with his high-level skating being one of his top weapons. Carl has good size and accelerates incredibly well. He loves to drive the net and create lots of scoring chances by just using his quick feet.

Furthermore, Carl plays a North American-style game as mentioned earlier, which is unusual for a 20-year-old Swede. He forechecks with great intensity and is a pain in the butt for opposing players with his aggressive and physical play. He also has good timing in his hits and can evolve into a decent scoring forward, but is perhaps more likely to become a checking role player.

Carl has played in two World Junior Championships (2010, 2011), notching four goals and one assist in 11 games over the span of the two tournaments.

After spending his whole career in Sweden with Frolunda and Timra of the Elitserien, Carl came over to North America late last season to play with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL before being called up by the Atlanta Thrashers for the last game of the season, which would also be the last game of the franchise in Atlanta in his NHL debut. 

Prior to his call-up yesterday, Carl is third in scoring on the IceCaps with nine goals and seven assists for 16 points in 20 games, including a hat trick.

Although Carl did not play as much as he probably would have liked in his Jets debut. He should get another chance to show the coaching staff what he can do if they decide to keep him up for Saturday night's game against the New Jersey Devils.

Be sure to follow @CarlKlingberg on Twitter. He is very vocal on Twitter in both English and Swedish.

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