Rare situation delaying Oilers debut for John Klingberg

There was always going to be a delay in John Klingberg playing for the Oilers, but now it seems this will be caused by more than just rehabbing his hip injury.

Toronto Maple Leafs v Nashville Predators
Toronto Maple Leafs v Nashville Predators | Brett Carlsen/GettyImages

There's already been some intriguing storylines surrounding the Edmonton Oilers' decision to sign John Klingberg for the remainder of the 2024-25 season. One of these being the need to place Derek Ryan on waivers, although fortunately for everyone concerned he cleared and subsequently assigned to Bakersfield with the Condors.

Another storyline of note was the reality that there would be a delay in Klingberg actually making his Oilers debut. This was due to still rehabbing a hip injury, which saw him placed on long-term injured reserve by the Toronto Maple Leafs back in mid-November of 2023 and subsequently having to undergo surgery.

At least there was some seemingly good news last Monday, when the 32-year-old hit the ice for the first time as an Edmonton Oiler. As we wrote at the time, practice went well but coach Kris Knoblauch cautioned the defenceman was still at least another week away from playing in an actual game.

Not so fast on John Klingberg's debut for the Oilers

Well, not it turns out that there may well be an additional delay to Klingberg making his Oilers debut, which has nothing to do with his hip injury. As reported by Ryan Rishaug of TSN, he was not at practice on Monday, due to needing to work on his immigration documentation.

Knoblauch was asked to expand on what this meant for the timeline of Klingberg playing his first game for the Oilers. As per the team's official account on YouTube, he said:

"Potentially this week. We have two more practices before we play on Thursday (against the Detroit Red Wings). We'll see how those two go, but the rough estimate was sometime this week and if we have to push it back to the following week when we're on the road playing back-to-back, maybe that's the time he plays also."

It is interesting and surprising that it would be an immigration issue which is essentially now the reason there may well be a delay in Klingberg making his Oilers debut. After all, this is something the Oilers and Canadian NHL teams in general must be used to having to sort out, when acquiring a player of a different nationality during the season?

David Staples offers a cautionary tale

However, it turns out delays do occur from time to time, at least according to David Staples of the Edmonton Journal. Staples hopes -- as anyone connected with the Oilers will do -- that the situation is resolved rapidly, although he does offer some small reason for fans to fret, with his lack of confidence in the system in Canada and how slow the government works.

We appreciate that Staples is referencing his own recent experience with renewing his passport, but anything to do with professional athletes in North America is usually expedited. Worst-case scenario though, Klingberg doesn't play before the 4 Nations Face-Off break, meaning he misses six more games but then has until Feb. 22 to get his immigration documents approved.

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