Former Oilers Defenseman Officially Retires After 4-Year Silence

As per a recent report, former Edmonton Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom is retiring from hockey and the NHL. They note that Klefbom, “has not played a game since the summer of 2020. Now the Swedish defenseman says that the shoulder injury meant that he played his last hockey game. – Now it’s over,” he says to Nya Wermlands Tidningen.

Klefbom had shoulder surgery in 2020 that sidelined him for the entire 2020-21 season and ultimately caused him to miss the 2021-22 campaign as well. However, no official announcement was ever made about his career being over, even though most assumed he would not be back.

Klefbom revealed that he requested the Oilers to keep his injury situation quiet, and the organization agreed not to discuss it publicly. He admitted that it was difficult for him to talk about, saying, “It is as it is. I wasn’t quite done with hockey as a sport. But now it’s over.” Although he still feels a strong desire to play, he acknowledges that his career has ended.

Klefbom spent parts of seven seasons with the Oilers, with his only full season coming in 2016-17. That year, he had a standout performance, scoring 12 goals and 26 assists for 38 points, along with a +7 plus/minus rating in 82 games. He added five points in the postseason as the Oilers reached the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. There was a lot of talk when Klefbom was healthy and playing well that he was going to be a core piece of the then-young Oilers group that would take big strides. He was projected to be a top-four, possibly top-two defender.

Throughout his 378 NHL games, Klefbom recorded 34 goals and 122 assists for 156 points, with a career plus/minus rating of -64. He also appeared in 16 playoff games, tallying seven points.

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