I'm going to go with Pete Mitchell from "Top Gun." You might know him better as "Maverick." Cocky kid, thinks he knows it all. Chip on his shoulder, needs to prove everybody wrong.
As the coach has discussed John Klingberg over the past few days, he has often prefaced his thoughts with "this is actually about the entire team." He's right about that. Klingberg is a microcosm of the 2019-20 Stars, and he's certainly not the only one going through some moments of struggle.
The scorers aren't scoring, the power play isn't clicking, the goalies aren't as good as they were last year. There is much to fix here, so let's let Klingberg stand as a composite character.
Klingberg has arguably been the most consistent and maybe most important player on this team since he moved up to the NHL in 2014. He is hands down the leader in time on ice and in puck possession. Measured in SAT (shot attempt differential at even strength), Klingberg is plus-718 in his career. Second-best in that span is Tyler Seguin at plus-465.
Last year in the playoffs, Klingberg was plus-70 in SAT. Jamie Benn was second on the team at plus-7.
That's impressive, and it allows Klingberg to play with a certain athletic arrogance that is needed.
But, just as it has been for the entire team this year, Klingberg has struggled with the high expectations and low performance this October. He entered Monday's game at minus-12 in SAT and a team-worst minus-7 in plus-minus. Asked what was wrong, Montgomery said the 27-year-old defenseman needs to learn patience and discipline.