Oscar Klefbom

Klefbom with the Oklahoma City Barons in 2014.

After attending the Edmonton Oilers development camp, Klefbom began his first season in North America with their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Oklahoma City Barons. The assignment was to retain salary cap space and allow Klefbom to acclimate to the smaller ice.[13] During his time with the Barons, Klefbom worked on improving his overall game including "winning the battles in the corners" and "staying strong in front of the net."[14] Klefbom began the 2013–14 season by recording one assist through 12 games to earn his first NHL recall on 15 November 2013.[15] He did not make his NHL debut during his recall and was reassigned to the AHL shortly thereafter.[16] Upon returning to the AHL, Klefbom continued to work on his game and gathered two more assists before suffering an injury on 28 December. He missed numerous games to recover and rejoined the Barons lineup in mid-January.[17] However, after returning to the lineup, Klefbom continued to grow confident in his game and earned greater responsibilities on the ice. When speaking of this development, Klefbom credited it to working with the Baron's assistant coach every day to improve his skills.[18]

As a result of his improvements with the Barons, Klefbom was recalled to the NHL level on 10 March 2014 on an emergency basis.[19] The emergency designation was eventually dropped[19] and Klefbom made his NHL debut the following day against the Minnesota Wild, where he recorded one assist in a 4–3 shootout win.[20] A few games later, Klefbom tallied his first career NHL goal within 8:26 of the third period to lead the Oilers to a 4–3 overtime victory over the Anaheim Ducks.[21] Klefbom finished the season skating in 17 NHL games and 48 AHL games.[2]

Klefbom during an Oilers practice in 2014.

Despite his play at the NHL level during the 2013–14 season, Klefbom was not guaranteed a spot in the Oiler's lineup for the 2014–15 season. He spent nine games with the Barons at the AHL level, recording eight points, before being recalled to the NHL for the remainder of the season.[22] He quickly began to earn praise from the Oilers coaching staff and experienced an increased playing time.[23] After missing a few games in December due to a foot injury, Klefbom was paired with Mark Fayne on the Oilers blueline.[24] Upon returning from his injury, Klefbom kept on earning top minutes and often skated over 20 minutes per game.[25] He was also often paired with Justin Schultz while playing a top-four role. When speaking about his improvements, coach Craig MacTavish stated: "[h]e just gives you 20 minutes of flawless hockey, and he’s had a great effect on Justin (Schultz)."[26] Klefbom finished the season with two goals and 18 assists for 20 points through 60 games. He also ranked second among Oilers defencemen in points and time on ice while placing third among team defencemen in blocked shots. As such, Klefbom signed a seven-year, $29.2 million contract extension with the Oilers on 19 September 2015.[27]

In the first year of his new contract, Klefbom played 30 games with the Oilers but injuries derailed most of his season causing him to sit 52 games on injured reserve.[28] Klefbom began the 2015–16 season playing exhibition games with fellow Swede Adam Larsson on the Oilers’ top pairing.[29] On 11 December, Klefbom broke a bone in his knuckle but was later diagnosed with an infection in his leg which kept him out of the lineup for over a month.[30] While his finger healed, the coaching staff kept him out of the lineup through February in order to improve his skating, lung capacity, and energy levels.[31] Klefbom originally intended to participate in for a few late regular-season Oilers’ games but his skin was too sensitive after two surgeries.[32]

Following his injury-riddled season, Klefbom experienced a breakout 2016–17 campaign by tallying 12 goals and 26 assists through a career-high 82 games.[2] He scored his first playoff goal 12 April 2017 vs the San Jose Sharks. His goal was the first Oilers playoff goal in 11 years.[33]