Maple Leafs' faith in polarizing blueliner John Klingberg seems to already be eroding

Just over halfway through Tuesday's 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings, the Maple Leafs were down 3-0 when a power-play opportunity arose.

It was the sort of moment that could've sparked a comeback, and coach Sheldon Keefe threw out his top unit of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares and Mitch Marner, with one small adjustment.

John Klingberg — who had been the team's power-play quarterback all season long — remained on the bench in favour of Morgan Rielly. When the Maple Leafs got their next 5v4 opportunity in the third, Rielly was out with the big guns once again.

That grouping provided Toronto's only goal of the game.

Entering the game Rielly had only played 29.7% of the Maple Leafs' power-play time to Klingberg's 72.8% and 4:28 alongside Matthews with the man advantage — a far cry from Klingberg's 30:21.

It's not clear if we're looking at a changing of the guard of the PP1 unit or an in-game adjustment just yet, but it was a clear sign that Keefe's trust in Klingberg is wavering. It's not a good look for one of the NHL's most offensive-minded defensemen to ride the pine when his team desperately needs a goal and has a prime opportunity to get one.

To be fair, Rielly has plenty of experience facilitating an elite power-play unit, so Keefe didn't sit Klingberg down in favour of a vastly inferior player to make a point. He had a solid alternative at his disposal and he took it.

Still, Klingberg's removal from the PP1 group on Tuesday is part of a noticeable downward trend in his role. The Swede opened the season on Toronto's second pair alongside Jake McCabe and skated 22:36 per night in his first three games — with three assists to show for his efforts.

In the five games since, Klingberg's ice time has dropped to 19:31, and he's produced two points, with one coming with the man advantage.

That demotion was justified based on the way he played to open the season. The Klingberg-McCabe pairing was not functioning well — the Maple Leafs were outshot 29-20 and outscored 5-1 in their 40:34 of 5v5 time, with an expected goal rate of 37.23%.

Placing Klingberg with Mark Giordano for a four-game stretch between October 19 and October 26 created a better pair as each player has better 5v5 possession numbers together than apart:

The sample is small, but it seemed like a promising option for the Maple Leafs until an injury to McCabe knocked Giordano up to the second pair. That left Klingberg with William Lagesson, a 27-year-old journeyman who didn't log a minute in the NHL last season

Lagesson may have surprised in training camp, but he's hardly qualified for the complicated assignment of playing alongside one of the NHL's most prolific risk takers. The same could be said for Simon Benoit, the Maple Leafs' other spare defender.

That means that for now Klingberg could be stuck playing extremely sheltered third-pairing minutes and grabbing power-play scraps. His 5v5 offensive-zone start percentage (71.43%) currently ranks fifth in the NHL among defensemen with at least 100 minutes of ice time, which says a lot about how much Keefe feels the need to keep him away from perilous defensive situations.

It's not an irrational thought, either.

Klingberg's reputation for struggling in his own zone has been validated early in his Maple Leafs career. Just seven blueliners have seen more high-danger chances go against their teams while they were on the ice at 5v5 — despite the fact that 72 have logged more 5v5 minutes. Four of the seven guys on the ice for more of those looks are on the hopeless San Jose Sharks.

The Kings' final goal on Tuesday is a fine example of Klingberg's defensive struggles as the blueliner passed off Quinten Byfield to pick up Anže Kopitar, but immediately fell behind the star centre — allowing him to receive the puck down low cleanly and get it to Adrian Kempe for a tap-in.

Keefe has reason to distrust Klingberg defensively, and the Swede's modest power-play production thus far makes going to Rielly an understandable move, too.

The issue at hand for the Maple Leafs is push-and-pull between their attempt to get the most out of their free-agent acquisition, and their fears of exposing his weaknesses. Maximizing his power-play time appeared to be one way to help navigate that problem, but it seems Keefe is getting impatient with him on that unit.

Because of his high-event game and penchant for defensive gaffes, Klingberg is the type of player who demands patience of his coaches. He's capable of brilliance, but whenever he gets into any kind of offensive funk things can get ugly.

Early in the season there are already signs that the Maple Leafs' faith in him is slipping. He's not currently playing the top-four role the team envisioned for him when he signed as a free agent — and even if McCabe's return enables a reunion with Giordano, he could still be looking at relatively limited minutes and sporadic power-play looks.

The Maple Leafs knew the Klingberg experience might be a rollercoaster when they brought him on. It hasn't taken long for that reality to set in.