Scott Burnside: Tell me your very first hockey memory.

John Klingberg: I have a lot of them, but the things that I would say was going to all the Frolunda hockey games with my granddad when I was a kid. He had those season tickets, so he had two of them and I always went with him because my brother was always playing a lot of hockey and a lot of games at that age, so I was able to go with him (my grandfather) to those games. Almost every home game, except when I had practices or games myself. It was a great time. We could always go to those games. And then, obviously, playing all those kids' hockey tournaments. We had a really good team in Gothenburg, and there's a really big kids' tournament in that age and we actually won it like twice, so (that) was really fun. We had a good team and I still have a lot of friends from that team as well. The real finals are all in the big arena in Gothenburg, but you have to travel outside Gothenburg to play all those group stages and then you go to the semifinals, quarterfinals, and it's going on for probably two weeks. That's a lot of fun tournament to play, and obviously we had a good team, and we were able to win two times and I think we played in the final four times. Just being able to go to all those (Frolunda) games and obviously for myself, I've been talking a lot about that to hockey writers as well. When Erik Karlsson came up on the team, I was able to watch him. Even in the juniors when he came up on the big team. I've been following him around from when he was a kid as well, and coming up in the big leagues, which has been huge for me as well because we're similar types of players.

Video: Klingberg in the mix with the league's best

SB: Do you remember the first time that someone wanted your autograph or that someone wanted interview you to talk to you about what a good player you were?

JK: Interview was probably with my brother when he came down and played that tournament with us in kids hockey. We were doing really good in the groups, and then we came to the quarterfinals and they made a big article in the newspaper, so that was my first memory from an interview. Me and my brother did that together. Autograph, I would probably say when I came up playing in Frolunda myself that was probably the first autograph I signed. My mom saved all of those articles somewhere. She says she's going to do a clip book or whatever. I don't know.

SB: When you go home, do you look at that stuff and think about how far you've come and your journey?

JK: I feel like I've started doing it since I moved over here, and finally get to live my childhood dream and play in the NHL. You kind of look back and see how much work it was for me and my family. And mom saved kind of everything, so I think it's more lately you've been doing that and you appreciate it a lot for where you come because I always had to work really hard to get where I am. I wasn't talented when I was a kid. Then, kind of everyone was in the same age -- around 14, 15, 16 -- everyone started growing much faster than me, so I had to work really hard to keep up. And at the same time, I switched from forward to (defenseman) and that was new to me, so I always had to work really hard to convince coaches and high school.

Coming into high school, I was the last guy coming into high school as well as a D-man. I had to work really hard all those years and it finally paid off. It was hard (moving from forward to defense). I was 15, and you kind of really start building a team with the best players in Gothenburg when you're 16, and I was kind of the last D-man into that as well. As a forward, I would maybe probably get in because I was really good before, but switching to D the year before was hard, and that full season when I was a D, my first year was tough because I didn't really know. I was always good with the puck, I could still make those plays, but playing defense, I was not very good at all. But I mean, that's something that I worked really hard with. Even when you're coming into high school, I was only a D man for three, four years, so they made a spot for me, but I had to work really hard for it as well. It wasn't sure that I was going to go to that (school). I thought I would maybe have to move somewhere else in Sweden to play high school hockey and really take the time to play hockey and go in school, and I really wanted to be a hockey pro. But I got in there in the Frolunda high school and didn't play much my first year, and got more and more ice time second year, and third year, I even got to play with the Under-20 team. And the year after that, I played with the big team and I was drafted and everything. So everything kind of happened very fast, but I really stayed on track and really developed and didn't take too much time to look ahead of me. Just working hard in the moment.

SB: If you could go back and meet with 18-year-old john Klingberg, what advice would you give him? It sounds like you were always very focused and it didn't come easy to you, but that you were always really focused on your goals.

JK: You know what? I think I kind of did most of it right. That's because I had really good people around me, too. My dad, mom, granddad -- even my brother was a really good support for me because he was always a guy he was expected to go in the first round and ended up going third in the second round, so I kind of always looked up to him and follow him a little bit as well, even if we are completely different players. I kind of used him as a tool to talk to as well because I felt like he knew more than maybe my dad and granddad at that time because he played all those games in juniors. I would just say if I had to give advice, just stay focused, as you did, because I really had to work. That's what I think took me all the way here as well. Because I really had to work to be a good NHL player. They have to trust you when you play D because you can't only be a guy that's playing really good offense. My defensive game was a struggle for a lot of years, but I feel like right now, I feel like can play defense. The only thing that's missing is maybe the muscles a little bit, but I have other tools.

Video: EDM@DAL: Klingberg beats Montoya with sweet one-timer

SB: When you signed your first NHL contract, did you buy anything to celebrate? Was there a moment when you said, 'I've made it and I'm going to buy this?'

JK: For myself, I think just when I moved over, I obviously had to buy a car, but I mean, I'm interested in cars, but it's not a big deal for me. But my first year when I played NHL, I flew over my family when they could. That's something that I always wanted to do. They don't have to pay for that. They don't have to pay when they're here. I pay for them. Signing my first seven-year contract, I bought a new watch and then playing my first NHL game, I bought a watch as well, so I want to keep those as memories. I have two brothers, mom and dad, and then my granddad was here with my father for two weeks my second year and that was really big for me. He's getting older now; he's 80. He would probably be able to come over again, but we really wanted to take him over with my dad and be able to see me play NHL live. So that was always a dream for me. And my brother as well. That was huge for (granddad) coming over for two weeks and I could see how happy he was for me coming all the way here, and he was a really big deal and a part of that (process) for sure because my dad was always the coach for my big brother. And my little brother is five years younger than me and my big brother's just one year older than me, so mom always had to take care of my little brother and my dad was always coaching games and kids' tournament with my big brother.

For a lot of times, it was me and my grandfather. He was taking me to games and tournaments and other stuff, so we have a really good bond there. He worked with cars. He was a mechanic. I think obviously the first games, even when my mom and dad were here, you're kind of looking up in the crowd and you saw them there and they were sitting there, even in warmups, and so excited. But the best memories is probably when I saw my granddad there for sure. Because he was just so happy. I saw him up there with my dad, and even in the warmups, and they were all excited and kind of standing up and looking after me. So, that makes me happy. That's going to be a memory for life.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Scott Burnside is a senior digital correspondent for DallasStars.com. You can follow him on Twitter @OvertimeScottB, and listen to his podcast.