Tyler Kleven raising eyebrows at Senators’ development camp

When Tyler Kleven talks about the jump to the NHL from U.S. college hockey, he describes it as “men versus boys.”

Which is kind of funny, because watching the six-foor-four, 200-pound Kleven toss fellow prospects around at the Ottawa Senators’ development camp, Kleven is the man. They are boys. A simple thrust of a shoulder and players are sent sprawling.

It isn’t just brawn that separates Kleven from the pack. In a small ice drill toward the end of Tuesday’s sessions at the Sensplex, Kleven, No. 43 in red, was in a two-versus-four setup against the white jersey team. Yet, it was Kleven and No. 83, Stephen Halliday out of Ohio State, who dominated the sequence, controlling the puck, culminating in not one but two snipes from Kleven. One of the goals was an absolute rocket of a one-timer just under the crossbar.

“It’s good to come in and meet all the new guys and see the staff and the facility again.”

Tyler Kleven on the first day of Dev Camp pic.twitter.com/98XCZMYnJH

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) July 2, 2023

“I think that’s an asset that I’ve always had,” Kleven says of his offensive game and heavy shot. “It’s whether or not the coach wants to put you in that position on the power play or not. I got a little bit of experience at it this year and I think it’s a confidence builder, for sure.

“I’ve been working on that part of my game. You can never be too offensive.”

And this from a guy built to be a future shutdown, defensive defenceman.

We can’t overstate how much a third year at the University of North Dakota helped Kleven’s development. Every player is different. His teammate Jake Sanderson left UND after year two and jumped into the NHL without missing a beat, establishing himself as Ottawa’s best defenceman last season – and sixth in Calder Trophy voting – as a 20-year-old rookie.

Sanderson is the freaky exception to the rule about defencemen needing time to develop.

Kleven, 21, needed one more year at UND, and used it to become an all-around D-man, rushing the puck more and anchoring the power play with his booming slap shot.

As a sophomore in 2021-22, Kleven was the physical defenceman who cleared the crease and chipped in with seven goals and three assists in 38 games while Sanderson ran UND’s offence from the back end.

With Sanderson in Ottawa last season, Kleven expanded his prodigious reach at UND, taking on a bigger role and showing he wasn’t just a defensive prospect. He tripled his assists output with 10 helpers and eight goals, for 18 points in 35 games.

A 44th-overall pick by Ottawa in 2020, Kleven finished the 2022-23 season off with the Senators, appearing in eight games and displaying that big shot, even if he failed to score. He had two assists and was minus-one while playing an impressive 14:41 minutes on average. In short, he did not look out of place on the NHL stage.

Development coach Wade Redden, a longtime Senators defenceman, has liked Kleven’s approach at camp and feels that taste of NHL action helped build confidence.

“He had a little stint at the end with the Sens and did a great job,” Redden says. “It looks like he’s coming in with the right attitude, doing what he needs to do in the summer. I’m excited to see what he can do in the future.”

After the Senators’ season ended, Kleven had about two weeks off before heading over to Finland and Latvia to represent the United States at the IIHF World Hockey Championships. Kleven played seven games and was plus-two. After another short break, he was back preparing for this week.

Oddly, this is Kleven’s first development camp in Ottawa. The pandemic wiped out one camp and he had family commitments that kept him away the next year.

When camp ends this week, Kleven plans to return to his hometown of Fargo, N.D. and continue his off-season work. He says he isn’t focused on weight gain, just strength and movement.

“I’m going to put my head down and grind every day,” Kleven says. “I’ll try to get a little bit better each day, excel in the gym, get faster and stronger and on the ice, just keep working on my skating, my speed and agility. That’s kind of the emphasis.”

Minutes before this interview with Kleven, news broke of a Senators signing that will impact his status in the fall. Veteran defenceman Travis Hamonic, who tested the free agency waters on the weekend, signed back with the Senators for two years at $1.1 million per season.

With a top four of Sanderson, Artem Zub, Jacob Chychrun and Thomas Chabot, that leaves Erik Brannstrom, Hamonic, Jacob Bernard-Docker and Kleven battling it out for the final two defence spots. And Kleven is the only one on an entry-level deal, meaning he can be sent down to AHL Belleville without having to clear waivers.

Kleven, who doesn’t get intimidated on the ice, isn’t quivering over the roster chart either.

“The spots aren’t solidified until they say so,” Kleven says. “In my mind, I’m going to fight every day for that spot, and I think I could bring an asset that a lot of those defencemen don’t have and that’s my physicality and my defending.

“There’s a lot of offence there but you look at the Stanley Cup Final defencemen (especially the champion Vegas Knights). They’re not super small defencemen. They’re big, rugged defencemen. That’s what wins games at that time of year.”

A time of year the Senators want to be involved in again.

Big picture, Hamonic is only going to help a guy like Kleven when the kid is ready for full-time work in the NHL.

“There’s a guy that’s going to take Klev under his wing and he’s a great guy,” Redden says of Hamonic. “That’s good for the young D that are coming up.”