Kleven excited to take first skate with Sens

Tyler Kleven participated in his first practice with the Ottawa Senators on Friday, less than 24 hours after signing a three-year entry-level contract with the team.

The 21-year-old defenceman, who was playing for the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks a week ago, was an extra blueliner at practice and spent time skating on the left side with a few different players.

“It was fun. Felt good out there,” Kleven said. “It was a little bit of a faster pace, got a little bit of time to adjust to that. It was a lot of fun.”

Kleven said meeting some of his new teammates was a surreal moment.

“A lot of guys in this locker room that I grew up watching, [that I’m] a little star-struck from. It was awesome,” he said. “Claude Giroux, I grew up watching him a bit. It was pretty cool. He came up to me and shook my hand and I was like, holy smokes, I’m here. It was really cool.”

Practice was less than 14 minutes long, but head coach D.J. Smith liked his first impressions of Kleven.

“The raw package itself, impressive. Just the size and the skating to go with it,” Smith said. “We all know there’s growing pains that come with it, but he looks to hold the physical attributes of a hockey player for sure.”

Kleven, a 6-foot-4, 201-pound left shot who was drafted in the second round (44th overall) by the Senators in 2020, wasn’t promised any ice time this season when he signed with Ottawa.

But Smith said Friday that he plans on using him at some point, with just nine games left on the Senators regular-season schedule.

“My plan is to get him in games. You can’t guarantee anything, but as a coaching staff we want to get him in,” Smith said.

General Manager Pierre Dorion suggested Thursday that Kleven might only get into game action when the Senators were mathematically out of a playoff position, but Smith said they’ll try to get him in regardless of the circumstances.

“Sometimes you put a young guy in, and they just go. Sometimes that’s the best method,” Smith said. “We’ll get him a couple practices and see how he is, and if we think he can get out there and help us we’ll put him in.”

The transition from NCAA to the NHL will be made easier by Kleven’s familiarity with a few of his new teammates. He played with forward Shane Pinto and defencemen Jacob-Bernard Docker for one season (2020-21) and Jake Sanderson for two seasons (2020-22) with the Fighting Hawks.

“Those guys all reached out to me,” Kleven said. “I was roommates with Jake back at North Dakota, pretty close with him. The transition process is a lot easier when you know somebody – even coming to the rink this morning, just asking for advice.”

Kleven wore No. 25 at UND. That number, which belonged to former Ottawa forward Chris Neil, was retired by the Senators organization earlier this season.

Kleven has chosen to wear No. 43, the same number he wore when he represented Team USA at the World Juniors in 2021 and 2022.

“I’ve been following along with the Senators all year and I saw they retired (No. 25). It was my dad’s number,” Kleven said. “Anytime you get to be a part of an NHL organization you’re not going to complain about what number you get.”

Kleven will join the Senators on their upcoming road trip in New Jersey. He’s not sure when his number will be called, but is looking forward to the next step in his hockey journey.

“I felt that my game took a step this year,” he said. “Brad [Berry, UND’s head coach]. gave me a lot of confidence in the positions that he put me in. Now it’s just time to take another step forward with the Ottawa Senators.”