In an unexpected but welcomed announcement on Monday morning, the Ottawa Senators revealed they signed defenceman Tyler Kleven to a two-year contract worth an average annual value of $1.6 million.
The terms of Kleven's deal represent a bridge deal that can bring the defenceman to restricted free agency at the conclusion of the 2026-27 season.
The Fargo, North Dakota native was slated to be a restricted free agent this summer, but with his signing, the Senators have taken one of their biggest internal items of business off their agenda.
Kleven took marked steps in his development in his first full NHL season. He tallied four goals and added six assists in 79 games while exhibiting strong defensive habits that continued to progress as the season went on.
According to Evolving-Hockey's 'total defence' (DEF) metric that combines a player's defensive contributions at five-on-five and while shorthanded into one single value, only Jake Sanderson and Artem Zub compiled more defensive value for the Senators than Kleven in 2024-25.
Most of Kleven's minutes were sheltered because he played on the third pairing in favourable matchups, but it is worth noting that Sanderson and Zub led the Senators in average shorthanded ice time per game, while Kleven only logged 19 minutes and 46 seconds of shorthanded ice time all season for an average of 15 seconds per game.
Should Travis Green and the coaching staff afford Kleven more defensive responsibilities and allow him to play regularly on the penalty kill, he should have a real opportunity to create more value for himself and the team. There is also the fact that Kleven spent most of his minutes playing alongside relatively inefficient partners in Nik Matinpalo, Jacob Bernard-Docker and Travis Hamonic.
Tough Love Fuels Impressive Growth of Young Ottawa Senators DefencemanThe Ottawa Senators owe a lot to the University of North Dakota. The institute played a significant role in developing many pieces of this team's young core. During Saturday night's thrilling 4-3 overtime victory, the impact of the North Dakota boys was on full display.
Here is how the Senators fared when each of these pairings was on the ice per Evolving-Hockey:
- Kleven/Matinpalo: 362.0 TOI, 48.53 CF%, 45.58 SF%, 43.90 GF%, 40.20 xGF%
- Kleven/Bernard-Docker: 259.9 TOI, 48.73 CF%, 49.89 SF%, 55.94 GF%, 50.59 xGF%
- Kleven/Hamonic: 188.2 TOI, 45.65 CF%, 41.66 SF%, 21.55 GF%, 50.59 xGF%
Irrespective of who his partner was, the Senators tended to be on the wrong side of the shots (CF%), shots on goal (SF%), total goals (GF%), and expected goal (xGF%) battle.
A deeper look under the hood via HockeyViz, however, reveals that Kleven had strong isolated defensive metrics.
In the postseason, Kleven looked incredibly comfortable defending, but equally, there was a poise with the puck to elude the forecheckers and create extra time and space to generate clean exits.
His postseason play was an eye-opening performance that helped foster a belief that there is another level to his two-way game that he can reach more consistently as he gains experience and his confidence continues to grow.
Having a more effective partner would also benefit Kleven, and there is every reason to believe that will happen in 2025-26. With news that Nick Jensen had surgery this offseason to correct an undisclosed lower-body injury, it is widely believed the Senators are looking to add a right-shot defenceman to guard against the possibility that Jensen either will not be ready to start the season or may not be able to return to the level that he demonstrated in the first three months of the season.
Ottawa Senators Clear a Natural Path for Defenceman Tyler Kleven to Become an NHL RegularAfter the Senators moved out two left-shot NHL defencemen in the offseason, Kleven rightly took it as a positive sign.
If Kleven were a natural right-shot, he would certainly merit consideration for a top-four role. Heck, he may still get it if the asking prices in the free agent and trade markets are prohibitively expensive. With so many other organizations electing to use left-shot defencemen rather than overpay for lesser alternatives because of their handedness, the Senators could follow suit. They could pair Kleven with Chabot before targetting strong defensive left-shot options like Jon Merrill or Calvin de Haan in free agency.
The likelihood of the top-of-the-class free agents choosing Ottawa as a destination is small, but the path of using Kleven on his off-side would prevent the organization from having to overpay on the trade market as well. With an already thin farm system and the loss of their 2026 first-rounder as punishment for the organization's involvement in the Evgenii Dadonov scandal, moving a ton of futures or valued pieces off the parent roster may not be desirable.
It all depends on the return.
If the Senators find that right-shot alternative, however, it will allow Kleven to remain on the third pairing, where he would likely partner with the returning Jensen. Even if it takes time for Jensen to return to his pre-injury level, he represents a significant improvement over the alternatives.
Whereas Kleven's partners last season were more of the prototypical third-pairing sorts, Jensen is a hardworking defender who can skate and move the puck effectively - which, in theory, would create a balanced duo and give the organization three strong pairings to build off.
Graeme Nichols
The Hockey News Ottawa
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