Senators defenseman Tyler Kleven will miss extended time with his lower-body injury, head coach Travis Green told reporters Monday (via Claire Hanna of TSN). He’s been labeled week-to-week and will not travel with the team on their two-game road swing through Washington and Chicago.
Kleven, 23, left last Wednesday’s game against the Jets after laying a hit on Winnipeg forward Mason Appleton and subsequently fighting Adam Lowry. He was held out of Saturday’s win over the Sharks as a result.
Drafted 44th overall in 2020, the North Dakota product is in his first season of full-time NHL minutes. He’s been as consistent of a bottom-pairing presence as it gets – last weekend marked Kleven’s first absence of the campaign. The 6’5″ lefty has just 2-2–4 through 58 appearances, though, and his possession metrics leave much to be desired. While described as a defensively-skewed talent, Kleven has seen more offensive zone deployment than defensive at even strength. Despite starting 52.8% of his shifts in the offensive end, the Sens have controlled just 46.8% of shot attempts and 41.7% of expected goals with him on the ice. Those numbers aren’t promising, especially considering Ottawa controls 51.8% of shot attempts without Kleven.
As expected, Kleven has been a factor physically, tying for third on the team with 76 blocks and tying for ninth with 70 hits. Those numbers are certainly a product of his lack of possession time, though, and his cumulative -8.9 expected rating is the worst on the Sens.
Ottawa’s win against San Jose stopped a five-game streak of regulation losses, plunging their playoff chances back below 50%, per MoneyPuck. They’ve gotten healthier up front, seeing core forwards Brady Tkachuk, Shane Pinto, and Joshua Norris all recently return from multi-game absences. Outside of Kleven’s injury and a knee injury to Nick Cousins that’s expected to keep him out through the trade deadline, they’re fully healthy. Adding a forward this week will be the priority for the Senators’ 24th-ranked offense. Still, Kleven’s injury will likely motivate them to target a depth defenseman if their limited salary cap flexibility allows as well.