The 2024-25 NHL season will go down as a special one for Ottawa Senators defenceman Tyler Kleven. After knocking on the NHL door for the past two seasons, this is the year Kleven became a full-time NHL player.
Coming out of school in 2023, Kleven played in eight NHL games with the Senators. Last season, he appeared in nine. Now, it feels like the NHL training wheels are officially off.
“Yeah, I think it’s nice,” Kleven said. “Just being able to get closer with the coaching staff and the guys has been really helpful. Working with the coaches every day off the ice, and then being able to talk to them on the ice too when we’re in a game—that’s a big help. And just knowing that if I make a mistake, I’m not going to get sent down right away.”
While November is historically a tough month for the Senators (and it was again this season), it still provided some personal highlights for Kleven. He scored his first NHL goal on November 27th—a 92-mile-per-hour rocket from the point during a win in San Jose. Earlier in the month, after sharing a training camp Airbnb with Zack Ostapchuk, his Belleville roomie from the previous year, Kleven was excited to get a place in Kanata’s Bridlewood neighbourhood.
While the Westboro area is famously home to many Senators players, past and present, Kleven wasn’t feeling it.
“I don’t know. I just like that there’s a big open field right by my house,” Kleven explained. “It just makes it feel like home. Being in Westboro doesn’t remind me of home. So it’s as comfortable as I can be here. Just trying to make it feel like home.”
OTTAWA, CANADA – OCTOBER 10: Tyler Kleven #43 of the Ottawa Senators steps onto the ice during player introductions prior to the home opener against the Florida Panthers at Canadian Tire Centre on October 10, 2024 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Chris Tanouye/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images)
Kleven hails from the University of North Dakota, which has been a significant feeder program for the Senators over the years. It’s virtually unprecedented to have four NCAA teammates all end up together on the same NHL team. That includes Kleven, fellow defencemen Jake Sanderson and Jacob Bernard-Docker, and center Shane Pinto, who graced the cover of our last issue.
But for Kleven, a kid from Fargo, North Dakota, playing at his hometown school meant something even more.
“Yeah, I mean, playing at North Dakota was unbelievable,” Kleven said. “It was a dream come true. It was just an hour away from home. All my friends and family went there. The coaching staff, the facility, my teammates—all that stuff was just great. And I got an education out of it too. I earned a finance degree while I was there for three years.”
If you asked 100 people about Fargo, probably 90 of them would first think about the movie or TV show of the same name. But, oh geez, Kleven isn’t a fan.
“I watched it for the first time last year,” Kleven said with a chuckle. “I actually got offended by it. Some of their accents are terrible. It’s not really North Dakota. No one talks like that in North Dakota. But yeah, it’s pretty funny.”
For Kleven, some of his best memories growing up in Fargo came from watching the great Chicago Blackhawks teams of a decade ago and the hundreds of hours he spent skating with friends on the incredible backyard rink his father, Chris, built every winter. It wasn’t just great ice; it came with a warm-up spot and a place to have lunch.
“Oh yeah, we’d go to my garage, and my dad had a pizza machine in there,” Kleven said. “We’d warm up pizzas, and my mom would make hot chocolate or whatever. Yeah, so we’d do that, and my dad built me that backyard rink and it was unbelievable.”
Needless to say, his father, who played defence at Northern Michigan University, is incredibly proud that his son has made it to the best league in the world.
“I give a lot of the credit to my Dad for me being here,” Kleven said. “All the time he spent stickhandling with me in the garage, shooting pucks with me in the backyard, building the rink, taking me to practice, coaching me… he’s been such a big help in getting me to this spot. I wouldn’t be able to do this without him, and I’m really thankful for him.”
Kleven enjoys spending time with his family—his parents Chris and Lori, and his sister Ellie—and cherishes his time with them back home on the lake or on the golf course.
“Yeah, we’re a pretty close family,” Kleven said. “I like when we go back home in the summers, and we spend a lot of time out on the lake. We’re always on the boat together, going out to eat or something like that. We spend a lot of time together. Yeah, I like being around. I’m not home a lot, so as much time as I can get with them, I’ll take that.”
As for Kleven’s NHL family, the Ottawa Senators didn’t get off to the best start this season, but he’s really enjoying the camaraderie in the room.
“Yeah, it’s a pretty fun group,” Kleven said. “There’s a lot of young guys mixed with a lot of older guys on this team, but I feel like we all have similar personalities. We all just want to win games and have fun doing it. There’s always a buzz around the room. I’m happy to be here.”
And how do the “old guys” feel about being called the “old guys?”
“[Laughing] I mean, they’re not even old guys on the ice,” Kleven said. “They move so well and keep the locker room together. And during hard times, if we’re down, they’re always talking in the locker room. Some of the younger guys are speaking up too at times. So I think it’s a well-rounded team.”
“I hope we go a long way this year.”
