Senators Notes: Bernard-Docker, Kubalik, Belleville
The Ottawa Senators had a quiet deadline – only moving winger Vladimir Tarasenko – but it wasn’t from lack of trying, with Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reporting that teams called about defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker but weren’t willing to pay Ottawa’s high asking price. What that asking price was isn’t clear, though there’s no doubt that Ottawa highly values their former first-round pick, despite his struggles at the top level. Garrioch added that Ottawa likely wasn’t eager to move the 23-year-old, happy to continue letting him grow now in a full-time NHL role. Bernard-Docker, the 26th overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, is still searching for a groove in the league, with just four goals and 12 points in 53 games this season. It’s his first full season in the NHL, entering the season with just 32 career games across the last three years.
Other Senators trade notes:
- Garrioch also reports that Ottawa continued to try and find a trade for winger Dominik Kubalik, who the team has been shopping around since December. Garrioch adds that Kubalik will likely be out the door when he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1st. The 28-year-old winger has 10 goals and 14 points in 58 games this season, netting double digit goals for the fifth-straight season, despite a down-year in overall production. Kubalik has managed 92 goals and 175 points across 341 career NHL games.
- Tarasenko’s move opened up space on the Senators lineup that the team hopes to fill creatively. While they did claim bottom-six staple Boris Katchouk off of waivers, Senators general manager Steve Staios shared that the team could give top Belleville Senators prospects – including Tyler Kleven, Zack Ostapchuk, and Oskar Pettersson – a chance at the majors as well. He told Garrioch, “All of those players have progressed nicely. They’re worthy of an opportunity to play.” Ottawa currently sits second-to-last in the Eastern Conference, with just 25 wins on the season. With a quiet deadline not providing much change, they could be well-poised to try out their top young names.
Ottawa Senators Assign Three Players To AHL
In order to keep both roster and salary cap flexibility over the next several days following their games in Sweden, the Ottawa Senators announced they have sent defensemen Tyler Kleven and Jacob Larsson, as well as forward Matthew Highmore to their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators.
The team did manage to salvage two wins during their overseas trip, defeating the Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota Wild, with Highmore being only one of the trio to make an appearance during the games. In just under six minutes of ice time against Detroit, Highmore did not find his name on the scoresheet in any capacity.
In his first season with the Senators organization, Highmore has primarily been playing in the AHL, suiting up in nine games for Belleville, scoring two goals and five assists. In very limited action at the NHL level, Highmore has tallied only one assist through three games played in Ottawa.
Kleven, on the other hand, has received the most playing time in the NHL amongst the three players, playing in five games for the Senators this season, and scoring one assist over that time. As a second-round draft choice by the Senators in the 2020 NHL Draft, Kleven was a teammate of fellow defenseman, Jake Sanderson, at the University of North Dakota prior to their time in professional hockey.
Lastly, of the three, Larsson is the most familiar with the AHL, playing in 201 games over the course of his career spent between the Senators and the Anaheim Ducks. Not much of an offensive weapon, Larsson has two assists for Belleville already this season through 10 games played.
Even with these three on the roster for the foreseeable future, it will be difficult for Belleville to climb out of a quick hole in the AHL’s North Division. Losers of their last three games, the Senators have a 6-7-0-1 record, in sit in second to last place in the division.
Ottawa Senators Recall Tyler Kleven, Nikolas Matinpalo
The Ottawa Senators have announced that defensemen Tyler Kleven and Nikolas Matinpalo have been recalled from the club’s AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators.
These moves have been made in the aftermath of two significant injuries that have hit the Senators’ blueline. Yesterday, it was announced that Thomas Chabot would miss significant time with a fractured hand, while defenseman Erik Brännström also suffered an injury as well.
In a corresponding move to create the necessary cap space for these recalls, CapFriendly reports that Chabot has been placed on long-term injured reserve, creating $8MM in LTIR relief for Ottawa. 
The result of this absence: the Senators have a massive number of minutes that need to be filled on their blueline.
Chabot is the club’s most highly-utilized defenseman, soaking up time at both even strength and on the power play. There’s no way what he offers the Senators can be truly replaced by any call-ups, although that’s not to say the Senators’ call-up options aren’t quality players in their own right.
Kleven, 21, is an expected call-up as he’s widely viewed as the top Senators defenseman in Belleville. The 21-year-old 2020 second-round pick got a small taste of life in the NHL at the end of last season, skating in eight games for the Senators after the conclusion of his three-year NCAA career at the University of North Dakota.
The six-foot-four, 200-pound stay-at-home blueliner excels in his own end and will be able to offer size, physicality, and shutdown ability to head coach D.J. Smith.
As for Matinpalo, he’s a player with a very different background and someone who has taken a very different path to receiving this call-up. Like Kleven, Matinpalo also offers above-average size (he’s six-foot-three, 207 pounds) as well as defensive responsibility.
But unlike Kleven, Matinpalo’s standing in the Senators organization isn’t backed by a valuable draft pick they invested in him.
The 25-year-old wasn’t a high draft pick like Kleven, instead he’s an undrafted player who only joined the organization this past summer, signing his one-year entry-level deal after establishing himself in his home country’s Finnish Liiga for three seasons with Ässät Pori.
As a result, this recall represents a massive opportunity for Matinpalo. With Chabot injured, the right side of the Senators’ defense is relatively wide open. Artem Zub is still dealing with an upper-body injury and did not travel with the Senators for their two-game road trip.
As a result, Matinpalo is positioned to make his NHL debut against the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight, and he has just two healthy players ahead of him on the team’s right-shot depth chart: Travis Hamonic and Jacob Bernard-Docker.
With some strong play as well as some luck, Matinpalo stands a chance of playing a bigger role in the NHL than anyone could have anticipated, at least for one game, which would be a major opportunity for him to showcase his skills.
While these Senators’ injuries are hardly ideal, they do offer opportunities for two less-experienced Senators defensemen to get into NHL contests.
Ottawa’s competitive chances have undoubtedly been reduced by these injuries, but the silver lining of this situation is that the Senators now has the chance to evaluate the progress of two younger blueliners at the NHL level.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
USA Hockey Adds Tyler Kleven To World Championship Roster
After a 2-0 start to the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championship, USA Hockey announced after today’s win against Hungary they’ve added Ottawa Senators defenseman Tyler Kleven to their tournament roster.
Kleven, who registered two assists in eight games down the stretch of the 2022-23 season with Ottawa, could suit up when the United States faces Germany in continued round-robin play tomorrow. The 21-year-old second-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft signed his entry-level contract with Ottawa after the end of his junior season at the University of North Dakota.
While this will be Kleven’s first World Championship appearance, he’s no stranger to the United States national program. He played with the National Team Development Program for two seasons before joining North Dakota in 2020-21 and played for Team USA at the 2021 and 2022 IIHF Men’s World Junior Championship, recording one point in a combined seven games between tournaments.
Kleven brings an added layer of size and physicality to the American roster, becoming the third defender on the team who stands at least 6-foot-4 and weighs 200 pounds (Nicklaus Perbix, Dylan Samberg). A defensive player first and foremost, Kleven will try and shut down some of the tougher opponents remaining on the Americans’ group schedule, namely Germany and Sweden.
Ottawa Senators Sign Tyler Kleven
The Ottawa Senators have officially signed prospect Tyler Kleven, ending his college career after three seasons at the University of North Dakota. The contract will start this season, with Kleven joining the Senators tomorrow.
General manager Pierre Dorion released the following:
We’re very pleased that Tyler has recently made the decision to begin his pro career. He’s a big, rangy, hard-nosed defender who maintains a physical presence while on the ice and an ability to hammer the puck with his shot. We’ve been especially impressed with his overall development dating to his draft year.
Kleven, 21, will join former college teammates Shane Pinto and Jake Sanderson with the Senators as he tries to carve out a role as a defensive defenseman at the next level. The 44th overall pick from 2020 recorded just 35 points in his three years with the Fighting Hawks but added 214 penalty minutes in an uber-physical shutdown role.
Given Ottawa’s offensive talent on the blue line, a player like Kleven might be a perfect fit. Sanderson, Thomas Chabot, Jakob Chychrun, and Erik Brannstrom can all move the puck effectively, meaning Kleven can be insulated as he gets used to the speed of the professional game.
Moving forward, there will be plenty of playing time up for grabs, as Travis Hamonic and Nick Holden are both set to become unrestricted free agents at the end of the year. While it’s no guarantee that Kleven will make the team out of camp for 2023-24, there is an obvious path to a roster spot available.
Starting his entry-level deal immediately means he is just over two years away from restricted free agency. Kleven’s contract will expire at the end of the 2024-25 campaign.
Ottawa Senators Expected To Begin Contract Talks With Tyler Kleven
The Ottawa Senators are gearing up to sign one of their top defensive prospects, reports Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Sun and TSN. Tyler Kleven‘s college season has come to a close, and Garrioch notes that talks between the Senators and his agent, Craig Oster, “will likely begin soon.”
Kleven, 21, is a strong one-on-one defender and has decent zone exit skills, too. However, it’s his offensive game that showed signs of growth throughout three seasons at the University of North Dakota. After notching just two goals and 12 assists in 62 games with the United States National U18 Team during his draft year, Kleven’s offensive totals steadily grew in college. That growth culminated in an eight-goal, 18-point campaign in 35 games in 2022-23.
The 44th overall selection in the 2020 NHL Draft could join the Senators this year, although it’s unclear whether he would head to NHL Ottawa or AHL Belleville. Garrioch remarks he has “little doubt” that Kleven will want his entry-level contract to start immediately rather than deferring until 2023-24 and joining the Belleville Senators on a tryout for the remainder of 2022-23.
Kleven’s season came to an end last night with a 3-2 overtime loss to St. Cloud State in the NCHC semifinals. He didn’t record a point but registered a +1 rating.