2024 Draft Profile:
RD Adam Kleber, Lincoln USHL
Every year it seems like there's some hulking defender no one can agree on, and I believe this year the role is filled by Kleber. Someone like Corey Pronman sees him as a fringe 1st rounder while others aren't even convinced he's a top 3 round prospect. Standing at 6'5" 207lb, you can already kind of expect what this profile is going to talk about, but I believe there's a bit more than initially meets the eye.
Let's the get the obvious out of the way: this guy is massive. He's strong, he's got a long reach, and he's very difficult to get past. He makes life miserable for forecheckers around the crease and along the boards. If you're trying to gain space on him, good luck. But I should caution a bit here, Kleber is not a goon or anything. In fact, I don't even think he relies on physical play for the most part. Sure, when the situation calls for it, he's going to body guys, but I actually see him make a lot of smart, proactive plays with his stick, too.
Factoring in his size, Kleber is a fine skater. It can look a little cumbersome at times, and his top speed isn't quite there, but he gains momentum rather well, and his four-way mobility is much better than you'd expect. And, surprisingly, he can also make plays with the puck. His handling is above average for his profile, and he shows pretty decent vision and decision making with his puck movement. In fact, and this is a rarity for defenders of his size, it is not uncommon to see Kleber cut back on a breakout to buy more time to survey his options (rather than just launch a puck up the ice). He can even activate in the offensive zone. Now, I don't expect this to be a major part of his game long term, but showing the capability at this stage is encouraging because it gives you something to build off of. I'm less concerned that his offensive zone passing game is just sufficient at this point, and that his shot is more of a redirect option than a legitimate threat; the player's intent is of much more interest to me right now.
With that said, while you might think he's some top tier shutdown option, I really wouldn't say so. Certainly, Kleber could become one, and he's totally fine defensively as is, but he can lose his man, get outworked, and get beat by speed (or cuts in particular). His gap control is usually quite strong and he's always attentive to his own zone, but again, it's not out of the ordinary to see puck carriers find a way around him. And while, generally speaking, he's good on the puck, he'll definitely make some poor choices with it in the defensive end. I don't know if I have a strong enough read on whether it's a panic threshold issue or just diverting to an easy play, but regardless, there's way too many poor clear attempts he makes that wind up staying in the zone. I know he has the scanning ability to make better choices, but there are times, especially coming out of a puck battle, where you just see him lob it into traffic or recklessly chuck it up the boards and you wish he had taken the extra second to make a better play. He's more than willing to jump up on breakouts, too, so it's not coming from a reluctance to carry it up himself either.
Ultimately, a lot of what you see in Kleber is what you expect. He's a giant on the blue line who can play a heavy physical game and projects to be a solid defensive option, which I have no doubt is going to be the main reason he's picked. That said, there's definitely a bit more here when you look closely: he has legitimate offensive instincts, he's not a liability on the puck at all, and he has the ability to slow the game down and use it to his advantage to make strong decisions with the puck. This isn't really a New Jersey pick to me, mainly because I can't imagine he's available come the 3rd round but also because we really don't need to be targeting RD that early, much less ones who aren't particularly fast. Regardless, Kleber is an interesting player who I still think is worth learning about.
