Player Discussion Tyler Kleven (D) at 44th Overall (Sens traded up)

[bicboi64]

I think he'll end up signing Brayden McNabb type deals (and I think his ceiling is a bit higher than McNabb but only in terms of getting the puck out of our zone, defensively that's what I envision him to end up being). Deals like 3 years with $2-3.5 million cap hits, and his first deal starts at $2 million only because the cap has gone up so much.

 

[JD1]

Pulled this from Natural Stat Trick Defensive Pairs - Natural Stat Trick

Pairings that Kleven is on are bottom 3 in defensive zone starts. Green relies on Chabot, Jensen, Sanderson and Hamonic to do the heavy lifting there. He is literally getting easier minutes than them. Kleven is also bottom 3 in offensive zone starts.

He's a rookie who's made some mistakes and is holding his own. Coach doesn't trust him too much in our own zone or the opponents zone because he's still working on both his defensive and offensive game.

He's literally a rookie that we're properly developing and the last thing we need is to throw a long-term contract at him when we haven't even seen what he can do with more development. He's played more than 19 minutes 3 times in his career. I'm sure he can become a top 4 defender, but there's a lot of development left.

pulled this from natural stat trick

he's 16th in the league for GA/60 at 5 on 5 for D with > 600 minutes. There's 134 D with 600 minutes 5 on 5. I'd say the rookie is doing rather well. Data aside, he's pretty impressive watching him play

Player Season Totals - Natural Stat Trick

 

[bicboi64]

pulled this from natural stat trick

he's 16th in the league for GA/60 at 5 on 5 for D with > 600 minutes. There's 134 D with 600 minutes 5 on 5. I'd say the rookie is doing rather well. Data aside, he's pretty impressive watching him play

Player Season Totals - Natural Stat Trick

Nothing I posted contradicts any of that, never said that he's not doing well. I'm fully acknowledging that he's doing well in the sheltered role he's been asked to play in. Looking forward to seeing grow because I can't remember that last time we had a 6ft5 defender who is a steady presence.

But I want to wait and see how he does with legit top 4 minutes before giving him an 8-year deal.

 

[Micklebot]

pulled this from natural stat trick

he's 16th in the league for GA/60 at 5 on 5 for D with > 600 minutes. There's 134 D with 600 minutes 5 on 5. I'd say the rookie is doing rather well. Data aside, he's pretty impressive watching him play

Player Season Totals - Natural Stat Trick

I think it's worth pointing out that Kleven has had a wide variety of partners this year, and with those partners came different roles that his pairing were playing.

23% of his time with top 4 with vets in Zub and Jensen, a lot of this is in top 4 roles
40% of his time with JBD who is in and out of the lineup when we're healthy.
19% of his time with Hamonic, who is the fan's whipping boy
13% of his time with a rookie callup in Matinpalo.

That's a tough way to introduce a rookie into the league, and imo he's done quite well for himself. To me, he's our clearcut #5 D right now.

 

[JD1]

Nothing I posted contradicts any of that, never said that he's not doing well. I'm fully acknowledging that he's doing well in the sheltered role he's been asked to play in. Looking forward to seeing grow because I can't remember that last time we had a 6ft5 defender who is a steady presence.

But I want to wait and see how he does with legit top 4 minutes before giving him an 8-year deal.

the difference is there is nothing surprising about what you posted. He's a rookie that's getting eased into the lineup. What i posted is surprising to the upside. Pretty impressive for a rookie D to have played that much. if you take away the /60 stat and just look at raw data, he's been on the ice for 20 goals against 5 on 5 in 46 games. He won a job in camp, hasn't missed a game all year, and isn't giving up a lot of goals. He's been pretty impressive this year

 

[Cosmix]

Kleven has looked pretty good in my eyes so far. He should improve as he gains more NHL level experience. I hope he develops into a big bruising hitter on defense as we sorely need that type of D'man to clear the crease.

 

[GCK]

I fully believe in him progressing in his development. But signing any 3rd pairing LD to 8 years right now just doesn't seem like the best idea.

Plus he won't cost too much even if he gets any better. I look at other defensive LDs that can play on the 2nd pairing as comparisons:

• Seigenthaler 5 years $3.4 aav
• Samuelsson 7 years $4.2 million aav
• Alex Vlasic 6 years $4.6 million aav

Each of those guys are better than Kleven and got paid. We can easily bridge Kleven below $3.5 million and then extend him again around $4 million if he can start being a quality shut down guy that's playing 18-19 minutes per game.

With a 112M cap those numbers will change.

 

[bicboi64]

the difference is there is nothing surprising about what you posted. He's a rookie that's getting eased into the lineup. What I posted is surprising to the upside. Pretty impressive for a rookie D to have played that much. if you take away the /60 stat and just look at raw data, he's been on the ice for 20 goals against 5 on 5 in 46 games. He won a job in camp, hasn't missed a game all year, and isn't giving up a lot of goals. He's been pretty impressive this year

I've already acknowledged that he's doing fine in his current role as a solid defender in 3rd pairing minutes. If you see a significant difference between me saying he's fine and you calling it impressive, go for it. I didn't pull those stats to dunk on him and say he's not good enough. I brought em up because some posters don't feel he plays sheltered minutes and I was responding to thst. I'm satisfied with his play and have given him full credit.

Giving him full credit for succeeding in his role doesn't change my argument that it's too early to offer him an 8-year deal without seeing how he performs in a larger role. We can't even analyze his /60 stats effectively because he only has 63 career games. I'd like to see him play top 4 minutes before committing long-term.

 

[DueDiligence]

Kleven has stepped in and played a solid role as a #6 guy. I've never suggested otherwise.

But he has a lot more development left that I'd like to see before giving him an 8 year contract or anointing him a surefire top4 guy when he hasn't even been asked to play that by our coach. I'm sure in a year or so he'll get a taste of some more top 4 playing time, but Staios would be very trigger happy to sign him to an 8 year deal in the off season

I agree they should hold off on any contract over 3 years. Let him earn the longer deal.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

I don't see the need for an 8 year deal. I get the idea, but I still think it's best to let it play out differently.

 

[Norris4Norris]

I don't see the need for an 8 year deal. I get the idea, but I still think it's best to let it play out differently.

It is so tempting with a guy that size playing as well as he is to give him that long-term deal. I think he will move into the top 4 in the next year or two.