The Ottawa Senators will be getting a boost to their blue line, as Tyler Kleven is set to make his season debut against the Nashville Predators on Monday.
Kleven, 23, missed the first two games of the campaign while recovering from an ankle injury suffered in the pre-season.
“Kind of a fluke injury,” Kleven said of the issue that popped up in the team’s first pre-season game on Sept. 21, per TSN’s Claire Hanna. “Originally thought it was just going to be a few days, turned out I needed to rest it a little longer. I’m glad I took the time I needed to,” Kleven said.
“Pre-season is great to get touches in. Tried to do everything I can to watch, understand the structure, try to get it back into regular season format. Definitely took longer than I thought.”
The 6-foot-5 defenceman appeared in 7 games with the Senators a year ago in his first full-time stint with the team. He scored four goals and finished with 10 points.
Also joining Kleven in making his season debut for the Senators is defenceman Jordan Spence, who was a healthy scratch in the first two games of the year. The pair will work as the third defensive pairing for the Sens in place of Donovan Sebrango and Nikolas Matinpalo.
Spence will also be making his Senators debut after spending the first four seasons of his NHL career with the Los Angeles Kings. The native of Manly, Australia scored four goals and finished with 28 points in 79 games a year ago for the Kings.
“I haven’t played with [Spence] a whole lot,” Kleven said of new partner. “I watch them, I understand his key attributes he can bring. As the season goes on we’ll get better and better. Takes time to get used to a new partner. I’ve had several already in the NHL, just a bit of learning and time.”
Senators head coach Travis Green was not happy with the team’s effort in their 6-2 loss to the Florida Panthers on Saturday, and is hoping for improvement in Monday’s matinee that also doubles as the home opener. “I didn’t like our game last game,” Green said. “Easy to say the penalty kill, [but] I don’t think we played with enough energy throughout the game. Four-to-five guys who weren’t on top of their game.”