Red Wings 2023 draft pick Brady Cleveland is a big (6’5,” 220 pounds), tough stay-at-home defenseman, but the Wisconsin native only managed to earn 18 games played at the University of Wisconsin this past season, so the sophomore transferred to Colorado College for the 2024-2025 season.
At the Wings’ Summer Development Camp, Cleveland discussed his status with Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen:
“Everything happens for a reason,” Cleveland said. “It’s not always going to be a smooth journey. I understood that. So I am going to take the lessons I’ve learned so far and move forward with them and try to be a better hockey player.”
Cleveland kept the Red Wings informed throughout the transfer process. Because Cleveland was a second round pick in 2023, the Red Wings have a vested interest in his playing time. They viewed him as a project player, someone who would need time to grow into his body and refine his abilities.
To his credit, Cleveland didn’t view his season at Wisconsin as a lost development season.
“I think I got a lot stronger this season,” Cleveland said. “Just conditioning on the ice. The practices are tough at Wisconsin and I think that helped me. We had a really good team at Wisconsin and just going against those guys every day made me a better player even if I wasn’t playing in every single game. I appreciate that. And off the ice, I learned a lot about myself and how much I am willing to overcome. And learning to play the game, for the love of the game. Digging deep to find that. And I think I found that.”
Continued; sometimes you have to make hard choices in terms of your playing time, and it will be interesting to see how Cleveland fits into the Colorado College Tigers’ blueline this upcoming season. He’s got a ton of raw potential, but he desperately needs playing time to sort out his game.
