The Red Wings drafted big defenseman Brady Cleveland, who stands at 6’5″ and 209 pounds, with the 47th overall pick in 2023. The U.S. National Team Development Program alumnus only played in 16 games (out of a 36-game schedule) with his home-state University of Wisconsin Badgers this past season. As such, Cleveland chose to enter the NCAA transfer portal and join the Colorado College Tigers in order to earn regular playing time this upcoming season.
MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a profile of Cleveland this morning, discussing his decision to transfer to Colorado College…
“I formerly had a relationship with (Colorado College assistant coach) Peter Mannino, so I had some contact with him,” Cleveland said. “After talking to him, there’s not really much you can’t like about what they have going on out there. Brand new facilities recently built. I think just over the last four years since he got there, they’ve been on the up climb and I think they will get there.”
As well as his goals for the upcoming season:
“I know the type of player I am; I know what I’m capable of,” Cleveland said. “I think just getting out there every game and playing more minutes is what I would like to do. Just helping my team win. Just being better offensively. I know I can work on that, but also defensively, cleaning up a few things. Being someone who gives a good first pass and be a shutdown defenseman.”
He’ll need to continue improving his upper and lower body strength to be that type of shutdown defender.
“Previously what I’ve learned from Wisconsin is there’s things you need to work on that you don’t know before,” Cleveland said. “Different coaches have different assessments of every player. Just coming back here with that information now, it’s really a different experience for me. Obviously, I know some things before that I needed to work on coming into last year. Now it’s kind of building off what I’ve already been working on and adding some new things.”