In what was an interesting deadline for the Kings of Los Angeles and its fans base, Brandt Clarke, 22, ends up staying with the organization.
Rumors started after a fan tumult occurred for minimum Clarke’s ice time and he is a healthy scratch in consecutive matches on March 1 and 3. The native of Ottawa has not spent a time on the ice of more than 18 minutes since January 11, even at 5:15 am on February 22.
The media members began to speak of Clarke being a precious commercial element, most often mentioned as being involved in a potential agreement with the hurricane of the time, Mikko Rantanen.
Despite the whirling rumors, it was never logical to exchange Clarke. As one of the young most promising young defenders in the League, moving it for a rental or an aging player has a disaster written everywhere.
The only notable movement that the kings made was the acquisition of the left winger Andrei Kuzmenko. This movement should help strengthen what is a low power game.
Managing Director of Kings Rob Blake said that “there was never one” A desire to exchange the choice of first round of 2021 on the deadline of this year.
Blake also mentioned that the defensive pairs “would become more favorable to the place where (the Kings) were earlier in the year”, revealing that he loves Joel Edmundson and Brandt Clarke playing with each other.
After the end of the deadline, the Kings lent Clarke to the reign of Ontario. This is not a reason to panic, because it is simply a paper transaction to make it eligible for the rest of the AHL season, including the calder cup playoffs.
Being the only player exempt from renunciation, the Kings wanted to keep all the options open to Clarke. In 50 games from the season in regular season last season, Clarke lit the lamp 10 times while totaling 36 assists. In the Calder Cup qualifiers, he collected six assists in eight games.
This decision will make Clarke available for the calder cup qualifiers if the Kings are eliminated at the start of the Stanley Cup qualifiers.
Last season, the Kings did it with striker Alex Turcotte, lending him to Ontario before reminding him the next day.
Turcotte would end up being a huge contributor to what was a great race in the calder cup qualifying series last year.
When asked last year if a playoff race could help translate to the NHL level, Turcotte thought that “it could be enormous”. Maybe that was one of the many reasons why he took a step forward this year in his career.
Kings clearly believe that the same can be true for Clarke. Another long race in the playoff series, whether in the NHL or AHL, can stimulate Clarke in the same way as Turcotte.
