To be eligible for the Calder Trophy – the NHL’s ‘Rookie of the Year’ title – a player must enter the year with fewer than 25 games of NHL experience under their belt. That puts top Los Angeles Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke, who played nine games in 2022-23 and 16 games last year, narrowly outside of eligibility. Without the allure of a yearly title, attention has pulled away from Clarke, but his first full year in the NHL couldn’t be going better.
Only 19 players in the NHL are younger than the 21-year-old Clarke. That provides some framing for just how impressive his pursuit of the Kings’ top defense role has been. Clarke proudly leads Los Angeles defenders in scoring with 21 points in 37 games, five more than Vladislav Gavrikov in second. Even better, Clarke has been on the ice for 29 goals-for and 17 goals-against at even-strength, giving him a 63 percent GF% that leads the defense and ranks fifth on the Kings as a whole.
Clarke’s hot play is earning him quick recognition from new Kings coach Jim Hiller, who boosted Clarke into top-pair minutes in late November – though he eventually returned to the second pair after not maintaining his scoring. But Clarke has found a cushy role quarterbacking the team’s power-play, where he’s scored six points – matching the man-advantage scoring of Kings legend Anže Kopitar.
Clarke’s statistical success is great, but the timing of his step into a full-time role has been even better. The Kings have been without star right-defender Drew Doughty all season, as he nurses a broken left ankle that required surgery in October. In the wake of the injury, Los Angeles was forced to move left-shot Gavrikov to the right side, while Clarke and Jordan Spence vied for minutes behind him. But they’ve both matched the bill, proving they can stand up to meaningful minutes on a playoff-bound team.
Doughty has returned to skating drills, and could return to the lineup quickly in the new year. That should bring some sense of normalcy back to the Kings’ lineup, likely moving Gavrikov back to his natural left-side and bumping one of Joel Edmundson or Jacob Moverare out of the lineup. Doughty’s return will give Clarke more challenge for power-play minutes and offensive starts, but it will also give the Kings another capable scorer on the back-end. That could draw attention away from Clarke, and give him even more space to rack up dazzling scoring. Clarke is currently on pace for 47 points this year, which would sandwich him between Alexei Zhitnik (48) and Rob Blake (46) for the third-highest all-time from a rookie Kings defenseman. Both Zhitnik and Blake went on to have tremendous pro careers – and Clarke seems well within the realm of joining them, after stamping his spot at the top of Los Angeles’ lineup through the first half of the 2024-25 campaign.
Edmundson won’t be moving out of the lineup. He has played well and is a big reason why the guy you wrote the article about is successful. Moverare is playing outstanding and has great chemistry with Spence but can be sent down to Ontario so will be the man out unless they drop Englund
Moverare is not waiver exempt. He’s staying up because he will get claimed. He’s proven to be a capable defender and big clubhouse glue guy.
I didn’t know Moverare was not waiver exempt. No way you expose him he would surely get picked up. I agree with someone down below that Burroughs would be the odd man out. He stands up for his teammates and plays hard but is not one of our better D men
Most likely England gets dropped, he has been passed up on the depth chart and we don’t have much depth on the Right side.
It’s nice to get an article highlighting my favorite team, but there’s no way Joel Edmundson would get ‘bumped from the lineup.’ He’s been one of our better players and he didn’t sign a four year deal to sit. Also, the team has been utilizing 11/7 for weeks now, with Burroughs as that 7th D, so he’s the odd one out. There’s no guarantee they stick to that when Lewis and Moore are back healthy, but they’ve been one of the best teams in the league when utilizing it since Hiller took over so I would guess they do. There’s also no guarantee Gavrikov gets bumped, at least not right away, as him and Anderson have been one of the best defense pairings in the whole league defensively.
Gavi gets bumped to 2nd for Drew, Anderson & Doughty have a longer track record of being just as good defensively
I’m wondering how their stats compare to Doughty and Anderson’s from last year when they were and have been for years a top pair. The King’s have a great problem ahead of them. Also they will be able to trade one or two of their extra Dman. Instead of losing them to waivers. I’d say it’s In ones and England heading to another team.
They’ve already said the plan is to work Doughty in slowly, a luxury provided by how well Gavi and Mikey are playing, as well as the team on the whole. Ultimately, I believe you are correct in that the long-term track record leads to them being paired back together and Doughty will most likely reclaim his #1, all situations status. But it most likely will not be right away.
I could have afforded to be a bit more discreet – the intention was definitely to highly how tough of a decision LA faces adapting to Doughty’s return. As the local Blues fan at Pro Hockey Rumors, I’m more than happy to see so many comments about Edmundson fitting in!!
So who’s moving where? Do they split up Anderson and Gavi? If they do who does Gavi play with? If they put him with Spence, it moves Spence to the #2 role and Clark and Edmundson to the 3rd pairing. Or they put Gavi with Clarke and they break up the great partnership and protection for Clarke. Even though I think Gavi would jump anyone taking liberties with Clarke. Which I really think is a chicken move. I mean if you can get him during play great. But to rough him up after whistles is really a wuss of a move.