The Kings added to their formidable stable of prospects on Friday, selecting defenseman Brandt Clarke with the eighth overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft.
General Manager Rob Blake snagged Quinton Byfield second overall last year and Alex Turcotte at No. 9 in 2019, now adding a dynamic blue-liner behind those two centers.
Blake said scouting director Mark Yannetti and his staff were “high on Brandt from day one,” adding that Clarke brought a level of offensive ability and hockey sense that could help elevate the Kings’ defense corps.
“The deception, the poise with the puck, the subtle plays he makes to bring a defender to him and either get a forward in stride or else get the puck through to the net,” Blake said of some of the things that set Clarke apart from other defensemen in this draft class.
Clarke, originally from Ottawa, was a product of the Toronto powerhouse Don Mills Flyers program before he competed in the Ontario Hockey League for one season in which he led all rookie defensemen in scoring. He spent last year in Slovakia’s top pro league after the OHL canceled its season amid the pandemic, posting 15 points and a plus-six rating in 26 games against mature competition.
Clarke said he felt honored to play professionally and privileged to play at all under the circumstances. He was joined in Slovakia briefly by his brother Graeme, who then departed abruptly to play minor pro hockey in the New Jersey Devils’ system.
“I learned a lot about myself. I became a much more well-rounded off-ice person, but also getting to play hockey against men was huge for me,” Clarke said.
Clarke was the last of four defensemen selected in the first eight picks, after Buffalo drafted Owen Power first overall, New Jersey added Luke Hughes at No. 4 and Detroit selected Simon Edvinsson sixth.
“We were looking at whether we would try to get up a spot or two,” Blake said. “But as it unfolded we were content to pick where we were at and very excited about getting to what we needed to do.”
Clarke stands out as the only right-shooting defender in the group and as the most offensive-minded, both in terms of jumping into the attack at even strength and quarterbacking the power play.
“I feel like I am a creative player; I’m very patient with the puck,” Clarke said, adding that he also cherished making the right play and defending competitively.
Right-shot defensemen were popular Friday as Rasmus Ristolanen, who was moved from Buffalo to Philadelphia, and Seth Jones, for whom Chicago paid a hefty price to Columbus, both commanded premiums in trades during a frantic day of transactions. Though Blake said the Kings were trying “to be in on as many conversations as possible,” the plan Friday seemed to be to select Clarke and roll the team’s salary cap space into the opening of free agency on Wednesday.
Clarke has been loosely compared to Kings defenseman Drew Doughty by some observers. He eschewed any parallels, though he said he was eager to learn from Doughty and had molded some aspects of his game in the same vein as Doughty’s.
“He’s a Hall of Famer and I have the utmost respect for that guy,” Clarke said. “I don’t like it when people jump the gun and make huge comparisons to NHL legends.”
Clarke, who has never visited Southern California, does have some Ontario, Canada ties to the area’s top prospects. Byfield’s Sudbury Wolves swept all eight meetings with Clarke’s Barrie Colts in 2019-20, and Ducks 2021 first-rounder Mason McTavish has been a golf buddy and workout partner of Clarke’s in the offseason.
While his top contemporaries have been lauded for their skating, it has been the lone consistent knock against Clarke. His stance is unorthodox and some evaluations mentioned needing work on some combination of his explosiveness, acceleration and stride.
“I want to be the fastest player on the ice, I want to have the hardest shot on the ice, I want all these things, so I’m not going to stop working until all that happens,” Clarke said. “That’s just the kind of ambitious person that I am.”
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