Kings recall Brandt Clarke from AHL-Ontario, place Tobias Bjornfot on waivers

Good Morning, Insiders!

A pair of transactions to share here as the Kings take the ice for today’s practice.

The Kings have recalled defenseman Brandt Clarke from the AHL’s Ontario Reign this morning. Additionally, defenseman Tobias Bjornfot has been placed on waivers.

Regarding Clarke, the 2021 first-round selection has been productive and impactful in the AHL to begin his first full professional season. Clarke was recently named as the AHL’s Rookie of the Month for December, as he tallied 14 points (2-12-14) from 12 games played throughout last month. On the season, Clarke has scored at over a point-per-game pace for the Reign, leading all AHL blueliners with 32 points in total. His seven goals and 25 assists also rank within the league’s Top 5 selectively as well. A strong start to the season for such a promising prospect.

Today marks Clarke’s first NHL recall since he was assigned to play in the 2023 World Junior Championships last December. Clarke played in nine NHL games a season ago, tallying two assists, impressing in stretches, though the Kings ultimately decided he would finish his season at the OHL level.

While there are still certain areas of his game, predominantly at the defensive end, that Clarke will continue to work on and develop, he’s put in a lot of hard work in those areas to round out his play over the last three months. Clarke has been committed in those defensive areas at the AHL level and we’ll now get an opportunity to see the work he’s put in with the big club, beginning with today’s practice.

A well-deserved callup for number 92.

Ontario Reign Head Coach Marco Sturm on Clarke – December
He’s our best player on defense and we still want to work with him on his defensive play, but you can’t take away his offense. He makes so many special plays. There’s still a few things we have to teach him and he has to get better at, but overall, he’s been a horse since Day 1 and he’s pushing to be with the Kings. If he keeps going like that, he’s going to have a bright future.

Brandt Clarke with patience. @OntarioReign | #ONTvsHSK pic.twitter.com/wOkEXYA9Dy

— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) October 27, 2023

With regards to Bjornfot, it’s been a really tough first half of the season to find his footing, due more to circumstance and opportunity than anything.

Bjornfot dressed on opening night for the Kings, skating on a makeshift third pairing with Andreas Englund, before cap room was created to recall defenseman Jordan Spence. Since that day, five of the team’s six blueliners have not missed a game, with the Kings opting for Jacob Moverare to fill in for Vladislav Gavrikov in the five games he missed due to injury last month. The injury came while Bjornfot was on a conditioning loan in the AHL, to get game action, and Moverare never gave the place back with a series of five strong performances.

The Kings certainly don’t want to lose Bjornfot. They signed him to a two-year contract extension this offseason, a one-way deal at the NHL league minimum. We’ll get a resolution on Bjornfot’s ultimate fate tomorrow morning, 24 hours after the original transaction. It’s not a sure thing that the Kings will assign Bjornfot to Ontario after he clears waivers, seeing as they do have an open roster spot to keep him up should they desire to. We’ll find out more in the morning.

From the team’s official release –

Clarke, 20, was recently selected as the AHL’s Rookie of the Month award winner for December after scoring 14 points (2-12=14) in 12 games. Through 30 games played with the Reign this season, the 6-2, 185-pound blueliner has accumulated 32 points (7-25=32), tied for third-most in scoring across the AHL and most among all defensemen. Clarke (1.07) is one of only three blueliners to average more than a point-per-game (min. 10 GP).

Acquired with the eighth overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, Clarke has two assists (0-2=2) in nine career games with the Kings since making his NHL debut on Oct. 13, 2022. Clarke registered his first career NHL point on Oct. 20, 2022 in Pittsburgh to become the seventh youngest defenseman and 18th youngest skater in Kings history to record a point at 19 years and 253 days old.

A native of Nepean, Ont., Clarke was a member of Team Canada at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship and registered eight points (2-6=8) in seven games, including a pair of multi-point efforts in Team Canada’s semifinal win over the United States (1-1=2) and gold-medal overtime win over Czechia (0-2=2) where he tallied an assist on the golden overtime goal.

For today, the Kings are scheduled to hit the ice today at 11 AM, where we’ll get a look at Clarke and any other lineup adjustments the team opts to make. During last night’s game against Toronto, the Kings threw their Top-9 in the blender for the second half of the game. Todd McLellan said he and the coaching staff would assess how they felt those lines played this morning and go from there. Certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see some changes, coming off last night’s 3-0 defeat, the team’s third consecutive loss.