Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Los Angeles Kings placed defenseman Kale Clague on waivers today.
This is Clague’s second time on waivers this season. The Kings waived him on October 2, prior to the start of the season, and he passed through unclaimed.
With Drew Doughty returning from injured reserve earlier this week and the re-acquisition of Christian Wolanin on waivers, the Kings had nine defensemen on the active roster. It’s telling that the team opted to expose Clague to the rest of the league rather than send down Michael Anderson, Tobias Bjornfot, or Sean Durzi, all of whom do not require waivers.
Clague’s performed well at the minor-league level in recent seasons, including four assists in five games with the AHL’s Ontario Reign this year, but hasn’t been able to play his way into a full-time NHL role just yet. There’s likely still a bright future ahead for the 23-year-old, who was drafted 51st overall by the Kings in 2016.
In 11 games with the big club this season, Clague has five points in 11 games while registering a -2 rating and averaging 17:49 per game.
He’s getting claimed for sure
Turcotte coming in hot
Just stupid, he’s got potential. C’mon Blake, you should have Waived Maata or Lizzotte as neither would get claimed or at least packaged him in a trade.
We keep hearing about his potential but so far he hasn’t shown much if any. Seattle passed on him too in expansion draft.
I wasn’t impressed with Seattle’s draft at all. Clague has 5 points in 11 games, that’s good for a defenseman on a team that can’t score. So you would rather have Maata?
@kingsfan I have to respectfully disagree with your Lizzotte comment. I saw no value in him until this year. He’s perfect for that “4th” line. Always pressing, always working hard. He’s definitely earned his position.
That’s fair, but I don’t see him as much more than a depth player going forward and would expect him to clear waivers. I would expect Maata to clear also and since he and Clague aren’t playing right now, why risk losing Clague?
Detroit or Montreal could be destinations.. just a numbers game….hope the kings bring back up Vilardi give him another chance…
Canucks need a 3rd paring Left D….because who they have now (Kyle Burroughs, Brad Hunt) are not doing well.
Is this guy at all able to kill penalties?
Maybe in Ontario, hasn’t gotten a chance with the Kings. He deserves a chance somewhere.