Los Angeles Kings Assign Brandt Clarke To OHL; Place Trevor Moore On IR
4:01 pm: The Kings have made the move official, announcing Clarke’s loan to the OHL Friday afternoon. In a corresponding transaction, the team also placed forward Trevor Moore on injured reserve after he’d missed the past four games with an upper-body injury. He is still listed as day-to-day and could return at any time.
3:35 pm: Per reports this afternoon from John Hoven at Mayor’s Manor and Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek, the Los Angeles Kings are expected to loan top defense prospect Brandt Clarke back to the OHL’s Barrie Colts.
Clarke is coming off a gold-medal-winning performance at the 2023 World Junior Championships with Team Canada. The eighth overall pick in the 2021 draft led Canadian defensemen with two goals and eight points in seven games.
His professional action this season had been somewhat limited, although a strong training camp permitted him to crack the Kings’ opening night roster. He’d played just 14 games this season aside from the World Juniors, including nine in Los Angeles and five in the AHL with the Ontario Reign on a conditioning stint.
Los Angeles keeping Clarke to under 10 games played in the NHL this season allows them to slide the beginning of his entry-level contract until 2023-24. This is the second and final season Los Angeles can slide Clarke’s contract, which they signed in August of 2021.
Clarke is an absolutely huge get for Barrie, as their former captain notched 59 points in 55 games in 2021-22. With Clarke’s return, an already strong team will get even stronger, and they may not even be done yet. The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler named the Colts as a potential destination for Shane Wright, who was also returned to the OHL today and will inevitably be traded by the Kingston Frontenacs before Tuesday’s OHL trade deadline to a more competitive team.
2023 will be an important step for Clarke’s development, as the Kings hope their top defense prospect develops into a natural successor on the right side behind Drew Doughty as he ages out of the league.
Jordan Spence Loaned To AHL
- The Los Angeles Kings have loaned defenseman Jordan Spence to their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. Spence, 21, has bounced up and down from the AHL quite a few times this season. He has an impressive 21 points in 22 AHL contests so far this year, and has gotten into three NHL games as well.
Latest On Trevor Moore
- Trevor Moore will be out for tonight’s game as his Los Angeles Kings take on the Vegas Golden Knights, per LA Kings Insider’s Zach Dooley. Dooley also notes that Moore, who has 19 points in 37 games this season, could be out for the team’s game against Colorado as well.
Kings Recall Three, Place Arthur Kaliyev On IR
The Kings have been shuffling players back and forth all season long so it should come as no surprise that they announced several roster moves today. The weekend assignments of center Rasmus Kupari and defenseman Jordan Spence have been reversed while center Quinton Byfield has also been brought back up from AHL Ontario. To make room on the roster, winger Arthur Kaliyev has been placed on injured reserve retroactive to December 20th.
Byfield started the season with Los Angeles, getting into eight games where he picked up three assists while averaging a little less than 12 minutes per game. He was sent down a little more than two months ago and has done well with the Reign, collecting nine goals and six assists in 16 contests which has earned him another look with the big club.
This is the seventh time already that Kupari has been recalled this season with many of those assignments being short-term paper transactions. The 22-year-old has played in 21 games with Los Angeles this season, notching two goals and three assists while also getting into 11 games with Ontario, tallying five goals with four helpers.
Spence is up for the fifth time this season but only has three NHL games under his belt so far to show for it. He has been quite productive in the minors with 21 points in 22 games (good for sixth among AHL rearguards) but with Brandt Clarke off at the World Juniors, he is starting to at least spend more time on the roster for Los Angeles.
Kaliyev was injured late in a game against Anaheim last Tuesday while blocking a shot and there’s no word on how long he’ll be out for. With them back-dating the placement, he’ll be eligible to be activated as soon as he’s ready as he has technically already served the required seven days. Kaliyev has nine goals and ten assists in 34 games so far this season.
Los Angeles Kings Activate Brendan Lemieux
The Los Angeles Kings have gotten a player back from injury, as forward Brendan Lemieux has been activated off of injured reserve.
Lemieux has missed the Kings’ last 23 games with a lower-body injury. Lemieux has played in 15 games this season and scored three points to go along with 28 minutes spent in the box.
Adding Lemieux back to their active roster gives the Kings a player from what now seems to be a dying breed across the NHL. While Lemieux has flashed some offensive touch in the past (he scored 43 points in 51 AHL games in 2017-18) his time playing in the NHL has established him as one of the league’s few pure agitators.
Lemieux’s calling card is getting under his opponent’s skin, disrupting their control over a game, and playing with the sort of energy and physicality that would make any opponent fear facing his line on a shift. As more and more NHL clubs decide they don’t need to devote a roster spot to a player with such a relatively limited package of tools, players like Lemieux are becoming rarer and rarer across the NHL.
But Kings coach Todd McLellan has deemed Lemieux an important piece in the team’s bottom six, and with this activation, Lemieux will have a chance to return to his spot there.
And even while players like Lemieux seem to be becoming more of a rare sight in this modern NHL, the Kings do happen to stand second in the Pacific Division, making it somewhat difficult to criticize McLellan’s decisions regarding his lineup.
Los Angeles Kings Loan Rasmus Kupari, Jordan Spence To AHL
The Los Angeles Kings have joined in on the flurry of transactions ahead of tomorrow night’s roster freeze. The team announced that forward Rasmus Kupari and defenseman Jordan Spence have both been loaned to the Ontario Reign, their AHL affiliate. No corresponding moves were announced.
One of many talented young Kings players, Kupari has split his time between Los Angeles and Ontario this season as he continues to tear up the AHL, but struggles to become an impactful NHLer. Through 11 AHL games in 2021-22, Kupari has nine points, however in 18 NHL games, he has just five points while averaging 10:38 per night. Certainly with more ice time comes more points, but as it goes, more ice time likely won’t come without more points.
As for Spence, the 21-year-old defenseman has struggled to consistently crack the Kings lineup through no fault of his own, falling victim to the organization’s incredible defensive depth. Last season, Spence played 24 games with Los Angeles, recording eight points, but had a phenomenal 42 points in 46 games on Ontario’s blueline. This season has been much of the same, Spence registering 21 points through 22 games for Ontario. The Australian-born Spence was only able to make his 2022-23 NHL debut last night, playing in the Kings game against the San Jose Sharks before being sent back down.
Los Angeles Kings Loan Two To AHL, Activate Viktor Arvidsson
Saturday: Kupari’s stint in the minors was short-lived once again as the team announced that he has been recalled while they have also activated Viktor Arvidsson from non-roster status.
Friday: The Los Angeles Kings have announced the loans of three players to their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. Those three players are Samuel Fagemo, Rasmus Kupari, and Tobias Bjornfot. The moves come in advance of tomorrow’s game against the San Jose Sharks.
Fagemo, 22, was called up to the Kings on December 1st, and has skated in three NHL games so far this season. He has two points in those three games and will now return to Ontario, where he has six goals and eight points in 15 games.
The other forward to be sent down, Kupari, has seen more extensive NHL action so far this year. Kupari has played in 17 games for the Kings, scoring five points on just under eleven minutes of ice time per night. The 2018 20th overall pick also has nine points in 11 AHL games this year.
The lone defenseman to be sent down, Bjornfot, is like Kupari a relatively recent first-round pick of the Kings. Unlike Kupari, though, Bjornfot has played most of this season in the AHL. He has just four NHL games played so far this year, although in the games he did play he did manage to get some time on coach Todd McLellan‘s penalty kill.
The defensively-focused Bjornfot’s spot on the Kings’ depth chart has been threatened by the emergence of Jordan Spence, who is also a 2019 draft pick and has 21 points in 22 AHL games so far this season.
These moves leave the Kings with three open roster spots, and while it’s certainly possible that these transactions are primarily motivated by a desire to bank some salary cap space, the possibility of corresponding call-ups cannot be ruled out.
Los Angeles Kings Sign Trevor Moore To Five-Year Extension
The Los Angeles Kings have reached an agreement on a contract extension with forward Trevor Moore. Per a team announcement, Moore has signed a five-year, $4.2MM AAV contract that will expire in the summer of 2028.
Moore, 27, is a local product, hailing from Thousand Oaks, California, which is around 40 miles away from Crypto.com Arena, the home of the Kings.
Before he was in Toronto, Moore was an undrafted prospect who became a college hockey star at the University of Denver. In three seasons at Denver Moore played in 121 games, scoring 120 points.
Moore had been at Toronto Maple Leafs development camp as an unsigned prospect, and chose to sign his entry-level deal with the Maple Leafs in 2016.
After three years of solid production in the AHL for the Toronto Marlies, the Maple Leafs began to provide Moore with NHL opportunities, but his NCAA and AHL production would not consistently translate to NHL numbers. In Moore’s 52 NHL games with Toronto, he scored just 13 points.
He was traded to Los Angeles in the Jack Campbell / Kyle Clifford deal and has established himself as a two-way winger on the Kings. Finding an excellent fit on a line with Phillip Danault and Viktor Arvidsson, Moore flew past his career-high totals last season. In 81 games he scored 17 goals and 48 points, and also added five points in the Kings’ seven-game playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers.
Moore has 18 points in 32 games so far this season, which is a 46-point pace. That, combined with Moore’s versatility, work ethic, and defensive ability (he plays on the Kings’ penalty kill) led the negotiation to this price point on a long-term deal.
The contract will expire when Moore is 33 years old, meaning there isn’t a major age-related downside risk to this contract. Given Moore’s all-around ability and fit with Danault, this is the sort of contract that is more than fair for both Moore and the Kings.
Picture courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Los Angeles Kings Make Three Transactions
The Los Angeles Kings have continued their near-daily transaction train, this time recalling Rasmus Kupari and Jordan Spence from the AHL. There is a bit of a surprise among today’s moves, though, as Viktor Arvidsson has been designated as a non-roster player. That means he is away from the team for some undisclosed reason, after playing the last two nights.
With Arvidsson and Drew Doughty unavailable, the team will turn to Kupari and Spence, two young players still trying to establish themselves as full-time players in the NHL. Through 16 games this season, Kupari has registered five points while averaging just over 11 minutes a night. The 22-year-old center has been great for the Ontario Reign, but can’t seem to work his way into more minutes with the Kings.
Spence, meanwhile, has been arguably Ontario’s best player so far, racking up 21 points in 22 games and playing big minutes in all situations. The 21-year-old defenseman saw 24 games with the Kings last year in his first season of professional hockey but hasn’t cracked the lineup this time around. With Doughty out, Sean Durzi carried the load last night, playing more than 23 minutes against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Sean Walker took over powerplay duties, a role that Spence could potentially slide into if he gets a chance.
There is no word yet on how long Arvidsson will be away from the team.
Drew Doughty Out Day-To-Day
The Los Angeles Kings got a comfortable win last night against the Montreal Canadiens, but those two points may have come with a price attached. Today the team announced that top defenseman Drew Doughty would not be playing tonight’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He is out with a lower-body injury and his status is considered day-to-day.
The loss of Doughty is significant due to just how heavy of a role he has been playing on the Kings’ blueline. The 33-year-old Norris Trophy winner has 17 points in 30 games so far this year and is also shouldering by far the heaviest workload of minutes on the Kings’ roster. Doughty averages over 26 minutes per night, including three on the power play and two on the penalty kill. With Doughty out, Tobias Bjornfot looks set to step into the lineup.