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Canadiens Claim Kale Clague Off Waivers From Kings

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Down multiple defensemen at the moment, the Canadiens have added some depth on the back end as they’ve claimed Kale Clague off waivers from the Kings, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports (Twitter link).

The 23-year-old somewhat surprisingly cleared waivers at the start of the season and picked up four assists in five games with AHL Ontario which helped him earn an opportunity when Los Angeles was really battling injury issues to their defense corps.  Clague was actually relatively productive in his 11 games with the team, picking up five assists while logging nearly 18 minutes a game but with Drew Doughty recently returning and Clague sitting for nearly two weeks, they decided to try to send him down again.

The Canadiens have battled injury issues all season and find themselves without Jeff Petry (upper-body injury), Joel Edmundson (back injury), and Sami Niku (COVID protocol) so there is definitely a chance that Clague can secure a spot with Montreal in the short term at the very least.  Laurent Dauphin was sent back to AHL Laval to make room for Clague on the roster; they will have to make another move later as well as they’ve already committed to activating Mike Hoffman off IR before tonight’s game.

Clague is making just over $761K this season and will be a restricted free agent with salary arbitration rights next summer.

Quinton Byfield Participates In Full Practice

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  • Kings center Quinton Byfield took part in a full practice on Friday as he continues to work his way back from a fractured ankle sustained in the preseason, relays Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider. The 2020 second-overall pick played in six games with Los Angeles last season plus 32 in AHL Ontario where he had 20 points in 32 contests, impressive numbers for someone that was basically a double underager in that league.

Los Angeles Kings Place Kale Clague On Waivers

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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.

Christian Wolanin Claimed By Los Angeles Kings

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The Los Angeles Kings have claimed Christian Wolanin of waivers. Given that the team has immediately assigned him to the minor leagues, they were the only team to put in a claim. The Buffalo Sabres, who claimed Wolanin earlier this year, will lose him after putting him in the lineup just once.

This likely isn’t what Wolanin was expecting when he signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Kings in July, one that came with a very healthy minor league guarantee of $400K. Instead of playing for the Ontario Reign so far though, he’s been in the NHL all year acting as a practice option. He has suited up for just a single game, that one in Buffalo, and it occurred back on November 8. He’ll now have to head to the minors and hope he can get back up to game speed quickly, if he wants to contribute at all for Los Angeles down the road.

The Kings do have defensive injuries, even though they got Drew Doughty back last night. Adding some experienced depth like Wolanin is important, especially now that they can hide him in the minors until needed. It’s been a long time since he even played regularly there, with only 12 AHL games since the end of the 2018-19 season.

Brendan Lemieux Suspended Five Games For Biting

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The NHL Department of Player Safety today suspended Los Angeles Kings forward Brendan Lemieux for five games for biting Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk.

The incident occurred in a game Saturday, a 4-2 Los Angeles victory. Lemieux was originally assessed a match penalty and two roughing penalties on the play, which occurred with 6:09 left in regulation.

The Department of Player Safety’s argument for the suspension revolves mainly around the clear and evident biting motion of Lemieux, as demonstrated by video evidence. Their video explanation of the ruling states as follows:

Tkachuk spins and drops his gloves to immediately engage with the player who has grabbed him. Lemieux drops his gloves and the two grab a hold of each other, wrestling briefly before Tkachuk takes Lemieux down to the ice. While on the ice, Lemieux, feeling Tkachuk’s hands on his face as they wrestle, bites Tkachuk on his bare left hand and does so with a substantial amount of force.

While circumstantial evidence supports the argument that Lemieux may have bitten Tkachuk multiple times during this fight, we are limiting our review of this incident to the bite that occurs almost immediately after the players fall to the ice… due to a lack of evidence, this decision does not include an analysis of how Tkachuk ended up bleeding from his right hand. We have heard Lemieux’s argument that the puncture may have been caused in this moment by Tkachuk punching him on the tooth with force sufficient to cause a puncture wound. The video evidence does not support this version of events. This is not a hockey play.

Lemieux has already been fined once and suspended twice, adding to the gravity of the suspension.

Drew Doughty Set To Return From Knee Injury

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Ahead of Tuesday night’s rivalry game against the Anaheim Ducks, the Los Angeles Kings activated defenseman Drew Doughty from injured reserve today, per a team tweet. Doughty is expected to draw back into his usual top-pairing role alongside Michael Anderson. He’s missed the last 16 games after a knee-on-knee collision with Dallas’ Jani Hakanpaa that the NHL Department of Player Safety deemed accidental. Prior to his injury, Doughty was off to a raucous start with seven points in just four games. Despite having three points in his first two NHL games, it appears as though Sean Durzi will come back out of the lineup to make room for Doughty. With Doughty back in the fold, the Kings will look to improve on their 9-8-3 record and make noise in what could be a very tight Wild Card battle in the Western Conference.

  • In a shocking move, Los Angeles Kings defense prospect Brandt Clarke, whom they drafted eighth overall in 2021, won’t be invited to Team Canada’s selection camp for the upcoming World Junior Championship as originally reported by Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek. Clarke, who was named captain of the OHL’s Barrie Colts prior to the start of this season, is off to a torrid start with 23 points in just 17 games. Widely regarded as a top-five pick and one of the best defenders available, there was some surprise in the scouting community when Clarke fell to the Kings at eighth overall. The omittance of Clarke from the selection roster is even more shocking when considering his performance at other international tournaments for Canada, including a point-per-game effort last season at the under-18 World Juniors.

Brendan Lemieux Offered In-Person Hearing For Biting

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Los Angeles Kings forward Brendan Lemieux has been offered an in-person hearing (via Zoom) by the Department of Player Safety following the incident from last night. After engaging Brady Tkachuk, Lemieux appeared to bite the Ottawa Senators captain and was given a match penalty which brings an automatic review from the league. The in-person hearing, however, opens the door for the league to suspend Lemieux for more than five games.

Tkachuk did not mince words after the game when discussing his assailant with reporters including Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia:

It was the most gutless thing somebody could ever do. This guy, you can ask anyone of his teammates, nobody ever wants to play with him. This guy is a bad guy and a bad teammate, he focuses on himsef all the time. The guy’s a just a joke. He shouldn’t be in the league. This guy’s gutless. No other team wants him, he’s going to keep begging to be in the NHL but no other team is going to want him, he’s an absolute joke. 

It’s outrageous. Kids don’t even do that anymore. Babies do that. I don’t even know what he was thinking, he’s just a complete brick head. He’s got nothing up there. Bad guy, bad player but what a joke he is. 

The time and date of the hearing have not yet been set, meaning Lemieux is currently suspended. He does not need to accept the in-person offer, but declining it does not stop the league from issuing a suspension of more than five games.  There will be an appeal process available to Lemieux after the decision is made.

Andreas Athanasiou Placed In COVID Protocol

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The Los Angeles Kings will not have Andreas Athanasiou in the lineup when they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs this evening, as he has been placed in the COVID protocol.

Athanasiou, 27, only has eight games under his belt this season and after a hot start–he had five points in his first four–has been held scoreless in four straight. Now the Kings will have to find a way to replace him for at least one game.

The team did not confirm whether or not Athanasiou had actually tested positive for coronavirus, but if he did and is experiencing any symptoms he’ll miss a minimum of ten days. The team had been carrying 14 forwards already, so don’t necessarily need to make a recall in time for tonight’s action.

Drew Doughty Returns To Practice

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The Kings have had a significant hole on their back end since Drew Doughty suffered a knee injury late last month although, to their credit, they’ve managed to post a 7-4-1 record without him.  At the time, it was announced that he was expected to miss at least eight weeks.  It appears he is well ahead of schedule as NHL.com’s Dan Greenspan mentions that the veteran defenseman was back at practice on Friday, albeit in a non-contact sweater.  The club was hoping he’d be able to resume skating at the six-week mark so he’s a couple of weeks ahead of schedule on that front.  Head coach Todd McLellan cautioned that Doughty will need some time before he’s ready to play but it certainly looks like he could be suiting up for Los Angeles a little sooner than expected.

Snapshots: Islanders, Norlinder, Fix-Wolansky

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The New York Islanders were dealt a tough hand to start the season with a 13-game road trip, but things aren’t exactly looking up with the news that defenseman Ryan Pulock will miss the next four to six weeks with a lower-body injury. The Islanders sit with a 5-6-2 record, and while it’s certainly recoverable, especially considering their track record, they find themselves in an extremely competitive division with seven teams ahead of them. With a defense core that’s looked troubling at times, the team could look to get outside help via the form of a trade. The Athletic’s Arthur Staple says that while the team could put faith into their staff in AHL Bridgeport to help bridge the gap until Pulock’s return, there’s a variety of trade targets they could examine. While D-men who have experience playing on the right side aren’t usually available for trade, he lists Seattle’s Vince Dunn as a potential option who could still prove to pay dividends on the power play once Pulock returns, a role that hasn’t been filled properly since the departure of Devon Toews.

More from around the NHL:

  • Montreal Canadiens prospect Mattias Norlinder is set to make his NHL debut on Thursday. The defenseman is healthy after a preseason injury sidelined him up until the last week, where he spent three games with the AHL’s Laval Rocket on a conditioning stint. The 64th overall pick in 2019 is expected to play on the second pairing alongside veteran David Savard, who’ll give him what should be a reliable defensive partner to open his NHL career.
  • It’s another prospect returning to the lineup as Columbus’ Trey Fix-Wolansky is making his season debut for AHL Cleveland tonight after an eight-month absence. The Hockey Writers’ Mark Scheig notes that the forward had ACL surgery in March. Fix-Wolansky wasn’t picked until the seventh round in 2018, likely due to his 5′ 8″ height, but proceeded to light up the WHL the following season with the Edmonton Oil Kings, scoring 37 goals and 102 points in just 65 games. After having an impressive first professional go-around with Cleveland last year as well, look for Fix-Wolansky to get an NHL look sooner rather than later.

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