Wednesday in Florida saw the return of Los Angeles Kings star Drew Doughty to the lineup for the first time this season. The return of Doughty adds a new element to a team in desperate need of a spark and the Kings hope he can get them out of their current slump.
Doughty's return also means there's one less lineup spot available for LA's current group, somebody had to move from the bench to the pressbox on Wednesday, and to the ire of many fans, that player was young defenseman Brandt Clarke.
Clarke started the season red-hot, scoring at a point-per-game pace through his first 11 games, highlighted by a superb assist against the Vegas Golden Knights.
WHAT A MOVE AND ASSIST BY BRANDT CLARKE 🔥 pic.twitter.com/4Ze96sxe9M
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 31, 2024
Clarke's offense predictably slowed a bit after that and has come to a halt with the rest of the Kings roster over the last 11 games. He lost his spot on the second pair and top power-play unit to Jordan Spence recently and a -2 against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday seemed to make the decision to scratch Clarke over some others an easier choice for head coach Jim Hiller.
Whatever your opinions are on the decision to scratch Clarke, it makes one thing abundantly clear, this Kings team is prioritizing immediate results over player development. Hiller and his coaching staff will ice the 18 skaters they feel give them the best chance to win every night regardless of any potential long-term impact on an individual player. Yes, I hear your screams that Trevor Lewis playing means they aren't actually playing their best 18 skaters. Well, Hiller would disagree and he's the only one whose opinion matters.
It's the same with scratching Clarke instead of Jacob Moverare, Joel Edmundson, Jordan Spence or any other defensemen fans thought should have been scratched first. If the coaching staff doesn't think Clarke is going to give them a better chance of winning above the other available defensemen, he won't play.
Sitting in the press box isn't good for Clarke's development, especially if it becomes a regular occurrence, there's no question about that, but LA seems less interested in his development and more interested in solidifying themselves as contenders.
Is that the right decision? I don't think so, we know this team isn't a contender and they should be prioritizing the development of players like Clarke and Quinton Byfield. But there are a lot of things we all should be doing and aren't. The reality is, the Kings view themselves as a contender and will make decisions based on that view. That means nights where Clarke doesn't play much, if at all.
Nights where Hiller employs Todd McLellan's, "fair but not equal" strategy of player usage, giving more leash to veteran players than young players because the former has deposited more money into the metaphorical ATM.
Again, I'm not condoning or agreeing with these decisions from the Kings organization, my opinions on how they've operated over the last few seasons are well documented, but that's reality. Most rookie seasons include peaks and valleys and Clarke's play has edged closer to the latter leading to a healthy scratch.
I understand if Hiller's postgame comments are frustrating for fans too.
"It’s a tough, tough league for a young guy, you know what I mean? He’s done great to get to this point, he finally got to be a healthy scratch, but he’s played really well. This league will wear you down as a young player and this will give himself a reset. We’ll see where it goes from here."
Clarke should be playing, he should be getting top-four minutes and top-unit power-play usage, but that doesn't give the Kings the best chance of winning every night, especially in the eyes of the coaching staff, and that's priority number one right now.
It's also yet to be seen if this is a one-off scratching or something that becomes more consistent, Moverare played just ten minutes against the Florida Panthers and could be coming out of the lineup soon. Similar to the uproar regarding Spence's early season scratch, if Clarke plays all of LA's remaining games this scratch becomes very inconsequential.