Kings host Winnipeg as Brandt Clarke watch continues

With a statement win behind them and a key roster decision looming, the Kings will welcome the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.

On Tuesday, the Kings controlled play for most of their 4-2 victory over a formidable foe, the Tampa Bay Lightning, especially in the latter half of the match. But for all that went right in terms of scoring balance, special teams and consistency, much of the focus after the win was on whether rookie defenseman Brandt Clarke would remain with the Kings for the rest of the campaign.

Clarke, 19, has played in seven games this season, with the threshold for a year coming off a player’s entry-level contract being nine appearances. That signifies that, at the end of this three-game homestand, the Kings will have to decide whether to return him to his junior club, the Barrie Colts, or keep him at the top level for the remainder of the season.

“I’m letting things take care of themselves. I’m still doing video with the coaches; I still feel part of the team. So, I’m just going day by day, enjoying my experience right now, the ‘welcome to the NHL’ kind of time,” Clarke said. “I’m really happy with how everything is, I’m happy to be on this team and we’re going to just keep going from here.”

One individual wasn’t buying Clarke’s nonchalance about the forthcoming impasse.

“He’s a good liar,” Kings coach Todd McLellan joked. “The fact that we keep using him, and putting him out in all situations … we believe in him or we wouldn’t be doing that. The organization has to sit down and make decisions on what’s right for him, for us, for the future, for now.”

“If he keeps worrying about just the next day, pretty soon it’s gonna be June next year and he’ll be flying home,” McLellan added.

Clarke has played varied but measured ice time, averaging a little more than 13 minutes per game. He played just 10:51 on Tuesday, but managed to record a picturesque primary assist on Blake Lizotte’s game-winning goal.

All signs point to the young blue-liner remaining with the Kings for the balance of this campaign and beyond. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be thrust into a larger role any time soon. McLellan said the challenge for a high-profile prospect was often to develop supporting elements to a game that had been largely offensive at lower levels of competition where they were able to dominate largely on talent.

A tempered, comprehensive approach – as with last year’s breakout performer, Adrian Kempe, this year’s in Gabe Vilardi, and prospects like Clarke, Arthur Kaliyev and Quinton Byfield – has proved wise for the Kings, especially given the importance of their long-term development.

“For us to move forward as an organization – today, tomorrow or two years from now – it has to come from underneath,” McLellan said. “We’d love to have Dustin Brown back and Kopi forever and Drew Doughty and Quickie, but that’s Mother Nature. She wins all the time, she’s going to beat all of us. It has to come from the youth underneath.”

Next up for Clarke and Kings are the Jets and their own rookie sensation, forward Cole Perfetti. Eight of the past 10 meetings between the two teams have been decided by one goal, and Winnipeg has won three of the past four matchups.

Where the Jets were once known for the behemoths on their blue line like Dustin Byfuglien and Tyler Myers, they have transitioned to a defense corps replete with skill and mobility. Of the three players tied for the team lead in scoring, two are defensemen Neal Pionk and Josh Morrissey (the other is Perfetti). They are among four regulars on the back end who stand exactly 6 feet tall.

That hardly means the Jets lack size, as they have a number of towering figures up front. Those include mainstays Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler, who were among the Winnipeg forwards that missed significant stretches of last season.

WINNIPEG AT KINGS

When: Thursday, 7:30 p.m.

Where: Crypto.com Arena

TV/Radio: Bally Sports West/IHeartRadio