Coming off his first full season playing with the Los Angeles Kings in the NHL, defenseman Brandt Clarke experienced the ups and downs of a young rookie campaign after starting out red hot. Last season, Clarke scored double-digit points in the campaign's first month in October and early November.
At one point in the first half of the regular season, Clarke was even scratched by Jim Hiller for a few games for the Kings.
Clarke brings a dynamic skill set to help provide two-way versatility and production for the Kings' blue line with the top two defensive lines this past season. He responded in the final stretch run of the regular season, with seven points and a +7 plus/minus rating in the season's final 23 games.
Granted, this wasn't Clarke's official rookie season, since he had already qualified with the 25 games played the prior two campaigns for the Kings.
Brandt Clarke 2024-25 Los Angeles Kings player season recap
2024-25 season stats: 78 games played, 5 goals, 28 assists, 33 points, +13
2024-25 advanced stats: 3.8 shooting %, 10.2 5-on-5 shooting %, 1.6 points/60, 5.9 point shares
2024-25 possession metrics: 53.7 CF%, 52.7 SCF%, 101.1 PDO, 57.3 HDCF%
Despite the ups and downs Clarke experienced with the Kings during his rookie campaign this past season in 2024-25, he had a mostly successful and promising outlook going into the 2025 offseason this year. Clarke not only led the Kings' blue line in points this past season, but he also scored two crucial playoff goals for LA, including one in a team win on the powerplay in Game 2 against the Edmonton Oilers.
The advanced metrics did a nice job of painting a broad picture of the two-way impact on the ice Clarke had on the Kings this past season. He led all Kings' defensemen in takeaways and high-danger chance differential (+/-).
Rink Royalty season grade for Brandt Clarke: B
Brandt Clarke 2025-26 Los Angeles Kings season preview
With the Kings losing blue liners Jordan Spence (signed with the Ottawa Senators) and Vladislav Gavrikov (signed with the New York Rangers), Clarke has a big opportunity to step into a bigger role with the LA defensive unit this upcoming season in 2025-26. Clarke is an intriguing defenseman with potential for the Kings' blue line going into training camp and the preseason this fall.
If Clarke can have a big training camp and find more consistency in his game production from the Kings' blue line, he should be an effective and reliable part of this defensive top-three lines in the 2025-26 season in the Pacific Division.
He could be paired with returning Kings' defenseman Joel Edmundson on the second or third defensive line pairing going into the upcoming 2025-26 season.