It needs to a high priority for general manager Ken Holland and the Los Angeles Kings in the front office this upcoming offseason in the summer to re-sign defenseman and pending restricted free agent 23-year-old Brandt Clarke in this upcoming next couple of months.
The Kings and Holland in the front office are going into this upcoming offseason in this next couple of months with multiple key questions in the active roster lineup, including filling a coaching search job and getting more scoring firepower in the zone offensively with the puck and up the middle.
"I want to be here, I love Los Angeles, I love my teammates, I love being in that locker room. That's what I want. I've expressed that since I got to Los Angeles, I love being here, and my mentality hasn't changed over the years."Brandt Clarke
Clarke will be a restricted free agent this upcoming summer in the 2026 offseason after he played the final year of his current contract this past regular season. And it sounds like the Kings and Clarke have already started negotiations in this past couple of months this spring.
Before the Kings and Holland explore other options outside of the current active roster lineup in the zone, they must keep Clarke as a key piece of the foundational part of the blue line on defense going into the future.
Among the reasons why the Kings drafted Clarke in the top 10 of the NHL Draft lottery in 2021 in the first round was that he could lead this new wave of the blue line on defense for LA in the 2020s decade late. In this past regular season, Clarke showed and proved why the organization had that faith in him on the blue line on defense.
Clarke scored a career-high eight goals and 40 total points on the blue line on defense for the Kings in this past regular season. Even though Clarke doesn't currently have a contract signed with the Kings for this upcoming offseason and the 2026-27 season, he is confident the deal will be done in this upcoming next couple of months for the active roster lineup.
For this past decade since the early-to-mid 2010s decade, the Kings have relied on Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty to build the franchise's identity on the ice. Doughty and Kopitar helped the Kings build up to define the most successful identity and decade in LA franchise history, winning two Stanley Cups in the early 2010s decade.
Yet, with the reality setting in that those two players are either retiring or are in the latter stages of their careers in the league in the NHL, Clarke's future with the franchise is coming up for the team. Clarke could now develop to be one of the important franchise blue line players defensively in the zone for the Kings.
Clarke brings the type of vision, offensive skills and playmaking in the zone, and ability to score the puck offensively that can help the Kings build to be modern. As the Kings move away from reliance on Doughty and Kopitar, key young players in the active roster lineup defensively like Clarke and Quinton Byfield will become a larger slice of the pie on the ice.
It's so imperative for the Kings and Holland in the front office to make re-signing Clarke to a long contract extension deal term to set this team up for long-term success on the blue line on defense. The Kings can make a key investment in the future of the franchise on the blue line on defense for the identity.
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