LA Kings might finally get it right with Brandt Clarke after NHL Trade Deadline

One of the more perplexing situations for the Los Angeles Kings over the last month has been defenseman Brandt Clarke. He started the year off great and even with his production slipping off, he was still leading all defensemen on the Kings in points.

It was hard to imagine that a player like Clarke couldn't find a regular role in this defense, but that was exactly the case since Drew Doughty made his season debut at the end of January. The former first-round pick would be a healthy scratch in four games, and the Kings would end up going winless in those games.

The fact that he was a healthy scratch started to raise speculation that the Kings could be looking to trade their young defenseman. On Friday after the NHL Trade Deadline, general manager Rob Blake met with the media and put any speculation to bed that the Kings were not looking to move Clarke at any point.

Los Angeles Kings looking to shake up their defensive pairs which should benefit Brandt Clarke

In addition to ending the speculation that the Kings were looking to trade Clarke, the Kings' general manager provided some additional positive news. He mentioned that moving forward they are looking to go back to some pairs from earlier in the season, and that includes Clarke playing with Joel Edmundson.

This is great news as this was when Clarke was playing his best and it could help him get back on track. During practice on Friday, Russell Morgan with Hockey Royalty shared out the lines and Clarke was paired with Edmundson.

However, that wasn't the only change as Drew Doughty was back with Mikey Anderson, and Vladislav Gavrikov was paired with Jordan Spence. The fourth pair was Jacob Moverare and Kyle Burroughs.

Earlier this week, after Clarke was a healthy scratch against the Chicago Blackhawks, I tried my best to come up with pairings that maximized the talent in this part of the roster. These were the pairings that ended up going with because of the production from last season with Mikey Anderson and Drew Doughty, along with the minutes from this season for the other defensemen.

This is the pairings that the Los Angeles Kings need to keep for the remainder of the season and gives them the best chance to return to being one of the top defensive teams in the NHL.