Finally, Brandt Clarke knows the next stop on his magical mystery tour. As speculated for the past several weeks, the 19-year-old defenseman is now officially off to join Team Canada’s World Junior Selection Camp.
Beginning Friday in Moncton, Clarke will try to earn a spot on Canada’s WJC roster, with the tournament officially scheduled to begin on December 26.
Following Canada’s selection camp, which will begin with around 30 players, they’ll cut down the roster to the final 23 and will then play three pre-tournament exhibition games. In addition to matchups with Switzerland and Slovakia (Dec. 19 and 21), Canada’s final tune-up game will come against Finland on Dec. 23 — a rematch of the 2022 gold medal game.
After a few days off for Christmas, they’ll officially kick off the 2023 WJC with a game against Czechia on December 26. The two teams met up in the semifinals of the 2022 tournament, before Canada went on to win it all.
Over the past few months, Clarke made his NHL debut — playing in a total of nine games for the Kings — along with a recent five-game conditioning assignment in the AHL. During that stint with Ontario, he recorded his first professional goal.
Upon the completion of the World Juniors in early January, LA GM Rob Blake will need to decide if he’s keeping his 2021 first round pick up with the Kings for the balance of the season or returning him to the OHL.
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Lead photo via ALo Images
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Excellent news! They had to make that all dramatic and not show their cards I guess, but this is what he needs. Now he can focus all on the World Juniors and this gives Blake a chance to regroup on what to do with Brandt. He clearly is the future for the defensive core alongside Spence, and Durzi, but to finally have all this end in a positive way is really great news!
Weird roster question. If a young player like Clarke is “loaned” to the world juniors where does he “go” on the roster chart? Is he back on the reserve list or just a loan that doesn’t get taxed for being on the roster. All I could think about is the 40 games being played and burning a year. Obviously it wouldn’t be the worse thing to happen if he looses a year, but this is a great question to ask you Mayor. You know all the nooks and crannies of these super technical stuff which is always a super great thing for fans like me who are super confused as to what this means towards his 40 entry level. Thank you in advance!
He’s not on the team. I did my homework and hope to see him next season. And I agree with Doughty it isn’t the same without any Russians allowed at the world juniors.