Arizona isn’t going to take Ritchie for free, nobody is.

Let's just make this clear. Matt Roy, is unmovable until Brock Faber or Brandt Clarke go pro.

No from BUF

I think that you mean "are NHL ready."

Agreed, however Clarke is supposedly set to make the NHL next season (when Walker is back), either way. We can’t even start this discussion until next season when both are pros.

I'd love to see Clarke jump right in, like Drysdale and Makar and Fowler before him.

Kings have too many players and really need to make some tough trade decisions. Whats their plan you think?
I see Clarke and Durzi making Roy and Walker expendable in the offseason. If Clarke is a #1 dman as advertised then the next offseason can Doughty be traded and Faber/Durzi/Spence/Grans compete for the two remaining rhd spot behind Clarke?

The kings have a lot of good defensemen and not a lot of offense. If Bjornfot can get better defensively (he took a tiny dip). Durzi and Clarke will fight for the bottom RD, if Walker is either moved or sent into 2LD. This is all under the assumption that Faber (averaging 24 min a night in the olympics) doesn’t also make the team.

The point is that many of these players are able to go down without waivers, the kings need to bolster the value of everyone before they start making moves.

Yea I can see them using waiver eligibility to decide which guys go down. Just doesnt make sense to block Clarke and Faber if they are looking good and ready to play. Playing your best players should matter more than contract status. Excited to watch it play out but also can be frustrating. They have so many assets they can get a great left dman instead of putting walker there

The LA Kings and their coaching staff are very reluctant to give NHL jobs unless you have proven you will play our system and are more effective than your replacement. Clarke jumping from the OHL to NHL level may happen but he needs to be better than Durzi, which seems difficult. It’s a good problem for the Kings.

I was thinking Durzi needed to be better than Walker and has been.
And if Clarke wants to stick he has to be better than Roy and play on the second pair.
But you are probably right that its between Clarke and Durzi (and Walker) behind Doughty and Roy who are locks no matter what.

I might have to say Durzi has already beat out Walker, and might be even better if we paired him with a healthy Edler (like we did with Walker for his short time this season). Essentially I think the Kings will employ a 1-stay-at-home, 1-offense first defense pairing for each of the lines. 1st pair: Anderson-Doughty, 3rd pair: Bjornfot-Durzi/Walker/Clarke/Spence/Faber. If the Kings got an minute-eating defenseman to pair with Roy on the 2nd pair, the team is close to set defensively.

I know everyone thinks Chychrun will be the guy, but if we miss out we can re-up Edler, take Hampus Lindholm from down the street, or take a shot from Kings East in Rasmus Ristolainen.