Finally, regarding Brandt Clarke, it’s important to note that today’s announcement does not impact his availability for the tournament in any way. Clarke, as noted yesterday by Todd McLellan, traveled with the Kings to Ottawa earlier todat and is presently a part of the NHL roster. In order to join Team Canada, the Kings would need to loan Clarke there before the tournament. As of tonight, that has yet to happen, but their pre-tournament camp does not open until December 9 and the tournament does not begin until December 26. Kings General Manager Rob Blake has indicated that Kings management, Clarke and Hockey Canada have already grouped up on his potential participation. Context is key and the first reaction to a piece of news does not necessarily make it the right reaction, or the informed reaction and today’s announcement does not impact Clarke, the same way it does not impact Seattle’s Shane Wright, who was also not named.
The latest quotes from Kings General Manager Rob Blake, Head Coach Todd McLellan and Scott Salmond of Hockey Canada as they pertain to Clarke –
Rob Blake on Brandt Clarke, last week
With the World Juniors coming up, we have a decision to make here within the next few days. We’ve had calls, multiple calls, with Hockey Canada discussing that and Brandt included. We travel on Monday, back to Ottawa and Toronto in that area, when Hockey Canada’s camp would start up, so we’ll have a look at those things there for next week.
Todd McLellan on Brandt Clarke, yesterday
He’s been back now since last Sunday, he didn’t play on the homestand and he’ll head out to Ontario, he’ll make the trip, and some decisions will need to be made when we’re out there. What has he gotten? He had a real good training camp, he had experience early in the season and he got to go to the minors and he didn’t miss that step this year and now he’s back and he’s getting to practice with the group. It gets hard for an individual when that happens, because you’re doing the work but you’re not getting the carrot, it can be hard for a young player to understand, but that’s a part of the situation he was made aware of. Moving foward, we’ll see where it all goes.
Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada Senior Vice-President of Hockey Operations
While we continue to have discussions with NHL teams regarding additional players that may be available to attend camp, we are thrilled for the 29 players that have been named to our camp roster.