Total Season Stats: 0G | 4A | 4 PTS in 33 NHL games
Age: 25
Drafted: 2016, 2nd round, 51st overall (by Los Angeles Kings)
Contract Status: RFA, arbitration eligible
At the NHL level, Kale Clague had a largely forgettable season. (This isn’t new, as Montreal fans have said similar things about him.) He wasn’t completely awful, but then again, he certainly wasn’t any kind of top-pairing guy and more often than not, found himself the odd man out on the blueline or fighting with Jacob Bryson for the final spot.
Jason Moser – a former DBTB writer, now founder & CEO of PuckLuck.com, posited these comparables based on Clague’s season at even-strength:
- Oliver Ekman-Larsson, age 19
- Ryan Murphy, age 22
- Chris Butler, age 23
- Robert Hagg, age 25
- Jamie McBain, age 24
Clague has appeared in 91 NHL games since 2019, and the 33 this past season were the most in his career in a single season to date. In addition to his games at the NHL level, Clague skated in 14 games with the AHL’s Rochester Americans. There, he scored once and added five assists.
Perhaps one of the most memorable pieces of the season when it comes to Clague is this fun video from the Sabres, providing a great example of the personality Clague has and his friendship with guys like Tyson Jost, Jack Quinn and Mattias Samuelsson:
Clague can play both left and right defense and is set to be a restricted free agent. He earned the league-minimum $750,000 this past season after signing with the Sabres last summer. Question is, will the Sabres extend him an offer? Could he bolster Rochester’s blueline next season? Or will he find a home elsewhere?
Season Grade: C+