Graeme Clarke is Feeling the Chemistry in Utica | PROSPECT WATCH

There are few people in the hockey world with a more twisted sense of humor than the person who puts together the American Hockey League schedule.

The AHL is a great league, its top half is roughly the equivalent to the second or third-best loop in the world. Its schedule isn't as attractive. Three games in four nights, four in six, and occasionally three in a row, are typical. Most travel is by bus and all games are played by hungry pros trying to get to hockey's highest rung.

Players like 21-year-old Graeme Clarke. The Utica Comets right wing is leading the Devils top affiliate in scoring (32GP, 12G-16A) in his second full season as a pro.

"Does Monday…work?" was Clarke's response by text when asked if he had a free moment to chat about his season so far. You could almost hear him trying to wrap his head around his personal schedule because first Clarke and the rest of his teammates had a three-games-in-three-nights stretch that eventually saw the Comets win all three.
Last month, Clarke had six points in two games to win AHL player of the week in the lead-up to Christmas.

"Things are always better when the team is playing well and winning," said Clarke, when that Monday chat rolled around.
Clarke scored at home in the first game during the recent stretch and then notched the lone shootout marker as Utica beat the Hartford Wolfpack 3-2. Road wins over Springfield and Providence followed and Clarke was taking it easy during a day off before the Comets embarked on four games in six days starting Wednesday at home against Cleveland.
The Comets extended run of good play has boosted their record to 17-9-5-1, currently second in the AHL's North Division approaching the halfway mark.
"It's more normal now," said Clarke, his voice trailing off, as he started to realize that this coming Martin Luther King holiday weekend brought three more games in four days. "We have Cleveland (tonight), I'm not exactly sure (who on the weekend follows) after that."

Clarke was selected by the Devils in the third round (80th overall) at the 2019 NHL Draft. He was playing for the Ottawa 67's at the time but the season that followed his Devils selection was, well, a bit of a nightmare. He injured his shoulder early and returned for just a handful of games before COVID struck and scrubbed the rest of the Ontario Hockey League season and playoffs.
Clarke didn't know it at the time but the following season became a wash as well. A short stint in Slovakia - playing with his younger brother, Brandt, the Los Angeles Kings prospect - followed before he joined the Devils' affiliate in early 2021. The team played an abridged schedule out of the Devils practice facility in Newark and Clarke had eight goals and 10 assists in 31 games playing on an amateur agreement.
His pro deal kicked in last season and Clarke had his moments - 10 goals and 14 assists - for what was his first uninterrupted season since 2018-19. Adjusting to the AHL is never easy - did you hear about its crazy schedule? - and it is more difficult coming off such scattered circumstances. Missed time because of a broken hand didn't help.
This season, Clarke looked good in four preseason NHL games where he scored twice and added an assist. Preseason hockey can be a tricky barometer for established players but solid performances, especially when it's followed by good play down on the farm, are perhaps the surest sign of a prospect's maturation.
Clarke wasn't interested in making excuses surrounding the circumstances of his final year of junior hockey and first year as a pro. But he did cite a certain comfort level as one reason why this season is going much better. He credited recent linemates, Nolan Stevens and Joseph Gambardella, along with new Comets assistant coach, Andrew Brewer, for helping him.
Clarke wants to keep it going.
"There's good chemistry," he explained of his linemates, "…I think I'm (starting) to figure things out more, each step, make sure that you follow hot streaks by being more consistent when maybe you're not scoring as much. That (consistency) is really important."
Had Clarke come along a year or two earlier, he likely would have gotten a chance with the Devils by now. That's especially true given his performance in camp this year. An NHL opportunity will come but he recognizes that the big club playing much better, more organizational depth, and injuries all play a role and those are factors he can't control.
"You just have to be ready when you do get (called up)," he said.
"…you've seen that with some of the guys that were (in Utica) like Zetterlund and Boqvist, A.J. Greer (now with the Boston Bruins), if you have a good season in Utica, good things will happen for you."