While the NHL roster has balance, throughout the organization, the Kings have far more left-shot defensemen than right-shot defensemen. As such, of the 15 blueliners coming to training camp on NHL contracts, only five shoot right.
Of those five, three – Cody Ceci, Brandt Clarke and Drew Doughty – come with NHL experience, on higher-priced, one-way contracts at the NHL level. The fourth is first-round pick Henry Brzustewicz, one of the organization’s top prospects, who is eligible to begin his professional career this season in the AHL as a part of a rule change made in the new NHL CBA. Rounding out the group is prospect defenseman Otto Salin, who is slotted for the Ontario Reign for his second season in North America.
Often times, teams want that left/right balance but it’s rare you see it throughout both the NHL and AHL levels. As such, expect to see multiple players who were covered last week with the LHD play on the right side at times this season, either at the NHL or AHL levels.
Looking here at the five players under contract with the Kings for this coming season –
NHL Contracted RHD, Pro: Henry Brzustewicz, Cody Ceci, Brandt Clarke, Drew Doughty, Otto Salin
NHL Contract RHD, Junior: None
AHL Contracted RHD: Jack Millar, Michael Mastrodomenico
Where They’re At
I’ll start by mentioning what I did with the left-shot blueliners – the group of six returning defensemen provided a pretty defined outlook, as a whole, last season. Defensively, the Kings were among the NHL’s best teams in terms of keeping the puck out of their net. Offensively, the Kings were among the NHL’s worst teams in terms of getting production from their defensemen.
The right side is a bit different, though.
Brandt Clarke is the outlier to this story. He had a career-best 40 points this season and led the way offensively on the blueline for the Kings. Clarke saw his usage heavily increase last season, playing more than 3:30 more, per game, than he did in 2024-25. While Clarke was not productive on the power play – a common Kings theme last season – his 18 5-on-5 primary assists were tied for the fifth most in the NHL among defensemen, fourth-best on a per/60 basis. He was responsible for 35 percent of his team’s goals from the backend and 30 percent of points.
Drew Doughty is back for the final season of the eight-year contract he signed with the Kings many moons ago. While Doughty’s offensive totals dipped, the Kings continued to post positive possession metrics with Doughty on the ice, while he logged difficult matchups most nights. Stealing this from the season in review, but Doughty was one of three NHL blueliners to check the following boxes –
Above 54 percent of shot attempts controlled at 5-on-5
Above 54 of high-danger chances controlled at 5-on-5
Below 45 percent of shifts started in the offensive zone at 5-on-5.
TLDR – He routinely took tough assignments and flipped the script.
In my opinion, Doughty is too often compared to a cap hit on a contract he signed in 2017. For the player he is today, Doughty is still an effective defenseman in the NHL and is an asset for the Kings to have, even if his game at 36-years-old skews more towards the defensive end.
For Cody Ceci, no way around it, his first season with the Kings was a disappointment. Ceci was regularly paired with fellow acquisition Brian Dumoulin and when playing together, they were not an effective pairing. Apart, though, there were more encouraging signs, even for Ceci, who is the best straight-line skater on the blueline for the Kings. In Year 2, he’ll be on a level playing field with his fellow blueliners, having been here last season with everyone adjusting to a new coach.
Brzustewicz is an encouraging prospect on the blueline for the Kings who led the OHL’s London Knights in scoring last season. That’s led all skaters, not just defensemen. Brzustewicz was asked to play a bigger role as the Knights saw several veteran players depart the organization and he was up to the task. He didn’t look out of place in the AHL either. Few options on where he could play this season but he’s a better player today than he was when the Kings drafted him and that progress is important.
Rounding out the group are three players likely slotted for the AHL. Otto Salin is back for his season in North America, after he played 43 games with Ontario in 2025-26. He’ll be joined by two players on AHL contracts – Millar and Mastrodomenico, with Millar established as a quality AHL player with the Reign, playing in all five playoff games last spring.
What To Look For
There’s a lot to look for here, honestly.
Starts with the deployment of Clarke and Doughty.
In signing a lucrative, five-year contract, the Kings are committing to Clarke to be more than he was last season. Clarke took a big step last year but he was below 20 minutes per night on average. The contract he signed shows that the organization not only believes he can do more but that he needs to deliver more. Now comes the test – will he be put into situations to deliver more? Clarke feels that he is ready to be a top-pairing defenseman and his growth says he’s ready to be tested in that role. The Kings need to find out exactly what Clarke can be and the only way to do that is to allow him the chance to show what he can do.
However, a player like Doughty won’t just step aside and it’s a good thing that he won’t. Doughty is a competitor and showed he can still really contribute for the Kings. The offensive part of his game wasn’t all that prevalent last season but his play without the puck was still quite good. The usage between Clarke and Doughty specifically is a storyline to watch out for, especially with a completely different coaching staff now in place. I think there’s a world where both play over 20 minutes per night.
With Ceci, he needs to be better in Year 2 than he was in Year 1 to continue to play the minutes he did last season. Fresh start for him and he’ll need to make the most of it, with more competition in the organization than there was last season pushing behind him. He’s capable of more and now with a new staff in place, he’ll have to do so from training camp on. If not, there are more options than there were last season, options who play the way the new coaching staff wants their defensemen to play.
Brzustewicz, could play in the NHL, AHL or OHL this season. 2026-27 is the first season that players like Brzustewicz are eligible to play in the AHL for the full season, as a result of a long-overdue change in the NHL’s CBA. There isn’t a right or wrong answer to where Brzustewicz will play. His ambition is to come into training camp and make a team on merit. He’s shown he’s capable of playing at the AHL level but ultimately it’s about what’s best for his development. He’s in a good place to make Team USA’s roster at the World Juniors and he could even play in both leagues – AHL and OHL – depending on how things play out. He’s one to watch in camp, certainly.
Salin, Millar and Mastrodomenico will all compete for depth roles in Ontario. Salin got his feet wet last season and should be better equipped than he was a year ago. One in the AHL to see what development could look like, with a year of experience now under his belt.
Looking Ahead
Happy Monday! Today’s article completes the look from the blueline back, with left-shot defensemen, right-shot defensemen and goaltenders now sufficiently previewed.
Later this week, we’ll take a look at the forwards, split up by wingers and centers. There will be some discrepancies between who factors in at what position, which adds to the options that Peter Laviolette and his staff have this season.
