Washington Capitals Prospect Review And Forecast: Kody Clark

Photo: Ottawa 67’s

We continue breaking-down the last 12 months for each of the Washington Capitals prospects with a review and forecast for winger, Kody Clark. (You can access all of our Capitals Prospect Reports and player analysis on our “Prospects” page right here.)

VITALS
Clark is a 19-year-old winger currently playing junior hockey for the Ottawa 67’s. The King City, Ontario native was drafted by the Capitals in the second round (#48 overall) of the 2018 NHL entry-level draft. Clark signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Capitals on October 22, 2018.

CAREER
Clark has spent the last three seasons, including 2018-19, with the Ottawa 67’s junior hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). He seems to be developing into a power forward, with a physical presence.

During the 2017-18 season, he scored 18 goals and had 21 assists and during the 2018-19 season, he scored 17 goals with 29 assists. This season, the Ottawa ‘67’s swept through three rounds of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs but lost in the OHL Finals to the Guelph Storm after winning the first two games of the series.

2018-2019 SEASON SUMMARY
Clark played in 57 regular season games for the Ottawa 67s, missing almost entire month of December with a shoulder injury. He had 17 goals and had 21 assists for 38 points overall, was +17, and also had 98 penalty minutes. The 67s overwhelmingly won the East Division of the Ontario Hockey League and have, so far, swept through three rounds of the playoffs. They are slated to play in the OHL Championship next week.

2018-2019 MONTH-BY-MONTH RECAP AND TREND ANALYSIS
The following month-by-month breakdown is an aggregation of our monthly prospect reports prepared during the 2018-2019 season. You can find all of our monthly prospect reports on our “Prospects” page in the top menu.

October
Clark registered his first goals with the Ottawa 67’s on October 6 against the Barre Colts, and finished the game with two goals (here). The following game he was promoted to the second-line (LW), where he remained for a majority of the month of October. His goals were near the endpoints of the month, as he scored two goals in the team’s second game of the month, on October 6 against the Barrie Colts, added another goal in their next game the next day against the Sault St. Marie Greyhounds, but didn’t score again until his most recent game in Sudbury on October 28. However, his goal against Sudbury was a game-winner (Here). He also contributed an assist in the game of October 28. For the season, Clark has played in 16 games, has four goals and two assists. Prior to scoring his game-winning goal, the coaching staff saw signs that he was about to break out. His junior team’s equipment manager felt he had his best practices last week. Clark signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Capitals on October 22. (here).

Trending: Same

November
Clark was moved to left wing on the second-line at the beginning of November, but returned to the right wing by mid-month. Offensively, Clark had a very productive month of November, scoring six goals and contributing 10 assists for 16 points overall in 12 games. He has been especially productive in recent games, scoring five goals in the last five games and six goals in the last seven. His assists have been spaced out more evenly throughout the month. He has recorded at least one point in nine of the 12 games he’s played this month. He had one goal and two assists twice this month, once against the Sault St. Marie Greyhounds on November 16 and once against the North Bay Battalion on November 18. His goal in the former was an insurance goal while his goal in the latter was the game-winner. He scored two goals against the Sarnia Sting on November 24. His game against the Kingston Frontenacs on November 28 was especially eventful, as he recorded a goal, an assist, a fight, and three minor penalties (essentially he had a Gordie Howe hat trick, along with three other penalties). For the season through November, Clark has played in 28 games, has 10 goals and 12 assists. He is in a three-way tie for third in goals for the team, seventh on the team in assists, and sixth on the team in total points. His shooting percentage is 12.8%.

Trending: Same

December
Clark was injured on November 28 against the Kingston Frontenacs. He injured his elbow and was out for an extended period. With other forwards also being injured, the team was forced to dress only nine forwards. He finally returned to the lineup on December 28, in which the Ottawa 67’s played the Niagara Ice Dogs. He scored the team’s fourth goal in a 4-1 win. In the team’s last game of the month, against the Oshawa Generals on December 30, he scored the game-winning goal and was named the third star of the game. For the season through December, Clark has played in 28 games, has 12 goals and 13 assists. He scored two goals this month in just two games. With Chmelevsky absent, due to representing the USA in the World Junior Games, he has played on the team’s top-line since his return to the lineup. He is in a three-way tie for third in goals for the team, eighth on the team in assists, and sixth on the team in total points. His shooting percentage is 14.1%.

Trending: Same

January
Clark had missed most of the month of December with an injury but returned on December 28. For the month of January, Clark played in nine games and had one goal and nine assists. He scored his goal for this month in the game on January 19 in a 5-3 victory at home for the Ottawa 67’s against the Hamilton Bulldogs. While he scored only one goal during January, he has racked up the assists. Clark had two consecutive games of racking up two assists, one on January 11 against the Sarnia Sting and one on January 12 against the London Knights. He ranks sixth for the team in goals with 13 but is only three goals away from third on the team. Clark ranks eighth on the team in assists and eighth in total points. There are numerous forwards on the team vying for playing time, given that the 67’s have acquired two more high scoring forwards for their lineup. Lucas Chiodo and Kyle Maksimovich, in preparation for trying to earn the OHL Championship.

Trending: Same

February
For the month of February, Clark played in nine games. He had goals in two of those games and also had four assists. In a game against the Hamilton Bulldogs on February 9, he had a goal and an assist, with the goal being the game-winning goal for the Ottawa 67’s. He was penalized for an illegal check to the head, a penalty that resulted in him being suspended for the game on February 13. He also scored a goal in the game of February 22 against the Kingston Frantenacs, a game the 67’s lost 3-2. Among players who had been with the team the entire season, he ranks tied for sixth for the team in goals with 15, seventh in assists with 26, and sixth in overall points, with 41 points. He is tied for eighth in goals, tied for ninth in assists, and in eighth for points. These lists include two players acquired from other teams whose total for Ottawa is not more the Clark’s. He is tied for seventh on the team in assists. He is listed as tied for ninth in assists, as that list includes two players acquired partway through the season. He is now sixth in total points for players who had been with the team the entire year. There are numerous forwards on the team vying for playing time, given that the 67’s had earlier acquired two more high scoring forwards for their lineup, Lucas Chiodo and Kyle Maksimovich, in preparation for trying to earn the OHL Championship.

Trending: Same

March
For the month of March, Kody Clark played in six regular season games, recording two goals and three assists for five points overall during March. Incidentally, all three of his assists came in the same game, against the Oshawa Generals on March 10, in which he also had a goal. He ended up missing the last game of the regular season. He finished the season with 17 goals and 29 assists for 46 points overall in 57 games. He ranked sixth in goals, seventh in assists, and sixth in overall points for players on the team who had been with the team for the entire season. They had two late-season acquisitions, Lucas Chiodo and Kyle Maksimovich who had more goals, assists, and points overall. Clark also contributed two goals and one assist in four playoff games as the Ottawa 67’s swept the Hamilton Bulldogs in the first round, scoring goals in Game 1 and Game 4, playing on the team’s first-line for all four of those games.

Trending: Up

April/May
During the month of April, Clark contributed 2 more goals and 3 more assists as the Ottawa 67’s swept through Round 2 of the playoffs against the Sudbury Wolves and Round 3 of the playoffs against the Oshawa Generals. In May, he scored 1 goal and had 4 assists as they lost in the championship round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs to the Guelph Storm. His final playoff stats were 5 goals and 9 assists for 14 points overall in 18 games. He was -4 and had 40 penalty minutes.

Trending: Same

HIGHLIGHTS

PLAYER FORECAST
Clark has already signed a three year entry level contract with the Washington Capitals. As this is his last year in Junior Hockey, his hope is to play the 2019-20 season for the Caps’ AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears. The plan is to continue to develop into a power forward with a physical edge.

By Diane Doyle