Clarke’s transfer to Sweden falls through

Brandt Clarke, one of the top prospects in the 2021 NHL Draft, has had an interesting 24 hours.

On Tuesday, Vasby IK of the HockeyAllsvenskan in Sweden, the second-tier men’s league in the country, announced that the promising young defender would be joining the club via a full transfer.

On Wednesday, however, the club announced that Clarke would not be joining their roster.

“Vasby Hockey must announce the sad news that Brandt Clarke from Canada will not join the association,” they shared on the club’s website, according to Google Translate.

“Everything with the transfer was ready, the plane ticket booked and the agreement with the player signed. As the club made a full transfer and agreement, both with the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and the player’s personal agreement was written throughout the season, the association considered it a pure transition.”

Hockey Canada reached out to the club noting that Clarke has an “underlying contract” with the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League, according to the team’s website.

The prospect would therefore need to be sent to Vasby via a loan, not a transfer.

“The Allsvenskan had imposed a rule where to my understanding, that unless the player is under a current NHL or SHL contract there will be no players allowed into the league on a loan basis,” said Randy Robitaille of Edge Sports Management, Clarke’s agent.

This means that Clarke is unable to join the Swedish club in the 2020-21 season, but that doesn’t take a potential loan elsewhere off the table this season.

“Brandt was excited for the opportunity,” Robitaille said. “We are currently looking into other options.”