The Columbus Blue Jackets have re-signed defenseman Adam Clendening to a two-year contract extension through the 2020-21 National Hockey League season, club general manager Jarmo Kekalainen announced. The contract is a two-way NHL/American Hockey League deal for the 2019-20 season and a one-way NHL deal in 2020-21. As is club policy, terms were not disclosed.
Clendening, 26, has registered four goals and 20 assists for 24 points with 49 penalty minutes and a +11 plus/minus rating in 90 career NHL games with the Blue Jackets, Arizona Coyotes, New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks. He has also collected 32-166-198, 365 penalty minutes and is +49 in 306 career AHL games.
The 6-0, 194-pound blueliner signed a one-year, two-way contract with Columbus on July 1, 2018. Last season, he was +1 in four regular season games with the Blue Jackets before making his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals vs. Tampa Bay. He went on to collect 0-1-1, two penalty minutes and was +1 in seven games during the postseason. He also tallied 4-33-37 with 98 penalty minutes and a +18 plus/minus rating in 45 games with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters.
Selected by Chicago in the second round, 36th overall, at the 2011 NHL Draft, Clendening made his professional debut in 2012-13 with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs and picked up 9-37-46 and 67 penalty minutes in 73 games, leading all AHL defensemen in assists and earning Second Team AHL All-Star honors. In 2013-14, he set AHL career highs with 12-47-59 and 64 penalty minutes in 74 games, leading Rockford in scoring and earning AHL First Team All-Star honors. He made his NHL debut with the Blackhawks the following season, scoring his first NHL goal in his debut at Calgary on Nov. 20, 2014, and went on to tally 1-3-4 and 10 penalty minutes in 21 NHL games with Chicago and Vancouver.
He split the 2015-16 campaign between the NHL and AHL, notching 1-6-7 and 20 penalty minutes in 29 games with Pittsburgh and Edmonton. He set NHL highs in goals, assists, points and games played in 2016-17 with 2-9-11 and 17 penalty minutes in 31 outings with the Rangers before spending the 2017-18 season with the Coyotes organization, collecting 0-2-2 and two penalty minutes in five games with Arizona and combining for 5-30-35, 88 penalty minutes and a +4 plus/minus rating in 59 AHL games with Tucson and Rockford.
The Niagara Falls, New York native registered 9-50-59, 144 penalty minutes and was +19 in 77 games at Boston University from 2010-12. He earned Hockey East All-Rookie Team honors in 2010-11 and was named to the Hockey East First All-Star Team in 2010-11. He represented the United States at the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship and led all club defensemen in scoring with 1-4-5 in six games.
(NHL.com photo)
