Prospect Update: Damian Clara

By Thomas Harrington

Drafted by the Anaheim Ducks in the second round of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, goaltender Damian Clara played in the J20 Nationell, SHL, Liiga, and AHL this past season.

In the J20, Clara played two games for Farjestad BK J20 and had a 1-1 record with a 3.67 goals against average and a .878 save percentage. In the SHL, he played in 21 games for Farjestad BK and had a 9-10 record with a 3.19 goals against average, a .879 save percentage, and one shutout. In the Liiga, he played in 10 games for Karpat and had a 3-7 record with a 2.49 goals against average, .910 save percentage, and one shutout. Finally, with the San Diego Gulls, Clara played in two games and had a record of 0-1 with a 3.15 goals against average and a .898 save percentage.

After playing so well in the 2023-2024 season, Clara seemed ready for the SHL. He shared the net with former NHLer Maxim Legace, and both struggled with Farjestad BK. The Ducks weren’t happy with Clara’s development, and the decision was made to transfer him to the Liiga, Finland’s top professional league. Anaheim’s current starter Lukas Dostal had played in the Liiga before coming to North America, and the hope was that Clara would play better for Karpat. While he was playing better, Clara still wasn’t playing as well as he previously had. The decision was made to bring him to North America to finish the year in San Diego.

In Clara’s first career AHL game, he was the backup to Oscar Dansk against the Iowa Wild. After allowing three goals on eight shots, Dansk was pulled and Clara was given his first taste of the AHL. He played over 36 minutes and made 22 saves on 23 shots. His first and only start came a couple of days later, also against Iowa. He faced 26 shots and made 22 saves.

After a truly fantastic 2023-2024 season, Clara struggled this past season. Last summer, I had two expectations for him, and he was able to mostly hit one but missed the other. It should be noted that no one expected him to play across four different leagues for four different teams. Clara was supposed to spend most, if not all, of the year in the SHL playing for Farjestad BK. My first expectation was for him to play a good number of games for Farjestad. His 21 games played were actually second among goaltenders on the team, so I give him partial credit for this. Second, I wanted him to win more games than he lost. Unfortunately, Clara was not able to do that on any of the four teams he played for last season, and if you add up his wins and losses, he finished with a record of 13-19.

Clara will be returning to the SHL this coming season, this time playing for Brynas IF. He’ll be joining fellow Anaheim prospect Lucas Pettersson and former Duck Jakob Silfverberg. In net, Clara will be joined by Collin Delia and Erik Kallgren. Kallgren is currently injured and expected to miss the start of the season. It has also been announced that Clara will play for Italy at the upcoming Winter Olympics.

After struggling last year, I have a couple of expectations for Clara this coming season. First, to not play in several different European leagues. I think that constant turnover of teammates and leagues is one of the reasons why Clara struggled last season. Second, for him to put up better numbers in the SHL than he did in the 2024-2025 season. Finally, for Clara to play well for Italy at the Winter Olympics. Italy will almost certainly be one of the weaker teams at the tournament, but it would be great to see him play well on his home soil.

Despite getting some AHL action sooner than anticipated, Clara is still a number of years away from the NHL. Ville Husso will likely be one of San Diego’s primary goalies this year, but could become Anaheim’s backup the following season if Petr Mrazek leaves after this season. That could open up a spot for Clara to get significant playing time with the Gulls in the 2026-2027 season, with a shot to make his NHL debut the following season.

Clara is currently signed to an entry-level deal and it will last for three years, but it will not begin this season unless he returns to North America and plays in enough games to begin it. His contract will likely begin in the 2026-2027 season, assuming he has joined the Gulls by then. When his contract finishes, Clara will be a restricted free agent. As long as Clara can rebound from a difficult season, he should be re-signed when his entry-level deal expires. But if he continues to struggle, the Ducks could opt to not qualify him and let him leave as a free agent.

The next prospect update will be on forward Sasha Pastujov.

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Prospect Update: Coulson Pitre

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Prospect Update: Calle Clang

Prospect Update: Darels Uljanskis

Prospect Update: Ethan Procyszyn

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September 13th, 2025