Goodness, no. That was the start of all their problems, in my opinion.
Despite Blake wanting to play a higher scoring, up-tempo game, there's this obsession with having every player they can spend time in the AHL, then play in the bottom-6, to "learn to check" and play a grinding style. They did it with Kaliyev, too. He's spent the past couple seasons alongside Blake Lizotte, Brendan Lemieux, and the like. He finally had the opportunity to play with Fiala and PLD, but the line was having issues with chemistry in training camp, then Kaliyev got suspended.
In a perfect world, Blake would have both Clarke and Laferriere in the NHL as they have the talent and have generally done well in camp. Then they could take turns in games and be shuffled around. Spence just outplayed Clarke during training camp. And because Blake has mismanaged the cap, he has to go with a 21-man roster.
The most galling thing is one of the best players in camp is Alex Laferriere, and he was sent down, too.