The praise from Gretzky means a lot to Kopitar, who almost looks like a little kid again, not a seasoned 29-year-old, when the compliments are passed along.
"I don't know what I did to get his blessing," Kopitar said. "Even in the World Cup, he came by. We talked and all that. When he's around here (in Los Angeles), he comes in to the room and we chat really quick. Hopefully we'll get to play a round of golf real soon.
"Just his presence, in general, means a lot. If he's got some good things to say about me, that's pretty cool too. …I text with the guy quite frequently and I still get nervous in his presence. I think I said it all right there."
The other player on the golf course that day was Justin Williams, who is in his second season with the Capitals after having played six-plus seasons with the Kings. He returned to action Saturday at Montreal after missing one game with a lower-body injury.
Gretzky compared Williams to one of his Hall of Fame teammates from his Edmonton Oilers days.
"The bigger the game, the better he played," Gretzky said. "In a lot of ways, he's like Glenn Anderson. He wasn't going to get 80 goals a year. Whenever you needed a big goal, he was a guy who would find a way to get that big goal."
Gretzky chuckled, saying, "Good kids … they're kids to me because I've got kids older than them."
His oldest, Paulina Gretzky, 28, is younger than Kopitar and Williams (35), but you get the drift.
Friendship has its limits, however. Kopitar doesn't get to partner with 2016 U.S. Open golf champion Dustin Johnson, who is engaged to Paulina.
"As much as we play golf together, I still won't let him be partners with Dustin, I'm Dustin's partner. When you get 895 goals you can be his partner," Gretzky said, laughing.