Anze Kopitar
LAK Statline – 81 games played, 21 goals, 46 assists, +14 rating, 4 penalty minutes
LAK Playoff Statline – 6 games played, 2 goals, 7 assists, -6 rating, 0 penalty minutes
NHL Possession Metrics (Relative To Kings) – CF% – 51.4% (-2.7%), SCF% – 49.2% (-6.0%), HDCF% – 52.3% (-4.1%)
Kopitar’s start of the season had him among the most impressive players around the NHL. Kopitar helped to carry the team offensively early in the season as he produced both goals and assists to go along with the other parts of his game that always excel. While he hit a midseason slump, the overall body of work remained extremely high, another consistent season from number 11.
Trending Up – During the first half of the season, Kopitar was maybe this team’s MVP. I wrote about this in Alex Laferriere’s review earlier this week but several players were below their expected production early in the season and it was Kopitar, Laferriere and Adrian Kempe keeping things afloat offensively. In the 2024 portion of this season, Kopitar had 39 points (12-27-39) from 36 games played with a +16 rating and five game-winning goals, winning faceoffs at a 55.6 percent clip. Kopitar scored three goals on Opening Night to spark a comeback win and didn’t slow down over those three months. Without his strong start, the Kings are likely not a 105-point team at the end of the season, so it was important not only that the Kings got those points from the captain, but when they got those points.
In widening the scope, the Kings were, to put it very simply, extremely productive offensively with Kopitar on the ice throughout the season. In even-strength situations, the Kings scored 3.49 goals per/60 with Kopitar on the ice, the second best clip among regular Kings forwards, trailing only Kempe. It was also the second-best mark of Kopitar’s NHL career to date. He did so despite the lowest percentage of offensive-zone faceoffs among regular Kings forwards at 48.3 percent. The challenging minutes were certainly more spread out than in past seasons, but the Kings still gave Kopitar more than his share of matchups. Despite that, the production was quite good.
Here’s an interesting deeper statistic on Kopitar – he dominated the bluelines. Per SportLogiq, Kopitar was one of the best players on the Kings at getting the puck out of his defensive zone with possession. Kopitar ranked second among Kings forwards this season in percentage of successful controlled zone exits, either by a pass or a carryout, behind only his linemate Adrian Kempe. Offensively, by SportLogiq’s metrics, the Kings had a “successful play” after 63.5 percent of Koptiar’s controlled zone entries, the best clip on the team, excelling specifically when Kopitar carried the puck into the zone with possession. Blueline in, blueline out with possession is a simple, yet valuable principle and none were better this season than Kopitar.
Lastly, Kopitar was announced earlier today as the winner of the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, which is an acknowledgement of one of the most respected players in the NHL who plays the game the right way. That Kopitar also received 39 votes for the Selke speaks to that respect, with his vote total placing eighth in the NHL in that process. Kopitar is now a three-time Lady Byng winner (2016, 2023) and he’s finished in the Top-10 for the Selke on 12 different occasions, including 2024-25. Kopitar has been lauded by so many within the locker room as a welcoming and strong leader who carries a level of respect around the league that few others do. No change in that department, with his placement on certain awards reflecting that.
Trending Down – My number one observation here is that Kopitar shot the puck at a substantially lower rate this season than in any season of his NHL career. Kopitar had just 98 shots on goal, by far his lowest single-season total for a full season. His shot attempts were also his lowest single-season total over a full 82-game season. He still scored 21 goals, which is right around where you’d project him, but did so with a shooting percentage of 21.4 percent, the highest rate of his career. Did it hurt the Kings this season? No. But that number is likely unsustainable, so the shot totals are an area to keep an eye one.
Kopitar was also a much higher-event player than he’s typically been in his career and on a Kings team that was among the NHL’s elite defensively, Kopitar’s on-ice chances against were among the highest on the team. His expected goals against total, which is an accumulation of chances against, was the highest number among Kings forwards on a per/60 basis. The chances did not correlate to goals against, which was good, and some of that will always be there for elite defensive players like Kopitar, with the plays that he makes. Again, it didn’t really hurt the Kings, it’s just one to keep an eye on going forward.
I’m not exactly sure how to assess Kopitar’s playoffs. It’s in the trending down, but there were lots in both directions. He had nine points, second most on the team but he was also a minus-6. He had five points at even strength which was just one behind Phillip Danault for the team lead in the series. He did play his share of minutes against McDavid/Draisaitl, but they were not his most common matchup in that series. Most of the damage against came in Game 3, when he was on the ice for five goals against at even strength and six of seven goals in total. He also had four power-play points, second on the team. Interested to see how you all felt about his performance during the series.
2025-26 Status – Kopitar has one season remaining on his contract, which carries an AAV of $7,000,000. Kopitar committed to playing this season during his exit interview, but did not commit beyond that. He had previously alluded to 2025-26 potentially being his final season, but it doesn’t sound like that is set in stone at this time. Kopitar will be back, centering one of the team’s top forward lines this season. Beyond that, I don’t know. But certainly time left to enjoy him while he’s still here because a player like Anze Kopitar doesn’t come around very often.
