"Last year was a tough transition for him," said Brown, who, like Kopitar, made sure their friendship stayed strong after the transition of the captaincy. "It's more responsibility than people realize. There's a learning curve even for a guy who is an (alternate) captain."
But Kopitar's hard summer work resulted in a bounce-back season that has the 2016 winner of the Selke Trophy, given to the best defensive forward in the League, in the conversation for Hart Trophy, which is awarded to the most valuable player.
"In all honesty, it's encouraging for me because I've never been in those (Hart) conversations before," he said. "So, I'm going to say, it's nice to see, yes. It's satisfying. But at the same time, we all know what we're playing for here.
"We're not playing for individual awards because we have a few guys in here that can rack up those awards."
He motioned toward the dressing room stalls of defenseman Drew Doughty, who won the Norris Trophy in 2016 as the League's top defenseman, and goaltender Jonathan Quick, who was a finalist for the Vezina (given to the best goalie) in 2012 and 2016.
"I'm 100 percent sure those are not the awards those guys are playing for," Kopitar said. "And I'm in the same boat. We want the big prize."