"This is the most embarrassing thing I've ever had to deal with in my hockey career, all of us have ever had to deal with in our hockey careers," the defenseman
told L.A. Kings Insider.
"You want to put a finger on it and you want to know exactly why this is happening, but it's hard to figure out. It just has to come within. We can't be waiting around for guys to make it happen."
The Kings front office hasn't been waiting around. Los Angeles traded forward Tanner Pearson to the Pittsburgh Penguins for forward Carl Hagelin on Wednesday, 10 days after firing coach John Stevens and replacing him with Willie Desjardins.
RELATED: [Kings acquire Hagelin from Penguins for Pearson]
Los Angeles (5-11-1) is last in the NHL standings by four points. The Kings have lost three in a row, shut out once and scoring one goal in the other two. They lost six in a row last month and did not score more than two goals in any of those games.
"I haven't seen us really perform at all well this season, so I think I kind of saw [the changes] coming," Doughty said. "I thought last season we were better than the season before that, but still not amazing. I thought we could've been better. So, yeah, I didn't expect this, but I guess in the way we had training camp and the way we started the season, you could see it kind of coming, I guess. But we also thought we would've gotten right out of it a lot sooner than this. It's a frustrating time."
Pearson, 26, was once thought to be a key player in the Kings' future and was once part of the popular and productive "That '70s Line" with Jeff Carter and Tyler Toffoli. Since an NHL career-high 24 goals in 2016-17, Pearson fell to 15 last season and had not scored in 17 games this season.
The Kings acquired Hagelin to add speed, but at 30 he also adds age to a team with 10 other thirtysomethings.
"We've gone through a coaching change now, and this is the next kind of thing if we don't get our game in order here is that they are going to start making changes," Carter, 34, said. "That's the tough part of the business. Lots of guys have been through it. Hopefully Tanner goes there and does well."
The Kings are without starting goalie Jonathan Quick (knee) and backup Jack Campbell (knee), leaving them with 36-year-old Peter Budaj and rookie Cal Petersen.
Quick, 33, was 0-3-1 with a 4.55 goals-against average and .845 save percentage even when he was healthy; Doughty, 29, is minus-9 after he was plus-23 last season; and center Anze Kopitar, 31, has six points (four goals, two assists) after scoring 92 points (35 goals, 57 assists).
"Listen, if I knew what was going on I'd correct it," said Kopitar, the Kings captain. "It's extremely frustrating from going from an MVP nominee to barely getting any chances, but I'll correct it. I have no doubt in my mind that I'll correct it."
Los Angeles won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014 under coach Darryl Sutter, who was fired after the 2016-17 season. The Kings have not won a Stanley Cup Playoff series since their last championship, losing in the Western Conference First Round the two times they qualified (2015-16 and last season).
Doughty said NHL players used to tell him how much they hated to play against the Kings, but not so much anymore.
"For one, we were always physical. We were in your face, we worked as hard as we possible could, and we gave their star players nothing," Doughty said. "When you shut down star players and don't give them opportunities, they get frustrated with themselves, and they don't perform their best way. I haven't heard other players talk about our team like that in a good two or three years. We need to get back to that."
NHL.com correspondent Dan Greenspan contributed to this report
