Doughty wants to end career with Kings, succeed Kopitar as captain

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Drew Doughty hopes to end his career with the Los Angeles Kings, but the two-time Stanley Cup-winning defenseman has yet to engage in contract discussions with team management.

“I want to stay in L.A. for the rest of my career until I retire, but I understand that my performance this season wasn’t as good as it needs to be, and I expect to bring it back up next year,” the 36-year-old said Wednesday. He will be going into the last season of the eight-year, $88 million contract ($11 million average annual value) he signed on July 1, 2018.

Doughty has played all 18 of his NHL seasons with Los Angeles, which selected him No. 2 in the 2008 NHL Draft. A Cup champion in 2012 and 2014 and winner of the Norris Trophy in 2016 as the League’s top defenseman, he led the Kings in time on ice time per game (23:05) and had 23 points (five goals, 18 assists) in 72 games this season. The point total was the third-lowest of his career; he had 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) in 30 games in 2024-25 after missing the first 47 games because of a fractured ankle sustained in a preseason game, and 22 points (six goals, 16 assists) in 2012-13, when he played all 48 games of the lockout-shortened season. 

Doughty saw his offensive-zone starts and role on the power play reduced because of the progression of Brandt Clarke, the No. 8 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, who had 40 points (eight goals, 32 assists) in 82 games in his second full NHL season.

“‘Clarkie,’ he’s got a bright future,” Doughty said. “I think with the veterans we have on the back end, we can help him in certain situations and make him better on the defensive side of the puck. And, offensively, he’s got a great gift, and he’s a great player.”

Doughty is the franchise leader among defensemen in points (709), goals (165), assists (544) and games played (1,279). He also holds the franchise Stanley Cup Playoff records for a defenseman in each of those categories, with 61 points, 19 goals and 42 assists in 105 games.

Doughty led the NHL in time on ice per game in 2017-18 (26:50) and 2020-21 (26:23), and he has averaged 25:59 for his career. Doughty said he would be comfortable reducing his workload if it can help the Kings have more success in the regular season and playoffs after being swept by the Colorado Avalanche this season, the fifth straight year they were eliminated in the Western Conference First Round.  

Although the Kings have not won a playoff series since the 2014 Stanley Cup Final, Doughty’s contributions to Team Canada’s victory in the 4 Nations Face-Off in 2025 and silver medal finish at the 2026 Winter Olympics showed he can still make a meaningful difference at the highest levels of competition.

“Obviously, if we can get all the ‘D’ involved and bring my minutes back a little bit, it would be in the best interest for the team,” he said.

In addition to hoping to continue his tenure in Los Angeles, Doughty also expressed interest in succeeding longtime teammate and friend Anze Kopitar as the next captain of the Kings.

Kopitar, who retired following the Game 4 loss on Sunday after 20 seasons in the NHL, held that role for the past 10 seasons.

“I’d love to be captain of this team,” said Doughty, who has been an alternate captain since 2015-16. “It’s something, I guess, when I was younger, (it’s) something I never thought of. And I kind of grew into a leadership role, and now it’s something I cherish, and it would mean the world to me to be a captain.”

Other options to replace Kopitar could be forward Adrian Kempe and defenseman Mikey Anderson, who were alternate captains this season.

Defenseman Joel Edmundson stressed that it would take more than one person to fill the leadership void created by Kopitar’s departure.

“You can’t just replace ‘Kopi,’ and I think everyone’s going to say that same thing,” Edmundson said. “He’s one of a kind. He’s the leader of leaders.”