The defenseman, who took a knee-to-knee hit from Dallas Stars defenseman Jani Hakanpää during a 3-2 overtime loss at Dallas on Oct. 22, was expected to be out eight weeks and to need six weeks to resume skating.
Friday marked four weeks since the injury.
"He got in the middle of a drill once, I don't know what he was doing," Kings coach Todd McLellan said. "He wasn't supposed to be in that drill, so we have to manage him a little bit. When it comes to practice, he's probably not pounding the door down saying he wants more out there, but it was amazing to see him excited out there today, and that's good for our group. We need that.
"Drew's always a lift. As you guys well know, his spirit's usually pretty good. And big smile, no teeth. Energizes the group. Wanted to do more than he was supposed to do, typical Drew, but it was refreshing to have him out there."
At the time of the injury, Doughty was second on the Kings with seven points (one goal, six assists) in four games and first in average ice time (22:37).
"It's awesome," defenseman Olli Maatta said after seeing Doughty practice in a no-contact jersey. "Like everybody knows, he's a big part of our team. What he does, he plays a lot of minutes, he plays power play, penalty kill, obviously big minutes 5-on-5, so it's going be huge to get him back.
"I think we've done a great job of just kind of filling that hole. I know there's not one guy that can do his job. I think we've done a great job as a [defenseman] group in general and we've got to keep doing that, but whenever he gets back, he's obviously going to start playing more minutes. But we've got to keep building [on] what we've done thus far."
Los Angeles, which is 7-5-1 since Doughty was injured, has also been playing without defenseman Sean Walker, who is out for the season because of a torn ACL and MCL in his right knee he sustained in a 3-0 loss at the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 25.
Doughty was not in the lineup when the Kings lost to the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 at Staples Center on Saturday.
"[He's] going to be in a red jersey for a little while," McLellan said. "We've got to make sure that the long-term health of Drew is more important than the short term in his and Sean's absence. We've kind of beat that drum a lot, and we do appreciate their efforts."
Selected by the Kings with the No. 2 pick in the 2008 NHL Draft, Doughty ranks first among defensemen in their history in assists (417), points (543), and games played (979). He also helped them win the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014.
NHL.com independent correspondent Dan Greenspan contributed to this report
