Kopitar draws praise from Dionne after breaking Kings' points record

For more than 45 years, Marcel Dionne has sat atop the Los Angeles Kings list for most points in franchise history. With two goals against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, Anze Kopitar toppled the Hall of Fame legend from his perch.

Kopitar became No. 1, reaching 1,308 points in 1,505 games and passing the 1,307 points by Dionne between 1975-87.

Ranking third through fifth on the Kings points list are Luc Robitaille, the team's president, with 1,154; Dave Taylor, with 1,069, and Wayne Gretzky, with 918.

From his home in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and as he's travelled North America tending to his business interests, Dionne has kept casual tabs on Kopitar's points pursuit.

Marcel Dionne in action with the Los Angeles Kings.

"If I had a team, I'd know that I never have to worry about Kopitar, about the kind of effort he'd bring to the rink and how he works at both ends of the ice," said Dionne, whose No. 16 was retired by the Kings on Nov. 8, 1990. 

Dionne was a prolific scorer, 550 of his 731 career goals coming with the Kings between 1975-87, adding 757 assists wearing the crown jersey crest for 921 games. Arriving in Los Angeles after four seasons with Detroit, drafted by the Red Wings No. 2 in 1971, he'd finish his career with the New York Rangers, spanning three seasons from 1987-89.

Kopitar has scored every one of his points with the Kings, having been selected by Los Angeles in the first round of the 2005 NHL Draft (No. 11). 

Dionne had a nose for the net, his powerful skating, strong wrists and quick release a lethal combination. In conversation, you can rattle off some of his remarkable statistics and he'll just laugh. There's one, he says, that forever will stand above all others.

Marcel Dionne in a Los Angeles Kings portrait pose that was taken for a 1980s hockey card, and his idol Maurice "Rocket" Richard following the Canadiens' 1960 Stanley Cup championship, the superstar's last of eight and Montreal's fifth in a row.

"The only time I paid any attention to my numbers was related to (Montreal Canadiens legend) Maurice Richard," Dionne said. "Passing the Rocket's 544 career goals was unbelievable. As for all the rest, I'll have to take your word it. I don't know anything about them."

The native of Drummondville, Quebec, eclipsed Richard with two goals against the Minnesota North Stars in a 3-3 home-ice season-opening tie on Oct. 5, 1983.

Dionne was 9 years old when the Rocket played his final game in 1960, having grown up worshipping the Canadiens. If not for Guy Lafleur, the No. 1 pick by the Canadiens in the 1971 NHL Draft, he almost surely would have been selected by Montreal.

"The Canadiens were French-Canadians, this was my family," Dionne said. "When I was 7 or 8, I saw a little bit of Henri Richard playing when Maurice, his big brother. I couldn't believe how good they were."

Marcel Dionne jumps into action off the Los Angeles Kings bench.

Dionne had become the Kings' all-time leading point-scorer on Feb. 7, 1981, in a 4-4 tie against the Washington Capitals, his two goals in his 447th game with Los Angeles passing the 659 points Butch Goring had put up in 736 games. Today, Goring ranks ninth all-time on the franchise list.

Dionne's first point for the Kings came on Oct. 12, 1975, a goal against the Rangers in New York; his final point for L.A. was an assist, at Edmonton against the Oilers on March 6, 1987.

Kopitar's first point came in his maiden NHL game, his first of two goals scored against the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 6, 2006.

"It probably doesn't mean much here in L.A, but I'll bet the papers in Quebec will be full of the fact that I passed the Rocket," Dionne told reporters after the game in which he slipped past Richard. "I idolized Maurice because he always played hard. Looking back at his career, it's not fair to compare players from time with ours today. It was a very different game."

Anze Kopitar poses for a portrait before the 2020 NHL All-Star Game at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

Dionne understands that hockey has changed dramatically from his time to what's played today.

Dionne's final game for the Kings was played five months and a few weeks before the birth of Kopitar in Jesenice, Slovenia. The two men have met just a couple of times in passing, Dionne says, pretty much just a hello.

They are now atop an all-time franchise list, linked as well about a stick-length apart on a monument outside Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, a 50th-anniversary tribute to some of the Kings' greatest players having been installed in 2016.

Eight players are featured on a monument that's 12 feet high and 30 feet in length. Laser etchings of goalie Rogie Vachon and defenseman Drew Doughty are joined by a sculptural Jonathan Quick, and five bas-relief figures winding up for a shot leading to the celebration of a goal and the 2014 Stanley Cup championship. Dionne winds up, Dave Taylor leans into a shot, Rob Blake follows through and Kopitar's arms lift toward Dustin Brown hoisting the priceless trophy.

The Los Angeles Kings' 50th anniversary monument outside Crypto.com Arena. Marcel Dionne is seen with his stick raised, winding up for a shot, Anze Kopitar has his arms raised three figures to Dionne's right, below Dustin Brown with the Stanley Cup.

"I never wound up that far for a shot in my life," Dionne said, laughing, "but it is what it is."

The stocky sniper would be the first player in NHL history to score at least 20 goals in each of his first 17 seasons. He's since been joined at 17 by Mats Sundin and Jaromir Jagr, Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin at 21 and counting.

Dionne scored at least 130 points in three consecutive seasons with the Kings, from 1978-79 through 1980-81, the Triple Crown line with Taylor and Charlie Simmer one of the day's finest; he put up six 50-goal seasons over seven years, and had a span of eight of 11 seasons scoring at least 100 points (one with Detroit, seven with Los Angeles) before he was traded in 1987 to the Rangers, where he would finish his career.

During his 11 full years with the Kings, Dionne never scored fewer than 36 goals.

Anze Kopitar receives a 1,000th-point commemorative stick on May 7, 2021, from fellow Los Angeles Kings legends Luc Robitaille (l.) and Rob Blake.

By contrast, in a very different era, Kopitar's most prolific goal-scoring season saw him put up 35 in 2017-18, his 92 points a career-high. The first Slovenian to reach the NHL has been a solid, dependable leader for the Kings, now in his 20th season which he's announced will be his final in the League, his 10th as captain.

Fifteen times, most recently in 2022-23, Kopitar has led the Kings in points, tied with Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins (entering 2025-26) for the second-most seasons as points leader for one franchise in NHL history, behind only the 17 of Detroit's Gordie Howe.

The 38-year-old hit the 1,300-point plateau on Feb. 5, 2026, joining Dionne as one of 16 players to record 1,300 points with a single franchise. Kopitar became the fourth active player on that list, after Crosby, Ovechkin, and Evgeni Malkin of the Penguins.

Dionne won the Art Ross Trophy as the League's leading scorer in 1979-80, Lady Byng Trophy in 1974-75 and 1976-77 and Lester B. Pearson Award (before it was renamed the Ted Lindsay Award) in 1978-79 and 1979-80.

Anze Kopitar celebrates with the Stanley Cup during the Los Angeles Kings' championship parade and rally on June 16, 2014.

Kopitar's trophy case is swollen full, too, with the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup; Frank J. Selke Trophy as best defensive forward in 2015-16 and 2017-18; Lady Byng for gentlemanly play in 2015-16, 2022-23 and 2024-25; and the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award in 2021-22. Only Gretzky, with seven, has earned more individual NHL awards with the Kings than the six of Kopitar.

Now, as he's joined by Kopitar atop the franchise list he's led for 45 years, Dionne considers the Kings' new No. 1 with respect for a player whose career is nearing its end.

"Anze is not a pure goal-scorer," he said, "but he's an excellent, solid two-way player. He's been a credit to his team for many years.

"I listen to podcasts and hear guys talking all the time about statistics and it's never crossed my mind until recently that I've been No. 1 on the Kings points list all these years. Now Anze will be on top for a long time."

Indeed, no one is giving close chase. Doughty, in his 18th season with the Kings and a Kopitar teammate for the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup wins, has 703 points through his 1,263 games. Forward Adrian Kempe, the nearest active player to Doughty, trails the veteran defenseman by more than 200 points (459).