{"id":303864,"date":"2025-11-23T17:02:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T17:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/303864\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T17:02:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T17:02:07","slug":"kopitar-trying-to-have-as-much-fun-as-i-can-in-final-nhl-season-with-kings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/303864\/","title":{"rendered":"Kopitar trying to \u2018have as much fun as I can\u2019 in final NHL season with Kings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anze Kopitar<\/a> needs just 18 points to surpass Hall of Famer Marcel Dionne<\/a> as the all-time leading scorer for the Los Angeles Kings in what would be yet another memorable milestone on his NHL farewell tour.<\/p>\n

But where would that potential accomplishment rank the 38-year-old center, who already announced he\u2019ll retire at the end of this season, among the franchise\u2019s all-time greats?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best ever,\u201d said Kings broadcaster Jim Fox, who played nine seasons in Los Angeles (1980-90). \u201cIn fact, he\u2019s already No. 1 right now in my books.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kopitar\u2019s next opportunity to whittle down the gap between he and Dionne will come Monday when the Kings captain and his teammates host the Ottawa Senators at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles (9 p.m. ET: FDSNW, Prime, RDS2).<\/p>\n

Expected to be in the building, as usual, will be Luc Robitaille<\/a>, the Kings president who ranks third in their history in points with 1,154, behind only Dionne (1,307) and Kopitar (1,290).<\/p>\n

Those three are among a cache of outstanding players who have represented Los Angeles since the team\u2019s inception in 1967, an illustrious group that also includes the likes of fellow forwards Wayne Gretzky<\/a> (918 points), Bernie Nicholls<\/a> (758) and Drew Doughty<\/a> (694), the franchise\u2019s all-time leading scorer among defensemen who, like Kopitar, is still playing.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t forget goalies Jonathan Quick<\/a>, the Kings\u2019 leader in wins (370), and Hall of Famer Rogie Vachon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Given that prestigious list, what makes Fox put Kopitar at the top?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll repeat: Anze Kopitar is the greatest player in Kings history,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s why: Gretzky played there but he won four Stanley Cups in Edmonton. He\u2019s an Oiler. Marcel played there, but he didn\u2019t play his entire career there; he played with Detroit and the Rangers too. Luc, at the point where he ended his career, he was the NHL\u2019s all-time leading scorer among left wingers but moved around, too, playing for Pittsburgh, Detroit and the Rangers as well while coming back a few times.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnze Kopitar has been a King [from] the beginning to the end. That\u2019s why I rank him at the top.\u201d<\/p>\n

Few people, if any, have seen or been part as many Kings games over the past half-century as Fox after they selected him with the No. 10 pick at the 1980 NHL Draft. He retired in 1990 due to lingering knee issues and was hired shortly afterward as a television analyst, a role he still holds to this day.<\/p>\n

As such, he\u2019s pretty much been witness to Kopitar\u2019s entire career, one that started when the 6-foot-3, 225-pound center was drafted No. 11 by Los Angeles at the 2005 NHL Draft. Since then, Kopitar is the team\u2019s all-time leader in assists (846), won the Selke Trophy as the NHL\u2019s best defensive forward (2016, 2018), the Lady Bing as the League\u2019s most gentlemanly player (2016, 2023, 2025), the Mark Messier Leadership award (2022) and, along with Doughty, helped the Kings win the Stanley Cup twice (2012, 2014).<\/p>\n

Doughty, unfortunately, won\u2019t be in the lineup Monday; he\u2019s on injured reserve and week to week after blocking a shot during a 1-0 victory in Ottawa on Nov. 15. Interestingly it was Doughty who during the offseason tried to sway Kopitar away from his retirement plans.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did this summer,\u201d Doughty said. \u201cAnd then he announced it. I\u2019m leaving him alone now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kopitar confirmed Doughty\u2019s ill-fated attempt.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, he tried to talk me out of it,\u201d Kopitar said with a chuckle. \u201cIt didn\u2019t succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kopitar has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) and is plus-7 in 18 games in his final NHL season. In the process, he\u2019s soaking in every minute, from games to practices to team meals.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust trying to enjoy it as much as I can, really, whether that\u2019s the last time in a certain building, the last time against a certain team, it doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just throughout the year I told myself I\u2019m going to enjoy it, try to take it all in.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously I want to win and not just be happy to be here. I want to play good. I want to win, but at the same time make a mark and have as much fun as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anze Kopitar needs just 18 points to surpass Hall of Famer Marcel Dionne as the all-time leading scorer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-303864","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}