{"id":730021,"date":"2026-06-11T16:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T16:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/730021\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T16:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T16:44:09","slug":"kings-drew-doughty-eyeing-extension-captaincy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/730021\/","title":{"rendered":"Kings’ Drew Doughty Eyeing Extension, Captaincy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Kings let go of a franchise legend when captain Anze Kopitar<\/a> announced his retirement following the 2025-26 season. The Kings also face an expiring contract for their next-longest tenured player: defenseman Drew Doughty<\/a>, whose current deal is set to end in 2027. Signing Doughty to an extension could help Log Angeles address two issues at once \u2013 securing a captain for a few seasons while walking the 36-year-old Doughty to retirement. General manager Ken Holland<\/a> said that the Kings have initially discussed Doughty\u2019s next extension but isn\u2019t pressured to get something done per Alexander Legget of Mayor\u2019s Manor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 2025-26 season marked a down year for Doughty. His 23 points in 72 games was a career-low scoring pace and a major step down from Doughty\u2019s 82-game average of 12 goals and 53 points over the prior four seasons. What was meant to be a year centered around the Winter Olympics didn\u2019t shine overseas either, with Doughty leaving the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics with just one assist and a Silver medal.<\/p>\n

Still, there is no denying Doughty\u2019s place in Los Angeles\u2019 lineup. The veteran defender holds the Kings\u2019 record for most games played (1,279 regular-season, 105 playoffs) and points (709 regular-season, 61 playoffs) in both the regular season and playoffs by a defenseman. Much of his company in the Kings records books \u2013 including forwards An\u017ee Kopitar<\/a>,\u00a0Dustin Brown<\/a>, Dave Taylor<\/a>, and Luc Robitaille<\/a> \u2013 all retired in Los Angeles following long careers in the NHL. Doughty would be the natural next-up to ride into the L.A. sunset, though he\u2019ll need a resurgence in the 2026-27 season to force Holland\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n

Donning the captaincy would also support Doughty\u2019s case for a new deal. He told reporters in his 2026 exit interview that the captaincy would\u00a0\u201cmean the world\u201d. There is a thin shortlist of candidates to succeed Kopitar\u2019s tenure with the letter. Quinton Byfield<\/a> will assume Kopitar\u2019s role at top-center and could be the center-piece of the team\u2019s next era, if he succeeds. Kings veterans and alternate captains Adrian Kempe<\/a> and Michael Anderson<\/a> could also earn the nod after years with the club. But neither the promise of future responsibility, nor robust veteran experience, could outweigh Doughty\u2019s case as a Kings legend. After nine years with an \u2018A\u2019 on his chest, Doughty seems to be the top option to wear the \u2018C\u2019.<\/p>\n

The storyline of Doughty\u2019s up-and-down 30s, marked by untimely injuries, will continue to follow the Kings through much of the remaining decade. Little talk of an extension between the two sides \u2013 as acknowledged by Holland and Doughty \u2013 could leave the door open to a wide range of opportunities.\u00a0Doughty has expressed his desire<\/a> to stay with Los Angeles through the end of his career. That goal could place some added weight on obtaining the captaincy, as Doughty looks to solidify his lineup importance in the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Kings let go of a franchise legend when captain Anze Kopitar announced his retirement following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,59638,7526,575,85],"class_list":["post-730021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-drew-doughty","tag-los-angeles-kings","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730021","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=730021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}