Sometimes the events you look forward to most don’t happen the way you imagined.
Drew Doughty knew he was close to becoming the Kings all-time leader in goals by a defenseman, a record held by someone he’s very familiar with, Rob Blake. As he got closer to the mark, eventually tying it with a goal in San Jose last week, he was reminded of where he stood by his teammates, who were anticipating the opportunity to celebrate him while also helping themselves down the road with some extra ‘money on the board’ that would go to an upcoming outing.
Everyone knew the moment was coming sooner or later, but in his own head, Doughty probably pictured beating a goaltender with one of his patented blasts from the blue line. Instead, the 162nd goal of his career, which has consisted of 18 years with the Kings, went into an empty net.
“Would’ve loved for it to not be an empty-netter, but whatever,” Doughty said after his team earned its first home win of the season by shutting out the Winnipeg Jets 3-0 on Tuesday.
However, it wasn’t until the last few years that he would’ve even started to think about achieving this type of milestone. Even as someone who grew up a Kings fan, watching the team during his early years and emulating them, Doughty said he was just dreaming about making the league, not playing long enough to cement himself among the best in a franchise’s history.
“You come into the league just hoping to be a good NHL player, play five years, 10 years, whatever you can play,” said Doughty. “It’s a fortunate bounce to be able to do that in the first place and now to do this and have the career I’ve had is super special and I’m thankful for everyone involved in it.”
Offensive play has certainly been a big part of his game over the years, accounting for 50 or more points five times during his career, but as it did for Blake, a record like this doesn’t come without longevity.
Doughty’s consistency has been exceptional, playing 75 or more games in 12 different seasons, including some shortened by a lockout or pandemic. He’s never had more than 16 goals in a single campaign, a career-high he set in year two during 2009-10, but he’s hit double figures eight times, including two seasons ago when he finished with 15 after appearing in all of the 2023-24 season’s 82 games.
He’s also earned the minutes to do something like this, averaging over 26 per game in his career of more than 1,200 contests.
“It feels special for sure; it’s a huge honor. I looked up to Rob Blake as a young boy being an LA Kings fan. So it’s kind of shocking that this all happened but obviously very proud and so thankful for the organization and my teammates especially, couldn’t have done it without them.”
The goal itself — and, more importantly, the result the Kings achieved on Tuesday — mattered too. Before the game, Head Coach Jim Hiller had mentioned he felt his team was missing its usual swagger in recent losses to Detroit and New Jersey at the start of their current four-game homestand.
That confidence he was referring to is something Doughty generally has no shortage of.
“I challenged Drew to come into the rink tonight with swagger,” Hiller revealed after the game. “Drew usually has lots of swagger, so he had to lead us in the swagger department tonight, and then it was fitting for him to break that record.”
The Kings already had the lead, hence the goal being of the empty-net variety. But the insurance that tally provided and the win it ensured was certainly a meaningful one.
Coming in, they’d only secured five wins from their first 13 games, hardly the way they envisioned the beginning of their season going. Especially with none of them being from home contests after finishing 2024-25 as the top team in the NHL on home ice. It’s also not a good sign when a coach is speaking about needing more swagger this early on. But just as he always has, Doughty was there to pick up the slack in that department.
For the longtime alternate captain, he’s not focused on where the wins come from. When the win was in the books, Doughty admitted he didn’t realize it was his club’s first win in LA. As someone known for his competitiveness, he was more focused on getting back at Winnipeg after the first meeting between the teams in Manitoba didn’t go their way.
“We really wanted this one,” Doughty said. “We played well in Winnipeg when we played them there, and we thought we deserved a better fate. [Tonight] we went into the third period saying we needed to get some insurance goals but keep our foot on the pedal, don’t sit back, the same as we say all the time. And we did do a good job at that, we still didn’t really give them much.”
There’s really only one other Kings milestone that Doughty will be focused on the rest of this season, and that’s trying to become the first player in team history to win three Stanley Cups alongside Anze Kopitar. And yes, he is also aiming to represent Team Canada at the upcoming Winter Olympics for the third time.
But for fans following, there are a few other numbers to look forward to in the coming months, as Doughty continues to climb the ranks in Kings team history. For starters, he’s creeping up on Dustin Brown in both games played and points. Doughty is 75 appearances away from equaling Brown’s career total of 1,296 games with the Kings, which ranks second all-time behind Kopitar. He’s also nine points away from 700 and 21 points behind Brown’s career total of 712, which ranks seventh in club history.
In addition, Doughty would become just the eighth defenseman in NHL history to skate in 19 seasons for a single franchise when he steps on the ice for the Kings in the fall of 2026. Maybe he’ll even make it to 1,400 career games, which has already been accomplished by two of his teammates in Kopitar and Corey Perry.
There’s no question of Doughty’s love for the game and his commitment to not only staying in the NHL but continuing to be one of the very best in the world, and last night’s outcome was yet another example of that coming through on display.
The Kings will be back on their home ice at Crypto.com Arena Thursday night to face the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers. More to come on that in tomorrow’s preview and game coverage, Insiders!
LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 4: Drew Doughty #8 of the Los Angeles Kings takes the ice with teammates prior to the third period against the Winnipeg Jets at Crypto.com Arena on November 4, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gary A. Vasquez/NHLI via Getty Images)