announced his retirement<\/a> at the end of the season.<\/p>\n\u201cIt must have been something in the universe. It was perfect for me. Now, I can fly under the radar,\u201d Kopitar said with a grin.<\/p>\n
Kopitar will have his No. 11 retired by the Kings one day, alongside Wayne Gretzky, Marcel Dionne, Rogie Vachon, Luc Robitaille, Dave Taylor, Rob Blake and Dustin Brown. One of the best two-way centers of his generation, Kopitar is the Kings\u2019 all-time leader in games (1,454), assists (838) and game-winning goals (78).\u00a0 He needs 30 points to pass Marcel Dionne\u2019s club record of 1,307. His 440 goals are third in team history, trailing only Robitaille and Dionne.<\/p>\n
Kopitar\u2019s career has been marked by remarkable consistency. The Kings drafted him with the No. 11 pick in 2005 and he finish fourth in Calder Trophy race two years later. His 20-goal, 61-point rookie season started a run in which he topped 20 goals on 14 occasions and reached the 60-point mark 16 times. (He had career-highs of 35 goals and 92 points as a Hart Trophy finalist in 2018.) Last season, Kopitar had 21 goals and 67 points.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe might have a tough game but it ain\u2019t going to bother him tomorrow,\u201d Darryl Sutter, who coached Kopitar for six seasons, told The Athletic in a 2023 interview. \u201cAnd when he has a great game, that\u2019s not going to bother him tomorrow, either. He\u2019s so consistent in his game and his shift to shift, the way he plays. He\u2019s easily and not arguably one of the best centermen ever to play in the National Hockey League. It\u2019s not even close.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kopitar\u2019s announcement might motivate a Kings team that hasn\u2019t advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs since winning the 2014 Cup win. Kopitar has been L.A.\u2019s captain since 2016.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the face of the organization for a reason,\u201d Kings right wing Alex Laferriere said last season, after Kopitar\u2019s 1,400th game. \u201cBeen around here forever. \u2026 He always looks out for the younger guys. Even when he\u2019s looking out for everybody, he\u2019s still performing at the best of his ability. He\u2019s an unbelievable player, unbelievable guy and I\u2019m just lucky to be able to learn from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among active NHL players, Kopitar ranks fourth in games, third in assists, fifth in points and eighth in goals. He needs 46 more games to reach 1,500 played. Only 22 players have appeared in that many regular-season games.<\/p>\n
Kopitar said he discussed his retirement plans with longtime teammate and friend Dustin Brown, who retired in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s always been the voice of reason,\u201d Kopitar said. \u201cQuite frankly, he said he was surprised I signed for two more years (in 2023). That was the comment that really, I guess, solidified my decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Photo: Isaiah J. Downing \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL SEGUNDO, Calif. \u2014 Los Angeles Kings captain An\u017ee Kopitar announced Thursday that he will retire after this…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":238174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2081,293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-238173","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-los-angeles-kings","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115229330488336330","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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