Drew Doughty isn’t hiding what he wants. He wants to keep playing, and he wants to do it in Los Angeles until the end.
That much came through clearly in a recent interview with NHL’s Tom Gulitti, where the Kings captain made his plans sound pretty straightforward. Doughty said, “ I think I can play until over 40.
I believe I can. I’ve just got to stay healthy.
The want to do it hasn’t dropped, so, until I lose that, I’m not going to retire. ”
A few months earlier, there was already some movement around his future. In late June, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Kings would wait until after the 2026-27 season to pursue an extension with Doughty. At the time, there didn’t seem to be a bigger reason for the pause beyond general manager Ken Holland not feeling any urgency to rush.
Then came another notable wrinkle: Doughty hired Pat Brisson from CAA Sports to handle his contract talks. Doughty hadn’t used an agent since his eight-year, $56MM extension before the 2011-12 season. He also represented himself on his current eight-year, $88MM deal, which expires at season’s end.
The desire to stay put fits the path of other Kings captains before him, including Dustin Brown and Anže Kopitar. Doughty made it clear he’d like to finish his career the same way, with one NHL team on his resume.
He also sounded open to giving the Kings real financial breathing room to make that happen. Gulitti quoted Doughty saying, “ He knows what I want.
I believe he wants me to stay. We just haven’t talked about it yet.
I feel like I’m performing better than I have in my past two seasons. So, I think that I’ll take a team-friendly deal and stay in L.A.
That’s my plan. ”
What that actually means is the tricky part. Doughty’s production dropped hard last season, when he posted five goals and 23 points in 72 games while averaging 23:05 of ice time per game. Among seasons in which he played at least 70 games, that was a career-low offensive total, even four points shy of his rookie year.
If his production stays in that neighborhood, there’s no reason to expect his next contract to come close to the $88MM he’s playing on now, even if he hit the open market. A shorter, lower-cost deal seems more realistic, and Doughty has at least one possible benchmark to point to. Last offseason, after the Florida Panthers acquired his rights from the Anaheim Ducks, Radko Gudas signed a six-year, $9MM contract with a $1.5MM AAV.
Doughty turns 37 at the beginning of December, and any new deal would be a 35+ contract rather than a standard one. That matters because if he were to retire early, the Kings would not get salary cap relief, which makes the team’s side of the equation a little more delicate.
Still, Doughty says he’s ready to do whatever is necessary to help the club. As he put it, “ I’m going to do everything I can to help us, the team, the L.A.
Kings. ”
In Other News...
Kings End Road Trip With A Frustrating Problem Still Unfixed
The Kings headed home from Chicago with the same nagging issue they have been trying to solve on the road: building an early lead and then letting it slip away. Samuel Helenius gave Los Angeles the start it wanted at United Center, and Anton Forsberg did his part in net with 25 saves, but the Blackhawks answered back and turned the game into a one-goal battle the Kings could not finish.
Chicagos third-period push ended up deciding a 2-1 loss that felt all too familiar by the final horn. Los Angeles now comes back to Los Angeles for a home stand still searching for a cleaner finish, with the details of how this one got away likely sticking with the group for a while. [Read more 🡒]
Connor Bedard Showed The Kings A Late-Game Problem Again
Connor Bedard was back in the middle of the action late against the Kings, which has become part of the Chicago script whenever a game tightens up. Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said the young star keeps earning those crucial shifts because of his competitiveness, even while the staff keeps pushing for more consistency in his defensive game. He also did his part at both ends in the matchup, setting up a goal and helping Chicago manage the closing stretch.
For Los Angeles, the frustrating part is how often Bedard seems to still be on the ice when the outcome is hanging in the balance. Blashill pointed to Bedard as a key piece of the Blackhawks young core and a player still very much in development, but the Kings saw again how dangerous he can be when the game gets tense and every shift starts to matter a little more. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Waste Early Lead In Another Frustrating One-Goal Loss
The Kings left Chicago with a 3-2-0 road trip, but the finale was another reminder of how thin the margin has been for them lately. Samuel Helenius gave Los Angeles the first goal of the night, and for a while it looked like the kind of start that could help the Kings control the game on the back end of a long trip. Anton Forsberg was in goal for LA, while Spencer Knight handled the Chicago net as the game settled into the sort of tight, tense battle that has too often turned on one moment.
Instead, the Blackhawks found a response through Roman Kantserov and then the decisive strike from Wyatt Kaiser, turning a one-goal deficit into a one-goal loss for Los Angeles. For a team still trying to stack together cleaner performances away from home, this one stung because the Kings had the early edge and still could not turn it into points. They head home with a winning trip, but also with another game that slipped away after looking very much within reach. [Read more 🡒]