Drew Doughty met with the media to answer a plethora of questions on Monday, as part of the team’s annual exit interview day. Below are selected quotes from that conversation, with the first three being questions asked by MayorsManor…
Drew Doughty on the season finally being over – “I don’t know if a weight was lifted off my shoulders; I’m still pissed off I’m going to have to watch playoff hockey without us in it. This season’s never going to be erased from my mind no matter how hard I try. It was a terrible season. It was kind of a relief it’s finally over in a way because it was so hard mentally and physically. It really was. I’ve never had to go through something like this, and as one of the guys, one of the leaders, I take a lot of responsibility for it. I wish I could’ve done better to get us out of it.”
Doughty on how much blame is on the players for another coaching change in LA – “It’s all on the players. Well, I shouldn’t say it’s ‘all’ on the players. A little bit is on the coaching and the systems put in place, but the majority of it’s all on the players and us not playing to the best of our abilities. We have great guys in the room. We have very good teammates, we’re all really good to each other and we love playing with each other. There are no issues in that sense, but I think you can just see watching us out there that some guys weren’t playing with the hunger that they used to have. I think that was obvious. The majority of this is all on the players.”
Doughty on if this year’s team wasn’t as tight-knit as the Cup winning teams – “No, I don’t know where you would hear that. I know you guys want to think we were some tight-knit group in ‘12 and ‘14, but it was no tighter than it is now, I’ll guarantee you that.”
Doughty on which of this year’s Western Conference playoff teams was the toughest to play against – “Winnipeg”
We need somebody to kick our ass – Doughty on the type of the coach the LA Kings need
— The Mayor John Hoven (@mayorNHL) April 8, 2019
Doughty on Kovalchuk, as a teammate and controversy – “he fit in well. HIs specialty isn’t on the defensive side of the puck so i think that’s why we saw how he was utilized.”
— Dennis Bernstein (@DennisTFP) April 8, 2019
One of my key takeaways from today's exit interviews…
Drew Doughty was impressive.
It wasn't the funloving Drew,, spewing soundbites like a lyrical wizard. This was Drew leading from the front. Owning things, and caring. Very powerful.
— The Mayor John Hoven (@mayorNHL) April 8, 2019
GM Rob Blake, Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter and others also took part in the exit interview sessions with media members at TSC. We’ll have more from their sessions up later. Until then, you can view key highlights by visiting the twitter link below.
Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or interviews from this site please remember to include a link to www.MayorsManor.com
About John Hoven
Good stuff ; thanks; I was pleased with his comments.