Anze Kopitar’s recent announcement of this being his final NHL season has already had a seismic ripple across the league, stirring thoughts and emotions from a wide range of current and former teammates.
Right out of the gate, we shared immediate reaction from defensemen Drew Doughty and Mikey Anderson — with one of them nearly in tears talking about how sad he was.
Former linemate Justin Williams also weighed in earlier this evening with some thoughts of his own, preceded by their bench boss from both Cup runs adding his two cents to the conversation.
We now turn to another pair of teammates, including one who arrived before LA’s championship window opened and a different guy who starred as a rookie during the team’s second ring-winning season.
“One of my fondest memories of Kopi was him leading us to a Stanley Cup in 2014 while playing minutes that guys can’t do today,” Tyler Toffoli told Mayor’s Manor.
Like nearly every other Kopitar related story we’ve been hearing today, Toffoli also wanted to chat about what Slovenia’s favorite hockey player is really about when he’s not wearing skates.
“Every time playing in Vancouver, he’d take me and Tanner [Pearson] out to dinner, no matter what,” Toffoli remarked, as he took a stroll down memory lane. “It’s something I’ll always remember. We definitely had some great times back then.”
Before long, reality started to hit. Training camp is upon us, and Kopitar is now preparing for his final games against division opponents, including Toffoli’s Sharks.
“I had an idea this was going to be his last year, but obviously didn’t know for sure,” he said. “It’s going to be emotional playing against him for the last time.”
Which immediately had both of us scrambling to look at the schedule to see when that would be. The Kings and Sharks will meet up three times this season — twice early on, followed by their final game against each other on Jan. 7 in LA. Unless there is some wild scenario where they meet up in the playoffs, that’ll be it. The end of an era.
Going a bit deeper into Kopitar’s history with the Kings, Jarret Stoll arrived in town just as LA’s big center was starting to get his footing as an NHL player. In June 2008, a significant trade with Edmonton brought Stoll and Matt Greene to the Kings — moves that would pay dividends for years. Their compete level made the Kings a real force to be reckoned with and helped drive guys like Kopitar and Dustin Brown to really come into their own.
“I loved playing with him,” Stoll told Mayor’s Manor a few hours after the emotional press conference. “You ALWAYS knew what kind of game Kopi was going to have. And he’s right in what he said today, numbers didn’t matter. To him, in his mind, who cares? He wanted to be a good teammate, cared about being consistent and not wanting to let the team down. He’s like [Jonathan Quick] in that way, with regards to numbers and stats… They just didn’t matter at all to him.”
Similar to those other conversations referenced earlier, Stoll too eventually turned from his past admiration to his current amazement of Kopitar.
“He’s still getting it done all these years later, it’s crazy!” Stoll said, openly in awe of LA’s 38-year-old centerman. “I just looked it up yesterday. Do you know how many penalty minutes he had last year? Four. Four? That says one thing: positioning.”
And it also helps explain Kopitar earning his third Lady Byng Trophy last season. That award was added to his previous collection of two Selke Trophies and a pair of Stanley Cups. Will there be a little more hardware coming his way before calling it a career next spring? Only time will tell.
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EXCLUSIVE: Darryl Sutter Shares Thoughts on Kopitar Retiring
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As a LAKing fan since 1980 when I came to California from Toronto , Canada I was excited when.a fellow Slovenian Anze Kopitar was drafted to LA Kings. I met Anze at El Segundo trading camp and spoke with him in Slovenian.
Matt Stagen who played for Toronto & Calgary had his Mom & Dad which I new from my time in Toronto introduced Anze Father & Mom to me at a Kings game and became friends.
Anze you deserve everything you got and will be getting and will miss you on the LA Kings after this year. Hope to see you and your Davon our next visit to Slovenia!!!!