LA Kings: Five most important players for 2021 season

Drew Doughty

When the Kings decided amidst the smoldering wreckage of their 2018-19 season that it was time to rebuild, they put a for sale sign on just about everyone other than Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty.

Those were the two veteran pillars they identified as players they wanted to rebuild around. The Kings wanted them to help bring the young players along and were betting on them still being able to play at a high level when the team was ready to contend again.

So far, Kopitar has held up his end of the deal. Even as the Kings have spent the last two seasons in the NHL’s basement, Kopitar has continued to be one of the game’s premier two-way centers.

Doughty, though, has not played at the same elite level over the last two years that Kings fans had become accustomed to. His offensive production has dipped, his possession metrics have taken a hit, and his minus-50 rating over the last two seasons is the worst of any defenseman in the league.

You can put some blame on the fact that he’s had to log heavy minutes on bad teams, that he hasn’t had great partners, and that the Kings’ blue line just isn’t very good anymore. Especially after trading away long-time staples like Jake Muzzin and Alec Martinez.

When you’re making $11 million per season, though, people aren’t eager to make excuses for you. The Kings will again have a defense corps this year that isn’t very experienced or, frankly, talented.

Regardless, for that kind of money, the Kings are expecting Doughty to be in the Norris conversation year in and year out. He’s still only 31 – two years younger than Kopitar – and with seven seasons still to go on that monster contract, the Kings need him to get back to that level.

For all Doughty’s accomplished in his career, he should be coming into this season feeling like he still has something to prove – that he’s still amongst the game’s elite defensemen.