This past week on Friday (Sep. 19), the question for the Los Angeles Kings was answered whether this upcoming season in the 2025-26 campaign would be a very unique year for the franchise. Anze Kopitar announced last Friday at the team practice facility with the media that the 2025-26 season will officially be his last in his NHL career with the Kings in LA.
Possible early candidates to be the Los Angeles Kings next captain for the 2026-27 season after Anze Kopitar retires next year
Since he was picked in the first round by the Kings in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, Kopitar has been a mainstay in the LA forward lineup. He's been a consistent leader for this team in the locker room and on the ice for the past two decades (since the 2006-07 season).
He's played over 80 percent of the Kings regular season and postseason games every season of his career with the team in LA. Kopitar has scored over 1,2000 total points in his 20 years in the NHL with Los Angeles and over 400 goals for the Kings.
Kopitar has won two Selke Trophies, three Lady Byng awards, and the 2021-22 Messier award for the Kings, along with two Stanley Cup wins in the early-to-mid 2010s.
In the 2016 offseason, the Kings named Kopitar captain after he had served as an alternate captain for LA for the previous eight years (since 2008).
The Kings have barely had over a dozen captains in the history of the franchise, including Dustin Brown and Wayne Gretzky over the past few decades. Since the late 1980s decade, the Kings have only had a half dozen captains for the franchise.
LA will need a new captain for the 2026-27 season. Here are a handful of realistic candidates early on for the Kings who would be good captains for LA.
Adrian Kempe, LW
One of the younger Kings players LA could consider as a realistic candidate potentially to be the next captain from the forward lines is standout left wing Adrian Kempe. Kopitar and Kempe have played together for the Kings' forward lines with the top-six forward group for nearly the past decade in the West (since the 2016-17 season).
Kempe is in the midst of his prime years of production offensively for the Kings. He'll be 29 years old at the start of this upcoming season in the 2025-26 campaign. Assuming the Kings and Kempe agree to a contract extension deal soon this fall, he could be a good leader for the LA core forwards and the younger and more promising players heading into the future for the franchise.
Drew Doughty, D
Among the potential candidates to make the easiest transition for captain from Kopitar next season in the 2026-27 campaign with abundant experience is defenseman Drew Doughty.
Doughty is probably the obvious option for the Kings if the team wants experience and franchise success over the past decade in LA, with multiple years remaining on his contract with two years left. Kopitar and Doughty have played together with the Kings for the past 18 years and won multiple Stanley Cups as teammates in LA since the early 2010s decade.
Mikey Anderson, D
Longtime Kings' defenseman Mikey Anderson could be a viable captain possibility for LA going into the 2026-27 season next year. Anderson has played over 300 career regular season games with the Kings and he has a half-decade remaining on his current contract with LA going into this upcoming season.
Anderson, at just 26 years old, has played over 72 regular season games for the Kings and played at least five postseason games three years in a row for the franchise. He could be a good younger option for the Kings as a new leadership voice in the locker room for the future.