Longtime NHL defenseman Sean O'Donnell started his pro career in the league with the Los Angeles Kings in the 1994-95 season in the West. O'Donnell played at least 80 regular season games for the Kings in three straight seasons in the late 1990s decade before he was selected by the Minnesota Wild in the 2000 expansion draft.
Going into the 2008 season, O'Donnell was traded from one Southern California rival to another, when the Anaheim Ducks dealt him to the Kings. O'Donnell rejoined the Kings going into the 2008-09 season, which was the early stages of legendary LA center Anze Kopitar's run with the team in his career.
Kopitar was a rising standout and emerging cornerstone to be the face of the franchise for the Kings in the late 2000s decade. He was coming off his first 30-goal and 75-point regular season with the Kings franchise in the 2007-08 campaign in the West.
O'Donnell was one of the veterans the Kings had on the roster going into the 2008-09 season in the Pacific Division who helped to mentor younger rising stars on the team, like Kopitar and defenseman Drew Doughty. He was a key leader and a staple veteran voice in the locker room for the Kings in the late 2000s.
In an interview with Hockey Royalty earlier this week, O'Donnell talked about his leadership role with the Kings and his "downplayed" impact on mentoring Kopitar earlier in his career playing in LA.
"I don’t think so. I mean, I didn’t specifically do anything. He was already a number-one center when I got traded to the Kings. He was a very mature guy for his age."Sean O'Donnell on Anze Kopitar
O'Donnell gives Kopitar a lot of credit for how mature he was as a player and how he was well ahead of his years in terms of being a young and rising leader in the locker room for the Kings in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
The contributions and impact O'Donnell had on the Kings' blue line in the late 2000s and early 2010s helped to plant the seeds for what became five straight postseason runs for LA early in the decade. The Kings had their first 100-point season in over a decade and a half in O'Donnell's second run with the team in the 2009-10 campaign in the West.
"If he picked up anything in the two years that I was there, I’m flattered. But he was just a very quiet guy that didn’t cut corners, that basically played the right way and always did the right thing."O'Donnell on Kopitar
The former Kings veteran defenseman also spoke very highly of Kopitar's mental attitude and development early in his career with the Kings.
Veterans like O'Donnell in the locker were critical to Kopitar's development when he was a younger player early in his career with the franchise in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons.