Kings' Drew Doughty Makes Bold Proclamation for His Future

Los Angeles Kings defenceman Drew Doughty

Having just completed his 18th year as a Los Angeles King, 36-year-old defenseman Drew Doughty has made a bold proclamation about his future. Not only does he want to finish his career in L.A., he wants to do so with the 'C' on his jersey.

"I want to stay in Los Angeles for rest of my career." LAK Drew Doughty.

- Admits performance this season was below his standard and needs to raise it.

- Does not have answers on why team can't get past 1st round.

- Has not had conversion with management about an extension.
— Dennis Bernstein (@DennisTFP) April 29, 2026

Doughty did not have his best season, though he still logged over 23 minutes of ice time per night. His 23 points in 72 games is far below his established standards, and the 76 shots he blocked are also far below the 100+ he used to register in full seasons. The same goes for his 52 hits.

But he didn't shy away from that in his exit interviews with the media, and said he needs to raise his performance. Doughty has one year to run on his $11M AAV deal. There have been no discussions yet on an extension.

“I want to stay in L.A. for the rest of my career until I retire, but I understand that my performance this season wasn’t as good as it needs to be, and I expect to bring it back up next year,” Doughty said.

Doughty wants to be the next LA Kings captain

He also admitted, with Anze Kopitar sailing off into the sunset, that he would like to inherit the Kings' captaincy.

“I’d love to be captain of this team. It’s something, I guess, when I was younger, something I never thought of. And I kind of grew into a leadership role, and now it’s something I cherish, and it would mean the world to me to be a captain.”

Doughty has been an alternate captain since 2015-16.

In 1,279 career games, he has 709 points, 1,693 blocked shots and 2,072 hits.