EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Kings captain Anze Kopitar announced Thursday that he will retire after the upcoming season, ending a remarkable 20-year NHL career spent entirely in Los Angeles.
The 38-year-old made the announcement at a news conference alongside his family following the first practice of training camp.
“My mind is made up,” Kopitar said. “It was a hard decision, and I will put 100% of my energy into this season. I know I’m going to give it all and leave the game with a positive mindset.”
The Slovenian center has spent his entire hockey career and adult life with the Kings since making his NHL debut as a teenager in October 2006. Throughout his career, Kopitar has been recognized as a five-time NHL All-Star, a two-time winner of the Selke Trophy awarded to the league’s best defensive forward, and a three-time recipient of the Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanlike play.
Most notably, he was a star power forward on both of the Kings’ Stanley Cup-winning teams in 2012 and 2014. He is the second-leading scorer in franchise history and expressed pride in the rare accomplishment of spending an entire lengthy career with one team.
“For me, I always looked at LA as my team, as my home,” Kopitar said. “We always felt extremely comfortable here, so it didn’t really cross my mind to even think or explore going anywhere else. Obviously the fact that we were the first team to bring the Cup to LA makes it special, and then to follow it up with another one, those are the core memories that you can’t just ignore. Even sometimes when times were a little bit rough and we didn’t have a very competitive team, those memories and the guys around you that have won with you before — those are the reasons I didn’t think about going anywhere else.”
Kopitar remains an elite player, having recorded 21 goals and 46 assists last season. However, he said he wants to spend more time with his wife and soon-to-be-teenage children, and plans to move his family back to Slovenia.
“We have a figure skater and a hockey player on our hands, so I want to be present for them, to be at their competitions and their games,” he explained.
With 1,278 career points, Kopitar ranks 40th in NHL history and is just 29 points shy of surpassing Marcel Dionne as the Kings’ leading scorer. He also holds the franchise record for games played with 1,454 and led the Kings in scoring in 15 of his first 19 seasons.
Kopitar has served as the Kings’ captain since 2016 and emphasized his desire to prioritize the team in making his retirement announcement.
“When asked why he chose to announce now, Kopitar said, ‘I guess a simple way to put it is I want to get this out of the way now so I’m not a distraction for the team. For example, if we’re in a playoff fight coming down the stretch, the last thing I want is to take any attention away from the team and put it on myself. I just felt this is the best time.’
“That said, I am really looking forward to this next season. I still have a lot of motivation, energy and desire to compete at the highest level. The moves we’ve made this offseason make me believe we’re a better team than last year, and I just can’t wait to get going.”
New general manager Ken Holland has made several additions to a roster that returns most of the core from a team that tied two franchise records last season with 48 wins and 105 points. The Kings have reached the playoffs in four consecutive seasons but have fallen to Edmonton in the first round each time.
Kopitar’s announcement came just hours after the Los Angeles Dodgers revealed that left-hander Clayton Kershaw will also conclude his lengthy career this season. Kershaw joined the Dodgers in 2008, two years after Kopitar arrived in LA.
“Must have been something in the universe for us to decide to do it on the same day,” Kopitar said with a laugh, referring to his friend Kershaw.