Their lockers are cleaned out, the team’s season is officially over, and several Kings’ players spent Wednesday answering questions about what went wrong, what comes next, and who they’ll be without Anze Kopitar. Here’s what stood out.
1. Clarke Views Himself as Part of the Core
Defenseman Brandt Clarke is a restricted free agent this summer, and he made his intentions crystal clear. Conversations with the front office began around the Olympic break but slowed down once the playoff push took priority. Now that the season is over, it’s expected that those talks will pick back up rapidly.
“I want to be here. I love Los Angeles. I love my teammates. I love being in that locker room,” Clarke said with as much authority possible. “That’s what I want, so we’ll just see what happens.”
He left little doubt about what kind of deal he’s hoping for. “I hope it comes to a point where it’s long-term. I want to be here long-term. I want to lock myself in. I want to be part of this core. I’ve expressed that since I got to Los Angeles. My mentality hasn’t changed in that department, for sure.”
2. Laughton Wants to Come Back
Scott Laughton, acquired at the trade deadline from Toronto, will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. Based on his session with the media, his overwhelming preference is to stay in Los Angeles.
“The interest level is high for me, for sure,” Laughton shared. “The opportunity I was given here, the guys, the staff, everyone — the way I was treated.”
He also praised the atmosphere around the team, saying, “The culture is No. 1.”
Laughton slotted seamlessly into the lineup under interim coach D.J. Smith, and ended the season as the leader in faceoff win percentage for the team. Based on his play and his comments, there’s no reason to believe he won’t be returning next year.
3. Panarin Wants More Days Off (and More Offense)
In one of the funnier moments of the day, Artemi Panarin was asked what he would like from a new head coach in order to showcase the best version of himself. His answer was delivered with a wry grin and perfect comedic timing: “More days off.”
While some may feel that downplays the seriousness of the question — especially after being eliminated in four games — the lightness in his answer is a good window into the physical toll the players go through over the course of a season. An 82-game schedule grinds you down, and for Panarin to be at his best next season, he feels he needs to be fresh and ready.
Thus, it was no surprise when the elite playmaker jumped back in to say he’d like the Kings to play a more offensively aggressive style next year — a comment that should carry significant weight given the team’s struggles to score in the Colorado series and throughout stretches of the regular season.
4. World Championships, Anybody?
Four players were asked about the possibility of representing their countries at the upcoming IIHF World Championships being hosted by Switzerland next month. The answers ranged from polite declines to hopeful availability.
Mikey Anderson was complimentary but declined: “Always an honor if you’re able to go and want to go. But it still feels like some things bother me [ed note: health-wise] a little bit. And just a busy summer back home.”
Trevor Moore kept it short: “I don’t think so.”
Darcy Kuemper left the door open, but wouldn’t commit: “I’m not sure yet, at this point.”
And then there was Malott, who — tongue in cheek — delivered the best answer of the bunch: “My phone’s open.”
5. Kopitar Played Through Injury All Season
It was widely suspected but never confirmed until now. Kopitar wasn’t fully healthy throughout 2025-26. And when asked about his own health during exit interviews, Anderson let it slip while praising his teammates’ toughness.
“Kopi too, he battled; I think the whole year he had something wrong,” noted LA’s defenseman. “The fact he played some of those games is impressive.”
Kopitar missed 15 games over the course of the regular season due to a lower-body injury, but apparently in the 67 games played he also had something nagging at him. What that was specifically, we may never know, but for a 38-year-old in his final campaign, that adds another layer to an already remarkable farewell run.
6. Byfield Tore Both Obliques
Quinton Byfield finally put a name to the injury that had limited him in practice for much of the second half. And it was worse than anyone knew.
“I tore my right oblique, and then my abdomen,” said the 23-year-old forward. “After that kind of healed — like in a month’s time — I did the same thing on the other side. So, for the last two months, it was just one oblique and then the other.”
He won’t need surgery and said the injections he received allowed him to push through. Yet here is what makes that reveal truly remarkable: Byfield posted 13 goals and six assists in 24 games over that stretch. Doing that with two torn obliques is a true sign of his toughness and compete, as well as his commitment to a team-first mentality.
7. Laferriere Open to Playing Center. Kempe? Not So Much.
With Kopitar gone and Laughton currently unsigned, the Kings have a massive hole down the middle. Could Alex Laferriere’s trial showing there be the sign of more to come? He split time between wing and center this season. Naturally, the young forward was asked if he’d be willing to take on the role full-time starting in October.
“I’m open to anything,” he stated. “It showed a lot of confidence that the coaches had this year, putting me at center and trusting me to go out there with Juice and Bread. That shows me a lot of trust. … I got more comfortable with it as it kept going on. My whole mindset throughout my career has just been — wherever they put me, wherever they want me to be, I’m going to try to be my best and have a positive impact.”
Kempe, who was originally drafted as a potential center more than a decade ago, was asked the same question but was notably less enthusiastic about the idea.
“It’s hard to say,” began the native Swede. “I’ve been playing wing for so long now that I feel like that is where I’m at my best.”
The contrast was telling. If the Kings are looking for an internal option to slot into a top-six center role next season, Laferriere seemed far more willing to embrace it — and his offseason preparation will likely have to reflect that if the team decides to go in that direction.
8. Kuzmenko’s Future is Unclear
Coming off signing a one-year, $4.3 million contract last July, Andrei Kuzmenko will be a free agent once again this summer. When asked about returning, frankly, it didn’t sound great. With his head tilted down and in a low voice, he remarked, “We’ll see.”
It’s a difficult situation for the beloved Russian winger, who missed the final stretch of the regular season due to a torn meniscus and then was thrust into playoff action with virtually no runway. He may find himself a victim of hard decisions made due to limited roster spots among the top-nine forwards and potential cap constraints, as we noted in our offseason preview here.
9. Doughty Wants to Stay and Wants the C
Drew Doughty didn’t leave much room for interpretation during his exit interview. On his future: “I want to stay in LA for the rest of my career until I retire.” On his play: “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.” And on the captaincy: “It would mean the world to me to be captain.”
At 36-years-old, he’s eligible for an extension this summer — and one that can include incentive clauses — but said there have been no conversations with management in that direction quite yet. He was also the only player who answered the captaincy question head-on — both Kempe and Anderson shifted focus to the group when asked the same thing, as we covered here.
10. The Next Step
After five straight years of first-round exits, the question hanging over every session was the same: what has to change?
Nobody had a great answer. And maybe that’s the point.
Panarin offered the most optimistic outlook: “We have a very good team here. Very good depth on the team, such as Laferriere and Byfield. Next year, we’re going to have a lot of good chances to go further.”
Doughty, who has experienced all the playoff ups and downs of the past two decades, was the most honest: “I don’t have the complete answer for you. I guess we have to work our butts off this summer and be better next year. I don’t really have an answer.”
Anderson put the responsibility squarely on the room: “End of the day, we have to find ways to win the games that matter. It’s great you get in, do everything, but year after year now, we just can’t find a way to win when we need to. I think it takes digging deep for everyone, giving a little bit more. Try and learn from it again, but at a certain point, it’s on us.”
And Kempe acknowledged a harder truth about the regular season itself: “I’m disappointed still with the season. I don’t want to say we took a step back, but I feel like in the regular season, we didn’t really get the results that we wanted, or maybe that we had in previous years.”
The common thread was accountability without a clear path forward, and that’s the uncomfortable reality of where this team sits. The Kings are talented enough to make the playoffs every year and competitive enough to keep every game close. But close hasn’t been enough. Five years of one-and-done speaks for itself.
This offseason will bring a new head coach, a new captain, and for the first time in two decades, a lineup without Kopitar. Whether this group can take the lessons from another early exit and turn them into something different — that’s the thing yet to be determined; but it’s the only thing that matters.
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