One of the beautiful things about opening night in every sport is the ability to officially turn the page on any disappointments from the season prior. It’s a chance to start fresh again and optimism is as high as we’ve seen it surrounding the Kings right now.
“I think our d-core is gonna be solid; I really do,” Drew Doughty stated, before pausing somewhat for just a brief moment. You could almost see the wheels turning in his head, as he thought about what he just said and reconfirmed in his mind how much he likes this new look LA Kings defensive group. A smile and a nod quickly followed before he continued.
“It’s different, but for the better,” explained the 35-year-old alternate captain. “In the end, yeah, we’ll miss one really good player, no doubt about it. Spiny too, he’s a really good player. Now, though, this is like a solid six; solid, solid.”
What’s going to make the group so much better than what coach Jim Hiller rolled out the past few seasons?
“Personally, I’ll be way better,” Doughty began, as we dug a little deeper into some of his thoughts heading into the 2025-26 season. “I’m feeling way better, no limitations. I’m able to do everything. It was a long process, but I finally feel like myself. I can move like myself again, and I have the confidence to move like myself. I didn’t have that confidence to be able to push off that side the whole season last year. So that’s a huge difference.”
For the veteran blueliner, it all started to come together about two months ago. To rewind a little further back, he ended up having a second surgery after the playoffs were over. What followed wasn’t a typical hockey player’s summer full of fun and relaxation. Doughty went eight weeks without drinking, without golfing, without having much fun at all. He instead focused all of his attention on getting his body in the best shape possible.
It’s something even Hiller and the coaching staff marveled at once training camp opened.
“I instantly started feeling so much better on the ice,” said Doughty, referring to those mid-summer days when he first started skating again after the second procedure. “It’s a lot different. That’s most of hockey, right? Loading a leg and having to push off. I wasn’t able to really load my leg last year.”
It’s not just his new and improved leg that has Doughty pumped up. He loves the additions of Brian Dumoulin and Codi Ceci, as well.
“Dumo is a veteran guy who understands the importance of talking on the ice,” said Doughty, in easily one of those ‘game recognizes game’ situations. “Him and Clarke looked good together [in camp] too. Dumo is smart, has a good stick, and he’s gonna block shots. He’s good with the puck too. I always thought he was good, playing against him, but he’s looked so [damn] good during camp. Like, really good.”
And before we could even ask, Doughty had already moved on. “Ceci too! Same thing, looks good. Good shape, solid. He’s not gonna make too many mistakes. He’s just gonna be solid defensively and block shots; all those things.”
Up front, the team also signed a guy with the last name Perry — something they almost did in the summer of 2023.
“Awesome, so happy,” Doughty added. “One of my friends for a long time. Always enemies, playing against him. Always going at it, always being a rat; doing things to me. But great for our team. Great for the locker room. He’s a freaking gamer. He comes up in big games, he’s going to play his best. Net front presence; we needed blue paint guys. We only really had [Foegele]. Everybody else was perimeter. Now we have, Pears!”
At any time of the year, one thing you can count on with Doughty is he’ll speak his mind. He wears his heart on his sleeve. And when we asked about expectations for the season, he didn’t hold back.
“The expectation would be Stanley Cup, that’s it,” he said in the most unapologetic way possible. “Like, ‘Oh, get by the first round.’ No! It’s like, go on a f*ucking run, make the Stanley Cup Final, and win the Stanley Cup. That’s what my goal is every year. There were a lot of years there where it wasn’t even possible, but it’s still my f*cking goal. Now, I know it’s this team’s goal. Like, everyone in here believes that. Everyone believed last year how good our team was. Yeah, we failed, but this year we were not going to do that. We’re going to f*cking go deep and be a good team!”
Sounds great, sure. But how do actually put those words into action?
“Killer instinct,” Doughty said; poised to answer that question and finish his thought with extra layers of context. “We had [Edmonton] on the ropes. You go out there and kill. You don’t . You know, it was obvious late in games we were sitting back. We were scared. You have to have that killer instinct. How you change that in a team is just by building confidence throughout the season. Know how good we are, believe how good we are. Yes, we believed in ourselves last year; but, obviously, when you start sitting back, you’re not believing in yourself like you should. We have to work on that; end of games, throughout the season, kill them. Don’t let teams come back. I remember when, a long time ago when we were winning, that was one of our strengths, man. We would lock it down and we would win the game. It didn’t matter. If we can get that, we’re going to be dangerous.”
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