Eager Doughty prepares for eventual return

It happened on such an innocuous play.

First period, divisional rivalry game, potential playoff preview. Drew Doughty was closing a gap on San Jose’s Tyler Kennedy when the Sharks forward backhanded it towards the Kings’ goal. The Los Angeles defenseman made a hard open ice hit, though one that happens over a dozen times in any NHL game. Kennedy, who was steered toward the corner by the contact, was well-balanced and remained on his skates.

“I think it was just kind of the way I hit him is what caused it to happen,” Doughty said of his upper-body injury after Wednesday’s morning skate. “Stuff happens. Sometimes you’re going to make that hit and you’re going to knock the other guy over and he’s the one that’s going to get hit. He seemed prepared for it and it was kind of like hitting a hard wall or something like that. Just bad balance, I’ll make that hit many more times throughout the playoffs and throughout this season. I’m never going to shy away from that hit.”

“When it first it happens, it hurts the most at that point, and I kind of knew something happened. I was trying to decide if I should come back and continue to play that game or not. Obviously I didn’t…Why go out there and make it worse or make it year-ending or something like that?”

Though he resumed skating earlier this week and took part in line rushes today, he won’t play tonight against the Calgary Flames. Had tonight’s game been a playoff game, that might have been a different story. But it’s not, and the scheduling gods smiled kindly upon the Kings, who are locked into the third seed in the Pacific Division and made the most of a three-day gap in the schedule between Sunday and Tuesday.

Would he want to play these final three games of the season, if the decision was up to him?

“I think it’s kind of out of my hands. It’s up to the doctors. It’s up to the coach,” he responded. “Obviously, I don’t want to miss a game, ever. It doesn’t matter what the significance of the game is. It doesn’t matter if we’re not making the playoffs and it’s the last game of the season, I still want to be playing in that game. Of course I want to get back as soon as possible. I’m ready to be called upon whenever they need me and that’s just how it’s going to go.”

And as he prepares to return to the lineup, there are the conditioning skates and the extra work he puts in to be able to hit the ground running in advance of when the competition intensifies. Remaining on the ice alongside Robyn Regehr and Jordan Nolan, he received a robust workout while the rest of his teammates spoke to the media and began trickling out of the arena.

“I’ve maybe only had to do bag skate once in my career,” Doughty said. “I’m not used to that kind of stuff. I don’t like it very much. If it’s on me, I just want to get out of that stuff and play some games.”