Ultracompetitive Doughty succeeds at keeping mood light

The ultracompetitive Drew Doughty has a highly skilled game supported by a certain innocence embedded in an enthusiastic on-ice personality. He is a player who will often let the opponent know what he thinks of them and carries with him a predilection to being honest and blunt. Players love playing hockey, and then there is Doughty, who Loves. Playing. Hockey.

“I think you can’t go through 82 games and a whole season of no smiling and business,” Justin Williams said. “You need to have fun with it. Drew, I hope he never loses his youthful exuberance. He rubs off on people because he’s fun to be around. He’s fun to play with. We all have fun together and fun is winning.”

Doughty’s competitive side and penchant to share his mind is often highlighted in practices and morning skates. He yells. He whoops. He will occasionally remind a goaltender that he beat him with a shot in a particular drill.

“I mean, you want guys who have good attitudes. That’s important,” Darryl Sutter said. “We talk a lot about attitude.”

Drew Doughty, on his approach to game day skates:
I think our team, I don’t want to say we’re too serious or anything like that, but definitely the coaches they want there to be a serious element especially on game days and stuff like that. I know me, myself, I don’t perform well under those circumstances. I enjoy being out there with the boys. There is nothing more fun than just hanging out with the guys and messing around on the ice. I enjoy those times and I make the most of them.

Doughty, on scoring on Jonathan Quick in practice:
I love it. I always create a lot of competition with the goalies just because that makes them try a little harder on my shots and it makes it more challenging for me. But at the same time, it’s just bragging rights. I love scoring on them.

Jonathan Quick, on Doughty appearing to have a lot of fun in practice:
That’s Drew. That’s who he is. That’s his personality. Obviously, I think it does go a long way. It’s a long season. It’s a grind and when you get guys like that who are just having fun out there it creates a good atmosphere for everyone to be part of. We’ve got a lot of guys that are like that. He might be on a little bit of the further end of the spectrum, I suppose, as far as that goes. But we do have a lot of guys that joke around and have fun and really try to make it a fun place to be when you come into work every day.

Quick, on whether he gets frustrated when Doughty chirps after scoring a goal:
No, because he hears it too when he doesn’t. It’s back and forth with a lot of the guys on the team.