Teammates, coaches react to Drew Doughty injury, as defenseman undergoes further testing in LA

Tough day in the LA Kings locker room.

Lots of thoughts are with defenseman Drew Doughty, who suffered a lower-body injury last night in Vegas and did not practice today. Head Coach Jim Hiller said after today’s practice that Doughty is undergoing additional testing today and the team should know more this afternoon. It’s obvious that Doughty is hurt. He’s out right now. The ultimate question comes down to for how long. Assume we’ll learn more either this afternoon once his testing is completed or tomorrow when Hiller addresses the media again after practice.

Doughty Update: Sources say #LAKings defenseman Drew Doughty sustained a left ankle injury. Initial quick x-ray showed a fracture, but he's scheduled for additional imaging today. Hope is that it is only a fracture and not additional structural damage.

Timeline TBD.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) September 26, 2024

First and foremost, there was a lot of concern with regards to Doughty. And rightfully so. He’s the team’s number-one defenseman and a key figure in the locker room. He’s the most vocal leader on the blueline and he’s someone that teammates look up to for leadership and guidance off the ice, along with high-level play on the ice.

“It sucks,” defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “Anyone getting hurt, on either team, you don’t want to see it but when it’s someone on your own team, especially Dewy, who is a big part of the room, plays a lot of minutes, it sucks. Hoping everything can come around quick, but it’s a big loss for sure.”

Anze Kopitar was not playing last night and didn’t see the play live, but certainly saw it replayed.

“I didn’t see it live, I saw the replay, and it was probably worse on the replay than when it happened live,” Kopitar said this morning. “Very tough situation, but stuff like that happens. We have to slightly adjust, Drew’s a big part of it, but we have to look ahead. We know Drew’s going to do everything in his power to be back as early as he can be.”

As both players said, there doesn’t seem to be a ton of certainty as of today on how long Doughty might be out of the lineup for. Certainly doesn’t seem overnight though.

As Tanner Jeannot and Warren Foegele spoke to last night, and Kyle Burroughs added in the room today, it’s just a tough situation for those in the room. Players are concerned and coaches are concerned.

“On our bench, I caught some of our veterans players to see, to see their gestures physically, how emotional it was to see Drew leave like that and I made a mental note of that,” Jim Hiller said after today’s practice. “Personally, you can see how much the guys care, because it was just not fake emotion, I noticed it and the guys are disappointed. They’re pros, they go on, the show always goes on, they’ll have to gather themselves and go on.”

The show has to go on. For it to matter when Doughty does return, the Kings have to pull together as a group and move forward heading into Opening Night.

Hiller added that he is leaning on his left-shot defensemen to try and replace the vocal leadership that Doughty brings. The players behind Doughty on the depth chart are younger in Jordan Spence and Brandt Clarke. They’ll focus on playing and they’ve got the offense to their games to help in that areas but adding a leadership burden would be a lot. You can hear Drew from anywhere in the building. He’s not shy of being vocal on the ice and he isn’t shy off the ice either.

Joel Edmundson is the most senior of the group, with over 500 career NHL games, while Vladislav Gavrikov is over 350 and Mikey Anderson is approaching 300. Anderson is a leader beyond his years, but it can’t be one player to step up and fill those voids.

“I caught Mikey and Gavy after practice, and brought Joel Edmundson in there too, if Drew’s out for any length of time, those three become even more important,” Hiller said. “They’re clearly important on the ice, but Drew is a very vocal leader and so that slack would have to be picked up between the three of them with their experience. That would be the group of three I think we would lean on back there.”

Photo by Zak Krill/NHLI via Getty Images

When speaking with Kopitar, the team’s captain, he pointed to filling the void in the collective.

Doughty is arguably the team’s hardest player to replace, with the role that he plays and the quality he brings. That complicates things quite a bit.

“The magnitude of Dewy going down, I don’t think it can be just one guy that can shoulder the burden,” Kopitar said. “It’ll be a lot of us to step up and pull a little extra weight.”

For Anderson, who is vocal beyond his experience, he views the situation as a collective.

“We’ve Eddy, obviously, he’s won and he’s been around Gavy and Burrs have been around the league for a while, so we’ve got enough guys that have been around to try and bring Clarkie and Spenny along and keep learning,” Anderson said. “However long he’s out, we’ll try and make up for everything he brings, but obviously it’s a tough shoe to fill, but we’ll try our best to collectively do it.”

In terms of Day 1 today after the injury, Burroughs was the defenseman who replaced Doughty on the top defensive pairing alongside Anderson. Burroughs has played in the NHL before, playing 73 games last season in San Jose and just shy of 200 for his career in the league.

While Burroughs is the right-shot defenseman coming from the press box, he’s not expected to just step in and log Doughty’s role, even thought he did exceed 25 minutes during last night’s preseason game, with Spence playing 27. Anderson said he met Burroughs coincidentally last season during the NHL All-Star break in Hawaii. So they’re already vacationing buddies. On the ice, there is experience for Burroughs to draw on too, as Anderson noted.

“He’s played enough, he’s been playing pro for a while, so he gets the league, the way it goes,” Anderson said of Burroughs. “I actually met him last year in Hawaii when he was on All-Star break, which is kind of funny, but he fits in with the group. He’s a good guy and he’s always trying to learn.”

Burroughs would’ve certainly preferred this opportunity to come in a different way.

Everyone would.

As Hiller said, though, the show has to go on. While we don’t know an exact timeline for Doughty’s return, he’s out right now. Burroughs is going to try and make the most of the opportunity in front of him on a day-to-day basis.

“You obviously don’t want it to happen that way, it’s Drew Doughty and nobody wants him on the shelf,” Burroughs said today. “There’s chances for people to step up and you’ve got to be a deep team to be a good team. For me to get chances, maybe some more touches, more ice, have more of an impact on the game, it’s something that I don’t want to wander away.”

More on Burroughs tomorrow, with a bit of a profile on the kind of player the Kings can expect to see.

We await formal wording on how long the Kings might be without Doughty for. As Hiller said, Doughty’s testing is ongoing and we should get a better sense of the damage after that. We know it won’t be overnight, though. The Kings progress on for now without their leader on the blueline. He’s not a player the Kings can just replace, but they’ll have to try their best, with Opening Night 14 days away.