Recapping The 2025 LA Kings Dads Trip

It’s been a few days since the 2025 Los Angeles Kings’ dads’ trip wrapped up.

The wheel keeps turning, of course.

Drew Doughty made his season debut one game after the second of two games the fathers (plus one brother and a grandfather) attended on what was the first Kings’ dads’ trip since the pandemic.

The team continues to struggle to score and I know the dads would have been watching losses in Florida and Tampa the same way they watched them in-person in Columbus and Detroit, anxiously. Perhaps a bit of reprieve last night after the win over Carolina.

I can’t remember which of the dads that remarked on this but he said you can always tell when one of the dad’s boys was on the ice from their body language, the way they tensed up and gripped the railing or seat in front of them a little harder.

Because Drew Doughty hadn’t yet been activated from IR, Paul Doughty was a little at loose ends during the games. He made sure dads whose kids were playing had good seats with good vantage points and he sometimes sat watching on the television monitor.

It wasn’t that he didn’t care but he knew the moments mattered more to dads whose boys were on the ice trying to bring home a win.

On the night of the first game, in Columbus, Paul saw a ‘Doughty’ Kings jersey across the arena and made good on a promise to go and seek them out and introduce himself to them.

It was kind of a mission for him.

He knew it would be meaningful for the fans and as it turns out Paul met with half a dozen or so Kings fans, most from the Los Angeles area.

Here are a few other random yet inexorably linked thoughts on what was a memorable trip.

Kevin Fiala brought his grandfather, Jan.

Jan speaks almost no English and yet was an integral part of all of the events the Kings had lined up for the group even if he may not have been able to understand some of what was said.

In fact, I recall Anze Kopitar’s father, Matjaz, making his way back to Jan’s seat on the fathers’ bus heading to Nationwide Arena after a pre-game event to make sure that Jan understood the instructions for when they arrived at the arena and headed to the suite arranged for the group.

That is a veteran taking care of a younger player.

Every time Jan greeted Kevin Fiala, whether it was after a skate or a game, he gave his a nice grandfather kiss on the cheek.

It was fitting, perhaps, that it was Fiala that opened the scoring in Detroit and Jan was immediately besieged by the rest of the dads with hugs and high fives.

Jan’s smile and the joy he obviously felt at being there with his grandson crossed all language barriers.

Many of the dads coached their boys early on in their respective hockey lives.

It’s a bit of a double-edged sword coaching a child (or in some cases teenager) that is destined to play in the NHL.

It was interesting to hear how carrying on that dual role, coach and dad, didn’t come without its pain on both sides of the equation.

I appreciated my conversations with some of the dads who were very candid about the good and the bad of that.

Kahlil Thomas, Akil Thomas’s father, is still a coach, actually.

He recently moved to Southern California where he works with the Junior Ducks program.

“Just moving here (to California) was a win-win,” Kahlil said.

Kahlil was a long-time semi-pro hockey player. He grew up in Toronto and at one point was the Central Hockey League playoff player of the year in 2002-03.

This was his first dads’ trip and even though Akil is still working his way into an everyday NHL player, the elder Thomas couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

“You see these guys on the ice and that’s how you see them, but then when you get to know them it’s just something much different and you get to know them personally and it just brings everything together with how they play, too,” Thomas said. “Oh, that person I knew he was that kind of person or no, oh wow he surprised me.”

It’s funny but Thomas said he wasn’t at all nervous about meeting the other dads but he did get a bit star-struck when he met Adrian Kempe.

And he laughed at how he felt a bit the same way some time ago when he first met Quinton Byfield.

“I was all nervous all of a sudden and I don’t know why it was just a natural thing to happen,” Thomas said.

Of course, now he’s met not just Byfield but his personable father, Clinton, and the families have developed a strong connection.

Not only is he back working with young hockey players, but Kahlil is now close enough to have Sunday dinners with his oldest son when the Kings’ schedule permits and the two have fallen into a comfortable rhythm.

“This is a new chapter in his life,” Kahlil said of Akil. “Every chapter we’ve gone through, AAA hockey we’ve gone through, junior hockey, we’ve gone through that, World Juniors, we’ve gone through, so now this is a new chapter.”

“It’s his first year and there’s a lot of work to be done as a young player, right?” he added. “Off and on the ice. Mentally, physically the whole nine yards but I’m still his dad, I’m still hard on him at times. Keep consistent in his play because at the NHL level that’s what it is, who’s the most consistent.”

But one thing Thomas isn’t anymore is Akil’s coach.

He had coached him at the AAA level with a team in Florida.

“There came a time when I had to stop coaching him and just be his dad,” Kahlil said. “I think you can only learn a certain amount from me and then I had to hand him off to somebody else and get knowledge from somebody else. It was just a mutual thing.”

In the end it was a frank discussion about what Akil needed and wanted from his father as opposed to what he wanted and needed from his coach.

“I learned that pretty early on that he just wanted a dad not a coach in the car or at home or in the rink,” Kahlil said.

It’s a lesson he tries to share with other dads as he continues his own hockey journey as a coach and instructor with young players in California.

“I talk to a lot of dads about that about my experiences with Akil and how it took him to have a one-on-one meeting with me about that, to point that out. And when your own child comes to you with a concern like that you’ve got to look yourself in the mirror and say yeah, I messed up here. So, yeah, no more coaching,” Kahlil said.

Both father and son agree their relationship is at a different level now.

Better. Stronger.

“One hundred percent,” Kahlil said. “He probably gets it enough from his coaches while he’s here why would you want to hear that on the phone right? He just wants a dad. And when things are not going well, he needs support. This is what I did when I played or try this or I give him a lot of advice especially when he’s going through adversity.”

Akil described how he wanted to follow in his father’s hockey footsteps growing up but acknowledged that meant when his father was coaching him the expectations were higher.

“It was a challenge growing up. Obviously when you know what it takes to get to the next level, you’re going to be hard on your son who wants to do that,” Akil said. “But it’s been a cool way to see his development as a dad, too, and recognize things like that and his willingness to work on it it’s kind of made our relationship a little bit closer.”

As for having dad down the road, that, too, is a bonus.

“It means a lot just knowing that there’s family right around the street, it kind of helps you feel a little less homesick because in a way L.A. is my home now where I have family and stuff like that so that’s pretty special,” Akil said.

We call this a dads’ trip because that’s ostensibly what it is.

But as noted with Jan Fiala’s presence on this trip, there are occasional outliers.

Then there’s Joel Edmundson’s older brother, Jesse.

Jesse is two years older than Joel and he looks, like his veteran defenseman brother, like he’d just as soon put you through a wall as explain pleasantries.

But looks are deceiving. And there is something more than a little tender about Jesse’s presence on this trip.

Let’s go back a bit.

The Edmundsons hail from Brandon, Manitoba. But their dad, Bob, was a huge Montreal Canadiens fan.

Although he’d crisscrossed the continent following Joel’s career – a career that included a Stanley Cup win in St. Louis in 2019 and a very special time with the Stanley Cup in Brandon – there was great excitement when he was traded to Montreal in September of 2020. Bob had been a lifelong Canadiens fan and so the fit was a good one as far as the family was concerned.

Joel was part of a surprise run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021 with Montreal as the league reorganized during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The next January, Bob, died after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 61.

Bob had the chance to join Joel on several fathers’ trips, mostly in St. Louis. And the boys’ mother got a chance to join other moms on several trips as well.

But starting last year, when Joel was in Washington, Jesse joined his younger brother on these trips.

“I think it’s exactly what I thought,” Jesse said. “Mainly because of all the stories I’ve heard already. But it’s amazing just to see what goes into everything. And more or less all behind the scenes. Like even the training staff and the equipment guys. The hard work they have to put in. You don’t see that from the outside, right?”

Jesse, who is in construction management, jokes that if Joel ever did a similar trip to join him at work, he’d have to get used to wearing a toolbelt.

It’s natural, of course, but over the years brothers grow up and move to different cities. Joel, especially, has seen his fair share of NHL cities – he’s on his sixth since the Blues selected him in the second round in 2011.

Jesse is based outside Vancouver.

“We’re pretty close,” Jesse said. “Obviously as we grew up, you sort of go different ways. You know, you sort of lose some of that, but we’re still close. We talk every couple weeks now, I’d say. Which is pretty good because we’re both very busy people, right? So, I think him having, you know, a newborn, too, that helps a lot. We talk more about that, too.”

Since the death of their father, though, these trips have reaffirmed that bond and it has given the brothers a chance to reconnect through their father in many ways.

“It means a lot,” Jesse said. “And I think it also helps us just remember who he was. Because he loved this, he was the life of the party here, that kind of guy. So, it helps us both have that in the back of our mind, too. That’s very cool.”

One of my favorite parts of talking to Dave Moore, Trevor Moore’s dad, is how easily he shattered all the misconceptions or ideas you might have about being a California hockey family.

Like how he had a backyard rink for his kids to play on. True story.

So, yes, the Moore’s backyard rink in Thousand Oaks might have had a different look and feel to the one that, say, Gerry Anderson built and which Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson skated on in Roseville, Minnesota, but it was real nonetheless.

That it was actually a roller rink means nothing.

Dave Moore’s father was from Montreal but moved to California where Dave grew up playing youth hockey in the area. He played club hockey at college against other California schools including USC and UCLA. He still plays beer league hockey and recently returned from a tournament shortly before the LA Kings dads’ trip.

“When Trevor was born, couldn’t wait to get him a pair of rollerblades and we did. And he started on roller at four years old. We had a rink in our backyard, basically, a small sports court,” Moore explained.

Moore actually coached Trevor’s roller hockey team and sometimes the team would come over for some additional practice time at the Moore’s backyard rink.

“Spent a lot of time out there. And then we got him on the ice, and he just loved it. And that was it,” he added.

It’s one thing to be a hockey dad – in California or anywhere else for that matter – and see your son or daughter go off to college and get to play at that level, and that was the case for the Moore family when Trevor spent three years at the University of Denver.

But when it looks like there might be more, well, that’s a whole other thing.

“Yeah, it was just surreal,” Moore said.

That’s why listening to Kings head coach Jim Hiller during the dads’ trip resonated with Moore. Hiller talked about how the skill in the NHL is a given but it’s the physical and mental commitment that sets players apart.

“He said the difference between these guys is not skill. It’s the hard mental anguish they go through, and it’s so true. What he did in the AHL (American Hockey League) to get to where he’s at now is just, I mean, I could have never have done it,” Moore said of Trevor.

“So, I can’t be more proud of him for what he’s been through. It’s just been a dream come true,” Moore said.

Well, actually the real dream come true was getting traded to Los Angeles where Moore has been watching Kings games his whole life.

“I’ve had those season seats my whole life. (Trevor) was a child when they were winning the Stanley Cup when we were at the games,” Moore said. “He was with me many times as a child, riding on the Zamboni. Yeah, as a kid, yeah. It’s a crazy story.”

So, what was it like to hear that, or the first time since Trevor became a pro hockey player, Dave was going to get a chance to join the dads’ trip?

“When my son told me this was happening, I think he was as excited as I am, because he knew how excited I would be,” Moore said with a laugh. “I said, I won’t miss this for the world. And it’s just been nothing short of amazing.”

“It’s tough meeting everybody all at the same time. But what a great bunch of dads,” Moore said.

Another hockey convention that Moore helped deconstruct is the long post-game or post-practice car ride that seems to evoke memories of snowy nights in Saskatchewan and Sweden or Minnesota.

But that experience was no different for the Moores, who spent countless hours ferrying Trevor, who is the middle of three children (one older and one younger sister) to and from hockey events from their Thousand Oaks home.

“Absolutely. Absolutely. And yes, you’re right, many hours,” Moore, who runs a large concrete company, said with a laugh.

“We had to travel very far for practice, and I had not much else to do except sit there and watch for four or five hours. But I have a passion, and I liked it a lot, and never regretted it,” he said.

It was interesting to get head coach Jim Hiller’s perspective on the dads’ trip, his first as an NHL head coach.

First, stepping back from the coach perspective, Hiller said he was just happy to be connected to the trip as someone who is part of the NHL machinery.

“Just for being somebody that’s fortunate to be in the NHL and working in the NHL I think one of the greatest things is being able to share that with other people,” Hiller said.”Whether it’s your direct family like we have here with our fathers, or extended family or friends, I just think it’s one of the greatest privileges is to be able to share that with people. Because everybody holds it in such high esteem and it seems so far away for most of us. That to get a chance to touch it even if it’s just one short I think it’s special,” Hiller said.

As a coach, even though the dads’ presence didn’t yield points in the standings, the vibe and the feeling around the team was undeniable.

“There’s just a buzz around the rink. There’s no way we could recreate that otherwise,” Hiller said. “Again, I think it’s one of the best things that teams have adopted. I really do believe that sharing the energy, the pride the players have, the pride the fathers, have you can see it and feel it and that is really, really cool.”