2025 Kings Seasons In Review – Drew Doughty

Finalizing those on the right side is defenseman Drew Doughty. Typically, would not do a separate story for a player who missed a large portion of the season with an injury, but considering Doughty’s status with the organization and the uniqueness of his situation this season, I pulled him out of the partial NHL seasons to include here.

Drew Doughty
LAK Statline – 30 games played, 4 goals, 13 assists, +9 rating, 20 penalty minutes
LAK Playoff Statline – 6 games played, 1 goal, 3 assists, -7 rating, 6 penalty minutes
NHL Possession Metrics (Relative To Kings) – CF% – 50.1% (-4.8%), SCF% – 49.6% (-4.9%), HDCF% – 50.3% (-4.3%)

After fracturing his ankle during his first game of the preseason, Doughty did not make his regular season debut until late-January. It took him some time to get up to speed and by his own admission, he was never really at 100 percent throughout the course of the regular season. More on Doughty’s season below, as he skated in 30 regular-season games in total, in addition to all six games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Trending Up – In September, Doughty suffered a major injury, which cost him nearly the first four months of the season. The work he put in to get back into the lineup by the time he did was extremely impressive. It was always a bit of a moving timeline, but it was a priority for Doughty to get back in action this season and contribute. He was able to do so and get back before the 4 Nations Faceoff, even if not at 100 percent, and he performed well in that event. He was actually one of the better defensemen on a Canadian team that was star-studded and won the tournament. That he did so was quite impressive. Doughty said that playing in the 4 Nations was helpful for him and sped up his process of getting back up to speed more rapidly than he might have otherwise, as opposed to something that negatively impacted his return.

From the trade deadline through the end of the season, Doughty ranked second in the NHL in goals against per/60 in 5-on-5 situations, trailing only his teammate, Vladislav Gavrikov. In more than 300 minutes played in that span, Doughty was on the ice for just five goals against, compared to 12 for. In looking at his entire season in total, when paired specifically with Mikey Anderson, that duo allowed just 1.02 goals against per/60 minutes. Among defensive pairs with at least 250 minutes played together, that was the third best clip in the NHL this season. When placed in his usual spot, the Kings pretty much did not allow goals against with Doughty on the ice. Plus, if you look at his season-over-season numbers, Doughty’s goals against per/60 this season was 1.7. Last season? 1.7. Pretty steady on that front. In that category, Doughty’s numbers looked good not only compared to last season, but actually ranked in the upper-echelon of his career to date.

From an offensive perspective, Doughty continued to do what he always seems to do – quiet yet effective production. Doughty scored four goals and tallied 17 points in 30 games. Over an 82-game season, that equates to 11 goals and 47 points, which would have comfortable led the Kings offensively among team defensemen. The assist total would have mirrored his 2023-24 campaign, when he played 82 games, with the goals and points slightly lower. He added four points (1-3-4) from six playoff games, again leading all Kings defensemen. Doughty doesn’t typically get a ton of love for his offensive production but he’s been either at, or on pace for, 45-50 points over each of the last five seasons. Solid numbers on a team that doesn’t get a ton of production from its defensemen and steady production should always be welcomed.

Trending Down – Some similarities here to Mikey Anderson’s article over the weekend. In the playoffs, Doughty was on the ice for eight goals against at 5-on-5, tied for the most on the Kings during the series against the Oilers. Doughty wasn’t at 100 percent in that series and I think that is well-documented. While his usage was scaled back in some ways, notably on the power play, his usage at 5-on-5 was what it usually was. His most common two opponents at 5-on-5 were Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and both his offensive-zone start rate and offensive-zone faceoff rate were below 25 percent, meaning he was starting with an uphill battle in a lot of situations. Those things, though, are what top-pairing defensemen are paid to do in the playoffs and Doughty himself wouldn’t question them. In essence, Doughty was utilized in a way that expected him to be the best version of himself, which is to defend against those players and neutralize them. Whether due to injury, performance, circumstance or what have you, his defensive results didn’t hit the threshold of what those expectations were in the postseason.

It’s hard to quantify a lot of things on the negative side regarding Doughty’s season because you have to ask the question of why. It’s not that there weren’t negatives and things this season that did not meet the standards of Drew Doughty but how much of them came down to a player who was adjusting to not being 100 percent as he worked his way back in? How much came down to a player who basically didn’t practice for two months during the regular season? Overall, his numbers shown at the top are well below his career metrics. His goals against totals were almost identical to last season but in terms of chances against, the numbers were much higher in comparison to what we saw last season or really at most other times throughout his career. Ultimately, it’s the goals against that matter but the chances that you can better use to forecast year-over-year. That’s the area of concern, where last season was an outlier for a player who has been extremely defensively sound over his career.

I’ll put it like this. Doughty didn’t look like himself for a lot of his time back in the lineup. How much of it was his fault? It was clear that the ankle injury impacted certain areas of Doughty’s game with regard to mobility and as he managed the ankle, he wasn’t able to practice, which by his own admission took away some of his sharpness. He felt his passing, typically a strength, was hard to manage as he never practiced. So, in games, he wasn’t nearly as sharp as he’d have liked to be with the puck. As such, he wasn’t able to do everything he normally does and I think that by watching him, that much was evident. Doughty was still pretty reliable during the regular season, despite all of those factors, and that’s a testament to the caliber of player and athlete that he is. 2025-26, though, can’t have the 2024-25 version of Doughty, not being at 100 percent. Last season, decisions were made to get Doughty back in the fold and everyone accepted the outcome. Heading into next year, the Kings need Doughty back at his best, for a full season.

2025-26 Status – Doughty is under contract for two more seasons at a salary-cap hit of $11,000,000. Doughty estimated that he would have around a month or so of straight rehab to go from the 85 percent (approximately) he was at towards the end of the season back to 100 percent. Then it’s a big summer for him of getting back to ready to go for next season. For those projecting a roster without Doughty on it, I’d say that is very, very unlikely. Wouldn’t expect him to start anywhere besides RD1 come training camp of next season, with Anderson as his most likely partner, and we’ll go from there, assuming he comes back at 100 percent.