With 11 regular-season games left for number 11, it’s time for the Kings to play for their captain

11 games for 11.

That’s all that’s left in Anze Kopitar’s regular-season career in the NHL.

He deserves a better ending to his career than a dead-rubber Game 82 in Calgary. He is a Hall of Fame player who deserves to go out in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

In order for that to happen, though, the Kings are going to have to start winning some games.

Missed opportunities come in a lot of ways and the Kings have continue to find new ways to experience that feeling. On Thursday of last week, the Kings got every result they needed around the NHL, but could not capitalize, as they lost in overtime. Last night, the Kings needed a win to keep pace, with Nashville and Edmonton both winning, but they fell in a shootout in Calgary.

This is obviously not a new sensation. Last night’s shootout loss to the Flames was record setting, though there were no balloons ordered to celebrate. It was the 18th time this season the Kings have lost in either overtime or a shootout, a mark that only four other teams have reached since the shootout was introduced by the NHL in 2005.

Of the four teams to previously lose 18 games in either overtime or a shootout, only the 2012 Florida Panthers qualified for the postseason. They actually won their division with 18 OT/SO defeats, in a situation sort of similar to the 2025-26 Pacific Division. Florida won its division with 94 points, compared to 109 and 102 in the other Eastern Conference division champions.

The Kings will look to become the second team to qualify with that number of overtime losses but it’s the column two spots to the left that is far more concerning. The Kings have reached overtime in three of their last four games but haven’t won any of those four games. The team that defeated them last night, the Calgary Flames, has 30 wins this season, two more than the Kings. They’re considered out of the race, a season already winding down. Only Chicago and Thursday’s opponent, the Vancouver Canucks, have fewer wins this season than Los Angeles.

To give Kopitar the ending that his career deserves, that’s going to have to change.

The Kings were tied in the third period in each of their last four games, coming against Calgary, Utah, Buffalo and Philadelphia. To go 0-3-1 in those games, with the season and Kopitar’s career on the line, is hard to really fathom. This season has obviously been a disappointment in many ways but Kopitar’s final stretch of games should be a motivator for a team that has conveyed with passion the amount they care for their captain. So many Kings teammates have expressed their love and admiration for Anze Kopitar. It’s authentic and real.

They’ve said it. Now’s the time to show it.

Although missing the playoffs would provide a harsh truth, after a mis-assessment of where this team was at this summer, it should be pretty easy to root for success on Kopitar’s behalf. Considering everything he’s given the organization throughout his storied career, he deserves better.

It would not have been the right decision to simply load up at the trade deadline to push for that chance for Kopitar. Ken Holland wisely did not go that route. The team as it is constructed, however, should still be good enough to be winning more games than they are. There was a real jolt when D.J. Smith took over, stylistically, but the Kings are just 4-4-4 since March 1. Eight losses out of 12. Regardless of what you think of this team’s outlook, it should be better than that, when you factor in that 10 of those 12 games were tied in the third period and the other two games were wins. 2-4-4 in those ten games. The continued inability to lose close games has been an Achilles heel all season long, no more magnified than it is right now.

When Dustin Brown decided to hang up the skates, the Kings didn’t clinch a playoff berth until Game 80. Shortly after, Brown announced his decision to retire to the team before Game 82, with a public announcement later that day. In speaking about his final season, the chance to end in Game 7, not Game 82, was extremely meaningful to Brown. However slim the team’s chances of winning a Stanley Cup were in 2022, it wasn’t zero. Because they qualified. To play in that setting again, for Brown, was extremely meaningful. A champion who went out swinging, with the opportunity to win a playoff series.

Kopitar’s career should end that way too. In pursuit of a Stanley Cup. With the Colorado Avalanche the most likely Round 1 opponent, Los Angeles would be massive underdogs in that matchup. An underdog is a dog in the fight, with the greatest player in franchise history, a first-ballot Hall of Famer, playing in the postseason. Which is where he should be playing.

The alternative is what, a higher draft pick that would help the Kings a bit in the future? It’s not as if the 11th overall pick, as it stands right now, is a guaranteed franchise changer. That would come with a three-percent chance of the number-one overall pick and 6.3 percent chance of a top-three pick. Slim. How large is the gap between 11 and 17, which is where the last-ranking playoff team would select? If it goes that way, the Kings will need a heck of a lot more than one draft pick in the middle of the first round, especially at the expense of giving players who will be here longer-term playoff experience. The juice of finishing poorly isn’t worth the squeeze in this situation. So go win for your leader.

Remaining on the schedule are two games against the Nashville Predators, who have possession of the second wild card position. One game against Edmonton, which sits five points clear in the Pacific Division. One game versus Utah, which is six points ahead in the first wild card position.

The other seven games are against teams on the outside looking in. Seattle is in a similar position to the Kings but the other six games are against teams well out of the race. Clearly losses to Philadelphia and Calgary have shown those can’t be counted on to be victories. But still. The Kings play the Vancouver Canucks, the NHL’s worst team, three times in their final 11 games. If that isn’t six points in the standings, when you’re playing for your captain, the greatest player in franchise history, someone who has received glowing reviews from just about every teammate he has ever played with, then the team is letting that player down. Starts tomorrow night. It’s a must-win game to go home with four points of six on the trip and at least a chance to play your way in on a seven-game homestand.

You want to play for Anze Kopitar. That should come on top of playing for personal pride, for a job next season, for an elevated role now and in the future, for whatever it really is. You go out there and you beat Vancouver. Anything less than that tomorrow is not acceptable. And anything less than that tomorrow sends one of the greatest careers in NHL history closer to a fate that should never have happened.

There’s still time to give Kopitar meaningful games to end his career. The path is pretty simple.

Start winning some games. Two points against Vancouver is a necessary step in that process.

On that note. If you’d like to celebrate Kopitar, sending another reminder here for LA Kings Insider Suite Night on April 2 at Crypto.com Arena!

We have filled the suite, but I am still able to add on tickets beyond just the seated capacity!

For those interested in attending Anze Kopitar Legacy Night, with a pre-game ceremony honoring the captain, tickets are $100 for a ticket in the Insiders Suite! Looking forward to seeing many of you there and hope anyone who is still considering is able to go!

Email me at zdooley@lakings.com for more information.