Kings’ Kopitar Counting Down to Retirement After 20 NHL Seasons

Anze Kopitar is hoping to still be skating in the NHL Stanley Cup postseason next month, and into June.

Hockey has been kind to Kopitar. But, there is still work to tackle. As long as the Los Angeles Kings keep winning, Kopitar’s career remains ongoing. Keep winning, keep skating. It’s that simple. But, the inevitable is right around the rink for the Slovenian. On Tuesday is Game 2 of the postseason’s Round 1 in Denver. On Sunday, the heavily favored Colorado Avalanche took Game 1 at Ball Arena, 2–1.

Way back on Sept. 18, Kopitar made known his intention to retire after the 2025–2026 season. Going out on a Stanley Cup championship team would make Kopitar’s NHL exit that much sweeter.

ESPN.com, on Sept. 18, was in attendance for Kopitar’s meeting with the media when one of the best two-way offensive players ever to play the game announced his decision to step aside in 2026.

“It’s a time and place where you reflect and imagine your postseason path going forward,” Kopitar told ESPN after his announcement. “And yes, I still feel very good on the ice and everything, and I guess my numbers have been pretty good, but I have obviously a family at home that they probably need me just as bad if not more than the guys on the ice.”

Will the NHL miss Kopitar as much as he will miss the 31 teams that he competed against? On April 16 in Calgary, Alberta, the final regular season game for both the Kings and home team Flames, Kopitar received a standing ovation from the visiting crowd at Scotiabank Saddledome. The 3–1 Flames victory held no meaning in the standings as Calgary didn’t qualify for postseason play. When the horn blew, and the third period concluded, Flames players lined up on the ice, in single file, all extending their hands to congratulate the Kings’ captain for his two decades-long career.

Having been drafted by the Kings in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft (11th overall) in 2005, Kopitar has lived up to expectations that he would be a dominant skater. He experienced the hockey euphoria of leading the charge on two Stanley Cup championship teams.

In 2012, heading into the postseason as the No. 8 seed team in the Western Conference, Los Angeles won the NHL championship at the expense of the New Jersey Devils in six games. Playing in all 82 regular season games in 2011–2012, a feat that he would repeat seven times in his career, Kopitar, and defenseman teammate Drew Doughty, were among the key standouts on the team throughout the season. Doughty, 14 seasons later, remains with Kopitar on the Kings’ roster.

The Kings also took home the Stanley Cup in 2014.

After the Kings’ last home game this season, a 1–0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on April 11, NHL.com was present at Cryto.com Arena, as an emotional Kopitar spoke to the fans from center ice.

“And from the bottom of my heart, thank you very much. This has been my home for 20 years,” he said, stopping his speech for a moment to take in the cheers from the crowd. “Thank you to the organization. Thank you to my teammates, our trainers, coaches throughout the year. Thank you guys.”

Kopitar, one of seven active NHL players with 1,200-plus career points, on Sunday in Game 1 with the Avalanche played a key role in the only Kings goal scored. When Los Angeles’ Artemi Panarin scored on the power-play, it was a screen by Kopitar at the top of the crease that allowed the puck to whiz past Colorado’s netminder Scott Wedgewood in the third period. Kopitar’s 19:57 minutes of ice time on Sunday, and the 24 shifts he took, clearly show that endurance isn’t lacking in his game. For Game 2 on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET), taking more than the two shots he initiated on Sunday would go a long way in aiding his teams offense.

As captain of the Kings for the past 10 seasons, it has been Kopitar that has, more times than not, and especially in the lean years of the Kings overall play, rallied his teammates. He explained last fall that he announced that this would be his last season as to avoid any possible distractions to the team, to put an end to what would have been endless questions on his contract status going forward. There would be no conjecture over whether he would or would not be back for September’s training camp.

It’s the here and now, in Denver on Tuesday, and back in Los Angeles when the series shifts west on Thursday, that Kopitar focuses on. Upsetting the Avalanche, and then being in line to continue on in the postseason against either the Minnesota Wild or Dallas Stars, is what holds Kopitar’s attention. Looking back at awards won, and personal goals achieved, such as 1,316 career points, can wait for banquets and ceremonies surely to come. Supporting Kings’ goalie Anton Forsberg on Tuesday will be the priority for Kopitar. If the Kings keep winning, Kopitar could see his NHL days extended into June.

Right now, winning, for Kopitar, has never been more important.