Brown 'very deserving' to have No. 23 retired, statue unveiled by Kings

Dustin Brown
was summoned to a meeting with Los Angeles Kings brass after they were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season. There, team president Luc Robitaille informed the newly retired forward that not only were they retiring his No. 23, they were building a statue in his honor.

A stunned Brown asked Robitaille what other Kings statues were in front of Crypto.com Arena.
That would be Robitaille and Wayne Gretzky.
"I go, 'Oh boy,' " Brown said. "Luc being Luc, he made me feel a lot better about it because as soon as I said that, he said, 'Well, 'Brownie,' you did something me and Gretzky didn't do in LA.' So, it was one of those things, I felt very overwhelmed, but Luc found a way to make me feel semi-OK with it, I guess."
Indeed, Brown was a big part of the 2012 Kings, who won the first Stanley Cup in Los Angeles history, and the 2014 team that won it again. Now he'll be honored inside and outside the arena when the Kings host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday (10:30 p.m. ET; BSW, ATTSN-PT, ESPN+, SN NOW).
This is the latest honor for Brown. Since Monday, a 3D billboard featuring Brown lifting the Stanley Cup has been displayed at the corner of South Figueroa Street and West Pico Boulevard, about a block away from Crypto.com Arena.
"I think that's a big part of why this is all happening for me is I was part of a group of players that changed the culture and the team here in California and LA," the 38-year-old said of winning the Cup twice. "We kind of set a new standard for this organization."
Brown was part of a nucleus that included center Anze Kopitar, defenseman Drew Doughty and goalie Jonathan Quick, who each has been with the Kings his entire NHL career. Kopitar described the quartet as a brotherhood. Quick's description was close to that.
"We're family. I think that kind of sums it up, yeah. Family," Quick said. "We all kind of grew up with each other, right? Like everybody, we played together, got married and had their kids. We all just kind of grew up together, so we've been very, very fortunate to have that group, that constant that's always been around."
Brown may be surprised about having a statue made of him, but others understand why he's getting that accolade, as well as any other.
"OK, how about this: Why is he not deserving?" Kopitar said. "Give me one reason why he wouldn't be. I can't find a reason why he wouldn't be.
"And getting all the attention, which he absolutely hates, but we've got to give it to him, and so very deserving. What he's done around here, it'll be tough to replicate, if it's even possible."
Selected by Los Angeles with the No. 13 pick in the 2003 NHL Draft, Brown had 712 points (325 goals, 387 assists) in 1,296 games with the Kings. He's their all-time leader in games played and was their captain from Oct. 8, 2008, to June 16, 2016. He also had 49 points (19 goals, 30 assists) in 92 playoff games.
Brown announced his retirement April 28, just prior to the Western Conference First Round, where the Kings lost to the Edmonton Oilers in seven games.
"Coming into something like this, you think about how fortunate we all were to be his teammate for as long as we were," Quick said. "And there's just so many stories and memories and things he did on the ice, off the ice that you just kind of sit around with guys that we all played with, and one guy tells a story and then just kind of snowballs from there.
"Obviously, the past week, we've gone through a lot of memories of what he's meant to us personally, our families, and at the end of the day I think that's the biggest thing that I'll always remember him for is just family. Right from Day One, he accepted everybody that came into this locker room and treated everybody like family, him and (wife) Nicole, and that's for sure what I will remember most out of him."
Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane has been familiar with Brown throughout his NHL career. He was Brown's teammate with the United States at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and 2014 Sochi Olympics. He also faced Brown when the Blackhawks met the Kings in the Western Conference Final in 2013 and 2014. Chicago won the first in five games, Los Angeles the second in seven games.
"He was a guy you had to be aware of when you were on the ice," Kane said. "Some of the biggest body checks came from him and they were a physical team, and he led the way in that regard. He would cut you sometimes when you didn't expect it, maybe even a little late sometimes and run you over, but he was a tough guy to play against."
Maybe someday Brown will work for the Kings; "They've offered me anything I want to do, which I really, really appreciate," he said. For now, however, he'll enjoy time with his four children, who range in age from 9-14.
"I just want to be around for them while they're here because it goes by so quick," he said. "But I've had conversations with the Kings about it and I've been pretty clear that I'm interested, just not right now. It's not the right time for me. I didn't want to retire from playing hockey just so I could come to the rink and not play hockey every day. At least not yet."
NHL.com independent correspondent Dan Greenspan contributed to this report