EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Drew Doughty was having tests Thursday to determine the severity of a lower-body injury sustained Wednesday, and the Los Angeles Kings were preparing for the possibility of the two-time Stanley Cup-winning defenseman being out for an extended period.
Kings coach Jim Hiller said he believes Los Angeles will be able to navigate the terrain if the 34-year-old were to be sidelined.
“I think we’ve got a lot of good energy going,” Hiller said. “If Drew’s out for some length of time, I think that’s going to be easier to absorb just because of how excited the players are right now. You don’t replace him, you know that, but I think guys feel like we’ve got a good team. And if this is something we have to deal with, we just deal with it.”
Doughty was injured when his left leg slammed into the boards in the first period of a 3-2 preseason win against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Doughty, who tried to play the puck while engaged with Golden Knights forward Tanner Pearson, was eventually helped off the ice by defenseman Mikey Anderson and a trainer.
Doughty was in a protective boot and using a knee scooter at Toyota Sports Performance Center on Thursday.
Anze Kopitar, the Kings captain and Doughty’s teammate since the latter entered the NHL in 2008-09, was alarmed when he saw video of the injury.
“I saw a replay of it, and it’s probably worse on the replay than when it happened live,” said Kopitar, who was not part of the traveling roster in Las Vegas. “Can’t do anything about it now. We know Drew is going to do everything in his power to be back as early as he can be, and (we're) just going to have to play without him for the time being.”
Doughty averaged 25:48 of time per game last season, second in the NHL behind Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson (25:54). Doughty also led all Kings defensemen with 50 points (15 goals, 35 assists) in 82 games, and was tied forward Quinton Byfield for fourth on Los Angeles in assists.
Doughty, who won the Cup with the Kings in 2012 and 2014 and received the Norris Trophy, voted as best defenseman in the NHL in 2016, ranks eighth all-time in scoring for the Kings (669 points; 156 goals, 513 assists in 1,177 games), third in games played, sixth in power play points (297; 80 goals 217 assists) and is Los Angeles' all-time scoring leader at the position.
Selected by the Kings with the No. 2 pick in the 2008 NHL Draft, Doughty ranks fifth all-time for Los Angeles in playoff scoring with 57 points (18 goals, 39 assists) in 95 games. He was third in scoring for the Kings with 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) in 20 games when they won the Cup in 2012 and was fifth for Los Angeles with 18 points (five goals, 13 assists) in 26 games when it won again in 2014.
Doughty, who did not miss a game for five straight seasons from 2014-19, appeared in 460 consecutive games during that stretch, the longest streak in Kings history.
Brandt Clarke, the No. 8 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, and 23-year-old Jordan Spence are the likely candidates to fill Doughty’s spot on the top defense pairing with Anderson.
Clarke, who has eight points (two goals, six assists) in 25 career NHL games, has high upside to his offensive game and is regarded as a possible successor to Doughty as the Kings’ top defenseman.
Hiller said the opportunity for Clarke created by Doughty’s injury would be up to the 21-year-old.
“This year, he’s been a different player,” Hiller said of Clarke. “He’s been a more mature player, and so he’s doing everything that he can control to play more. I’ll never say take the reins off. This guy without the reins, he’d be everywhere, so we will not talk about the reins off. We’ll talk about increasing his role for Brandt.”
Kopitar cautioned it would take more than one player to make up for Doughty’s possible absence.
“You know, the magnitude of 'Dewey' going down, I don’t think it can be just one guy that can shoulder the burden,” Kopitar said. “It’ll be a lot of us that need to step up and pull a little extra weight.”
Los Angeles opens the 2023-24 season at the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 10.
