Drew Doughty Wants To Finish Career With Kings

In late June, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Los Angeles Kings would wait until after the 2026-27 season to pursue a contract extension with captain Drew Doughty. At the time, there wasn’t much reason behind waiting, only that General Manager Ken Holland didn’t feel pressure to rush.

A few months later, news broke that Doughty had hired Pat Brisson from CAA Sports to represent him in contract talks. Doughty hasn’t had an agent since his eight-year, $56MM extension ahead of the 2011-12 campaign. Doughty represented himself for his current eight-year, $88MM contract, which expires at season’s end.

Like the captains who preceded him, such as Dustin Brown and Anže Kopitar, Doughty would like to retire having only played in Los Angeles. He made that abundantly clear in a recent interview with NHL’s Tom Gulitti.

In the interview, Doughty said, “I think I can play until over 40. I believe I can. I’ve just got to stay healthy. The want to do it hasn’t dropped, so, until I lose that, I’m not going to retire.” Although he isn’t as good as he used to be, Doughty has remained relatively healthy over the past five seasons, other than an ankle fracture in the 2024-25 season.

Furthermore, Doughty asserted that he’s willing to take a significant pay cut to stay with the Kings. Gulitti quoted the Kings captain, saying, “He knows what I want. I believe he wants me to stay. We just haven’t talked about it yet. I feel like I’m performing better than I have in my past two seasons. So, I think that I’ll take a team-friendly deal and stay in L.A. That’s my plan.”

What a “team-friendly” deal looks like is anyone’s guess. Doughty’s performance slipped dramatically last season, finishing with five goals and 23 points in 72 games while averaging 23:05 of ice time per game. Compared to other seasons where he played 70+ games, that’s a career-worst offensive output, four points fewer than his rookie campaign. If that trend continues, Doughty wouldn’t come close to reaching his current salary on his next deal, even on the open market.

With that in mind, a “team-friendly” deal may go beyond that. Fortunately, Doughty has some comparables. Last offseason, after acquiring his rights from the Anaheim Ducks, the Florida Panthers signed Radko Gudas to a six-year, $9MM ($1.5MM AAV) contract. If he truly wants to play past 40, Doughty could target an extension in that range, simply to keep the cap hit low enough for the Kings.

Unfortunately, he turns 37 at the beginning of December. Since it will be a 35+ contract instead of a standard one, the Kings wouldn’t get any salary cap relief if Doughty retired early, making their position a little riskier. Regardless, Doughty is willing to be as flexible as he needs to be, saying, “I’m going to do everything I can to help us, the team, the L.A. Kings.”