By Ryan Kennedy, Editor in Chief
You'd be forgiven if you hadn’t been thinking a lot about Drew Doughty heading into 2024-25.
By his own admission, the Los Angeles Kings stalwart and future Hall of Famer had been out of the spotlight for a while – and he wasn’t happy about it. That’s why making Team Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off squad was so important to him. Doughty fought his way back from a broken ankle he sustained in the pre-season to ensure he could come in and contribute. “I haven’t accomplished a lot in, I don’t know how many years,” Doughty said. “I haven’t won a playoff round since we won the Cup, which is not something that I’m about. I’m a competitor. I want to be playing in big games and Stanley Cup finals. It’s good for me to be here to resurrect my career a little bit. I think a lot of people have written me off, but I’m going to show them they’re wrong.”
In the end, Doughty did indeed help Canada win the tournament, meaning his fallow stretch had officially come to a close. That Cup victory he referenced was way back in 2014, and as he pointed out, Los Angeles hasn’t been able to get out of the first round since. At 35, Doughty has done everything a player could hope for, from Cup championships to Olympic gold and now the 4 Nations (the title no one knew they wanted until the tournament began and became a red-hot success). And he looks back fondly at the crucial moments along the way. The 2010 Olympics, for example, saw him make a stacked Team Canada in just his third NHL season. An early gesture from Sidney Crosby helped him get settled. “I was a young guy, and he was young, too, but after one of our first practices, I was walking onto the bus, and he said, ‘Hey, come sit with me,’ ” Doughty said. “It just shows you the guy he is. He knew I was nervous as hell, and he brought me in.”
Those Olympics also taught Doughty to be who he is, which at the time meant a dazzling puck-carrier and difference-maker. “I remember after the first couple games, (Canada GM) Steve Yzerman came up to me in the room,” Doughty said. “He said, ‘Hey, I chose you for this team because of the player you are,’ because I was just passing the puck to veterans and keeping it simple. He told me to step up and play the way I play.”
"I haven't won a playoff round since we won the cup, which is not something that I'm about."- Drew Doughty <br>
Fast-forward a decade-and-a-half, and Doughty was at the 4 Nations, concentrating more on the defensive side of things and letting the likes of Cale Makar and Josh Morrissey carry the offensive load for the blueline corps. Now, he was the veteran who the younger D-men could look at and learn from. “He talks a lot (on the ice),” said Vegas blueliner and Canada teammate Shea Theodore. “He’s always loud. He’s a good skater and so good at moving the puck.”
Perhaps most important for Doughty was the mental aspect of things. Getting healthy for the Kings and Team Canada was a grind he had never experienced before. “Mentally, I was fine for the majority of the time,” he said. “My kids keep me busy. When the guys were on the road, I had a lot of old teammates who live in L.A., so I was hanging out with them. I was fine until I was skating with the team but they weren’t letting me play. That’s when I started getting pissed off because I was sick of bag-skating, sick of practising. I just wanted to play. Thankfully, they didn’t give in to me as early as I wanted. That was probably the right decision.”
Doughty did get into a handful of games before the 4 Nations, and that was crucial for his inclusion on the final roster, where he was an injury replacement for Vegas’ Alex Pietrangelo. “The road wasn’t very long for him in returning to play and in how many games he could play,” said Team Canada GM Don Sweeney. “What we did was make sure we watched every inch of ice Drew took once he came back to realize where he was at.”
One of those games was against Tampa Bay. Lightning coach Jon Cooper was also Canada’s bench boss for the 4 Nations, so he saw Doughty’s readiness – and his determination – as originally Doughty wasn’t even supposed to play in the game since it was part of a back-to-back. The Kings lost 3-0, but Doughty played 27:43. In his six games before the 4 Nations break, he averaged 26:57 of ice time per contest. Even after the 4 Nations, Doughty continued to log big minutes for the Kings, leading them in average ice time.
It sucked. I'm not gonna lie. Coming back from injury is brutal."- Drew Doughty
Along with Doughty, L.A. has a couple of holdovers from that 2014 Cup team, including captain Anze Kopitar and center Trevor Lewis. But a new generation is making its presence felt, led by Adrian Kempe and young stars Quinton Byfield and Brandt Clarke. The Kings entered the final stretch sitting in third in the Pacific, but they had some of the NHL’s best advanced stats, meaning there was hope for a deep playoff push. The 4 Nations was a big motivator for Doughty’s rehab efforts, but so was another Cup run. “I worked hard,” he said. “It sucked. I’m not gonna lie. Coming back from injury is brutal. You do the same thing every day. You work your butt off every day and bag-skate. I just kept a straight mindset, and I had it in the back of my mind that I wasn’t going to be on the (4 Nations) team, but I also just wanted to get back playing hockey for the Kings. We need to win some series this year, so I was determined to get back.”
This article appeared in our 2025 Playoff Special issue. Our cover story focuses on Edmonton Oilers star Leon Draisaitl, who looks primed for another deep playoff run. We also include features on other Cup contenders, including the Dallas Stars, Washington Capitals, Florida Panthers and more. In addition, we give our power ranking of the top playoff teams heading into the 2025 post-season.
You can get it in print for free when you subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/Free today. All subscriptions include complete access to more than 76 years of articles at The Hockey News Archive.