Longtime Los Angeles Kings star center and captain Anze Kopitar revealed this week what many presumed was coming sooner than later – namely, that the 2025-26 NHL season would be the final season in what will be a 20-year NHL career. As we’ll explore below, Kopitar is clearly headed straight to the Hockey Hall of Fame when he’s finished playing, and he’ll be rightfully regarded as one of the greatest Kings of all time and as an iconic contributor at the highest levels of the sport.

The 38-year-old Kopitar enters the 2025-26 campaign with 1,454 games of regular-season NHL experience with the Kings, posting 838 assists and 1,278 points in that span. Equally importantly, Kopitar has played 103 Stanley Cup playoff games, generating 62 assists and 89 points in the post-season while leading L.A. to two Cup wins. And those are just Kopitar’s team achievements.

Indeed, as an individual, Kopitar was just as decorated: he played in five NHL all-star games, he twice won the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the NHL’s best defensive forward, won three Lady Byng Trophies as the league’s most gentlemanly player, and he won the Mark Messier Leadership Award recognizing individuals as superior leaders within their sport and as contributing members of society. 

All things considered, Kopitar has been one of the most consequential competitors of his generation. But as the start of this final season looms, people are wondering what they can expect out of Kopitar, and specifically, whether he’s going to be part of a Kings team that can go deep in the playoffs. 

There’s good news and bad news on that front. The good news is that Los Angeles has enough depth and skill to be a virtual lock to make the post-season. The Kings have retooled on the fly this summer, with new GM Ken Holland coming in and making a slew of veteran additions. Expectations are high for them. And given that Kopitar has scored at least 21 goals and 67 points in each of the past three seasons, it's fair to presume he's still going to get his share of offense this year.

However, whether the Kings are a legitimate Cup threat is another story altogether. Los Angeles has failed to get out of the first round of the playoffs since 2013-14 – the season in which L.A. won its most recent Cup. And with Pacific Division powerhouses Edmonton and Vegas looking like solid bets to go far this year, L.A. is going to be in tough to break the streak of first-round futility and do some real damage in the 2026 post-season.

So, there’s a good chance Kopitar’s final year will end in disappointment and heartbreak. But Kopitar wouldn’t be the first star to have difficulty replicating their greatest successes year in and year out. And if he winds up with his career ending unceremoniously, Kopitar would go out the way most NHL icons go out – humbled as a competitor, but grateful for what they were able to do with the opportunities they did get along the way.

So while this year will be Kopitar’s final year, we get the next 10 months or so to celebrate what will end up regarded as one of the most decorated and successful careers of his generation. Kopitar is already regarded as an all-time great and the best-ever Slovenian player. 

And even if his NHL days end in a way he wouldn’t choose them to end, Kopitar is still on the fast track to get into the Hockey Hall of Fame and stand out as a Kings legend that all L.A. fans can take pride in.

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