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Kings' Drew Doughty sends special message to teammates despite missing homecoming match against Maple Leafs
The Los Angeles Kings were dealt a significant blow to their blue line corps during the exhibition schedule prior to the 2024-25 NHL season. Defenseman Drew Doughty, a mainstay on the Kings defense and an alternate captain, suffered a fractured ankle against the Vegas Golden Knights and isn't expected to be able to play for several months.
On Wednesday night, the Kings take on Doughty's hometown team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. However, he had a special message for his teammates ahead of the matchup.
"You don't lose when you come into Toronto," Doughty told his teammates, according to Kings head coach Jim Hiller.
The Kings take on the Leafs on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena starting at 7:30 PM EST. The Kings are looking to improve their record to 2-0-2, while the Leafs hope to improve to 3-1.
Kings defenseman Drew Doughty is considered month-to-month with his ailment
Drew Doughty suffered the injury when he fell awkwardly into the boards at T-Mobile Arena against the Golden Knights on September 25. He was unable to put any weight on his leg and needed assistance from his teammates to make it back to the bench and down the tunnel to the dressing room for treatment.
“I think we’ve got a lot of good energy going,” Hiller said immediately after the injury. “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.”
For his longtime teammate Anze Kopitar, seeing the replay was understandably difficult.
“I saw a replay of it, and it’s probably worse on the replay than when it happened live,” said Kopitar. “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.”
Drew Doughty was previously known for his iron-man streak that saw him miss zero games from 2014 to 2019. The former No. 2 overall pick in the 2008 NHL Draft, he was a key member of the Kings Stanley Cup-winning teams in 2012 and 2014 and ranks first overall in team history for points by a defenseman.
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