King of Kings: Drew Doughty
Drew Doughty has always been a Los Angeles King at heart. As a child growing up in Ontario, he worshipped Wayne Gretzky and the Kings to the point where his room was a shrine to the team, including an LA Kings telephone and garbage can.
After an outstanding OHL career with the Guelph Storm and also picking up a World Junior Gold medal and Top Defenceman honours for the tournament along the way, his childhood dream was realized when the Kings selected him 2nd overall in the 2008 NHL Draft.
He made the team as an 18 yr old and put up a solid 6 goals and 21 assists, enough to earn him a spot on the NHL All-Rookie Team.
The next season, he upped his game with16 goals, 59 points and was a finalist for the Norris Trophy, the second youngest nominee in NHL history, behind a guy by the name of Orr.
He also was selected to Team Canada’s entry in the 2010 Olympics hosted by Vancouver. No pressure, just a 19 yr old, playing on the biggest international stage in your home country, anything less than gold would signify failure. What does he do? Play with the composure and poise of a 15 yr NHL veteran, and Canada wins gold with him on the ice in overtime for the “Golden Goal” by Sidney Crosby.
Offense dropped a little in 2010-2011, but 40 points for a 21 yr old blueliner is still pretty good.
This season began with a contract hold-out. Only 3 years in the league and he was considered among the elite and was looking for the contract to reflect that and a term that would keep him in LA for many years to come. Finally on September 29th after missing training camp, the two sides came together on an 8 yr, 56 million dollar contract.
The value of training camp showed by times this season, as he struggled off and on, but nonetheless, put up a very respectable 36 points and the Kings squeaked into the playoffs with the 8th seed.
Two straight years of 1st round exits for the Kings, and now forced to play the high powered President’s Trophy winning Vancouver Canucks in the 1st round this year.
The Kings, led by Dustin Brown on offense, a defense anchored by Doughty and a seemingly brick wall named Jonathan Quick in nets, dispatched the defending Western Conference champs in 5 games.
Up next, the St. Louis Blues, the #2 seed who finished just shy of 1st. The comparisons were being made of how the Blues’ Alex Pietrangelo, the 4th overall pick in 2008, had actually surpassed Doughty as the better defenseman. No disrespect to Pietrangelo, but Doughty put those critics to silence as the Kings swept the Blues and Doughty was praised by Blues’ coach Ken Hitchcock as being “the best player in the series.”
Now faced with the #3 seed, Phoenix Coyotes, most were calling this to be a 7 game goalie duel between Quick and Mike Smith. So far, while the goalies have been great again, the Kings have dominated the play and jumped to out to a 3-0 series lead with Game 4 going Sunday afternoon in LA.
Its hard to argue that Brown and Quick would be the front runners for the Conn Smythe Trophy if it were awarded today, but Drew Doughty is not far behind in my opinion and his best is yet to come.
Wouldn’t it be fitting that if the Kings do win the Stanley Cup, Doughty’s first call he makes be answered on his ringing old LA Kings phone that still sits in his childhood room.