Kings defenseman Drew Doughty sustained an apparent left ankle injury in Wednesday’s preseason game in Las Vegas, and all signals indicated a significant absence on Thursday, despite the lack of a concrete update from the club.
The Kings said little after the game and Coach Jim Hiller again played the “further evaluation” card to reporters at Thursday morning’s practice. However, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported that Doughty sustained a broken ankle and that additional testing would be done to determine the severity of the injury as well as assess any collateral damage to ligaments or tendons.
Doughty was in a protective boot and using a knee scooter to get around the team’s El Segundo practice facility on Thursday.
“Very tough situation, but stuff like that happens,” captain Anze Kopitar, the only King with a longer tenure than Doughty’s, told reporters. “We have to slightly adjust. Drew’s a big part of it, but we have to look ahead. We know Drew’s going to do everything in his power to be back as early as he can be.”
Doughty, 34, joined winger Arthur Kaliyev, who broke his collarbone during a scrimmage, as Kings who went from being wide-eyed about the preseason to staring down a substantial recovery period. Doughty’s is by far the more significant void, as he led the NHL in time on ice last season (averaging 25:48) and led Kings defensemen with 15 goals and 35 assists.
His injury occurred before the midway mark of the first period on Wednesday when the former Norris Trophy winner’s skates became entangled in the base of the half-wall during a board battle with former Kings winger Tanner Pearson. Though both legs contorted awkwardly, it was Doughty’s left leg that appeared to get the worse of the spill as he could not support weight on it as he left the ice with assistance.
That’s a situation that’s particularly dreadful for Kings fans, many of whom saw Kopitar break his leg under similar circumstances just before the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs and almost all of whom witnessed Quinton Byfield’s broken ankle during the 2021 preseason.
Further complicating matters is that the Kings, once overflowing with right defensemen, are no longer at all deep at the position. The departures of Matt Roy, Sean Durzi, Sean Walker and Helge Grans netted negative return and last year’s Calder Trophy runner-up Brock Faber was sent along with a first-round draft pick (forward Liam Öhgren) for Kevin Fiala in the summer of 2022. Now, the Kings will be counting on 21-year-old rookie Brandt Clarke, second-year blue-liner Jordan Spence, 23, and depth defender Kyle Burroughs, with no other right defensemen that have NHL experience in their system.
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Doughty, who has been remarkably durable in a career that began in 2008 and has spanned nearly 1,200 matches plus almost 100 playoff contests, only missed more than six games once in his career, in 2021-22. The Kings absorbed his loss reasonably well and even took the Edmonton Oilers to Game 7 in the playoffs sans Doughty, though the efforts of Durzi as a rookie were a significant reason why.
Hiller remained optimistic about his group’s ability to surmount Doughty’s absence, despite their heavily diluted depth on the right side.
“I think we’ve got a lot of good energy going,” Hiller told reporters. “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.”
Mikey Anderson, Doughty’s usual defensive partner, echoed that.
“However long he’s out, we’ll try and make up for everything he brings, but obviously it’s a shoe to fill,” Anderson said. “But we’ll try our best to collectively fill it.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.