Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty will undergo surgery to repair a fractured ankle and is considered month-to-month, the team announced Friday.
While the exact timeline is unclear, head coach Jim Hiller says Doughty is expected to return this season.
Doughty suffered the injury during Wednesday's preseason game against the Vegas Golden Knights when he crashed awkwardly into the boards.
Drew Doughty takes an awkward fall and leaves the game.#GoKingsGo #VegasBorn #VGKvsLAK pic.twitter.com/nZkNvnkpuh
— LA Royalty (@LARoyalty1967) September 26, 2024
Doughty is an indispensable member of the Kings. He's led the team in average ice time in each of his 16 NHL seasons and has finished top five league-wide in every campaign since 2014-15.
Even at 34, Doughty proved in 2023-24 he still has plenty left in the tank after finishing 11th in Norris Trophy voting with a 15-goal, 50-point season.
"It's Drew Doughty," said Kyle Burroughs, who's expected to take Doughty's place in the lineup, per The Athletic's Eric Stephens. "He's been a pillar here in the league, not even just for the Kings. It's tough to see and this is when we try to rally around him and give him the support he needs. But he's a tough cookie. He'll be high spirits. He'll be back flying in no time."
Though the left side of the blue line remains formidable, the Kings are sorely lacking experience on the right side without Doughty. The current defense pairs to begin the year project as follows:
| LD | RD |
|---|---|
| Vladislav Gavrikov | Jordan Spence |
| Mikey Anderson | Kyle Burroughs |
| Joel Edmundson | Brandt Clarke |
Clarke is the biggest wild card of the bunch. The 2021 No. 8 pick has yet to establish himself as a full-time NHLer, but he's coming off a season in which he tallied 46 points in 50 AHL games. He projects to quarterback the top power-play unit in Doughty's absence.
"We got Spenny (and) Clarkie, who are probably more offensive guys, so they can try and take that over," Mikey Anderson said. "Get maybe a little more chance on the power play. It's good for those guys. I think we got a lot of trust in them to be able to perform. But we got enough guys that play hard (defense), too, where we're able to be hard to play against and try and fill his defensive role as well."
Doughty has missed just one game over the past two years. The Kings last played without their star defender for an extended period in 2021-22 when he missed 42 games. But Los Angeles were much deeper on the right at that time, with the now departed Matt Roy and Sean Durzi able to help shoulder the load.
