Anze Kopitar of Jesenice, Slovenia announced his plans to retire at the end of the 2025-26 National Hockey League season on Thursday according to Greg Beacham of the Associated Press. Kopitar made the announcement following his first practice at training camp and had his family by his side.
Comes on the same day as Kershaw retirement
Kopitar was one of two professional sports athletes who have spent their entire career in Los Angeles to announce their retirement plans on Thursday. The other was Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw of Dallas, Texas, who announced his plans to retire at the end of the 2025 Major League Baseball season. It should be known that Kershaw is having a great year on a Dodgers team looking to defend their World Series title. Kershaw has a record of 10 wins and two losses.
Kopitar’s career statistics
Over the last 19 seasons, Kopitar has 440 goals and 838 assists for 1278 points in 1454 games. He was a +108 with 348 penalty minutes, 445 power-play points, 28 shorthanded points, 78 game-winning goals and 3328 shots on goal.
Still playing at a high level
Just like Kershaw, Kopitar is still playing at an exceptional level. This past season in 81 games, Kopitar had 21 goals and 46 assists for 67 points. He was a +14 with four penalty minutes, 22 power-play points, seven game-winning goals, one shorthanded point, 879 faceoff wins, 67 blocked shots, 31 hits, 30 takeaways and 65 giveaways.
The shorthanded point came on October 17 in a 4-1 Kings win over the Montreal Canadiens. Kopitar set up Adrian Kempe of Kramfors, Sweden with 48 seconds left to complete the scoring.
Very disciplined
By having only four penalty minutes in 81 games, it was no surprise that Kopitar won the Lady Byng Trophy for the third time in his NHL career. His high degree of discipline is a reason why he has been the Kings captain since 2016.
Career Awards
In addition to his three Lady Byng Awards, Kopitar won the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup, the 2016 and 2018 Selke Trophies and 2022 Mark Messier Leadership Award.
Where does Kopitar fit into the Kings plans this year?
Kopitar is slated to center the Kings number one line. It will include Andrei Kuzmenko of Yakutsk, Russia on the left wing and Kempe.
Who is another L.A. superstar from Slovenia?
Kopitar is not the only professional sports athlete from Slovenia competing in Los Angeles at this time. He is joined by basketball superstar Luka Doncic of Ljubljana. Doncic came to the Los Angeles Lakers during last season in an extremely stunning trade with the Dallas Mavericks that absolutely no one saw coming.
