Could a Trade Shake Up This LA Kings Legend’s Final NHL Season?

The Los Angeles Kings were expected to cruise into the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season in a relatively weak Pacific Division, beyond them, the Oilers and the Golden Knights.

So far in 2025–26, that prediction has mostly held up—the Pacific remains the NHL’s weakest division—but instead of rising to the top, the Kings have found themselves mired in the middle of the pack, raising questions about their approach leading up to the trade deadline.

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Los Angeles is just one point out of the final Western Conference wild-card spot, but the road hasn’t been pretty. Even if they manage to sneak in, they would likely face a juggernaut like Colorado, Vegas, or Edmonton in the first round, which, as Darryl Sutter once infamously said, could be a waste of eight days.

As a result, PuckEmpire floated a fascinating idea on Instagram following Wednesday night’s loss to the Golden Knights: could the Kings flip their captain, Anze Kopitar, to let him take one last run at a Stanley Cup in his final NHL season?

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The 38-year-old Kopitar has registered just 21 points (six goals, 15 assists) in 37 games on the campaign. He’s, of course, a pending UFA in the final season of the two-year, $14 million extension he signed with the Kings in 2023, set to retire at season’s end.

Anze Kopitar Is Very Unlikely to Leave LA

As intriguing as it would be to see Kopitar join a contender in the coming weeks, the odds of that actually happening remain slim to none.

The Kings should and likely do still view themselves as the third-best team in the Pacific, and the two-point gap between them and the three-seed Kraken is obviously one they can close.

Even if they fall out of the race or feel there’s no path to contention this season, it’s hard to imagine Kopitar—a player who’s been the face of the franchise for the past 20 years—wanting to leave with retirement already in sight.

Would it be fascinating to see the future Hall of Famer chase a Stanley Cup elsewhere to finish his career? Absolutely. But like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang in Pittsburgh, Kopitar—and his longtime partner Drew Doughty—are destined to retire in Los Angeles.

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