Anze Kopitar to Retire from NHL After 2025-26 Season, Won 2 Stanley Cups with Kings

Los Angeles Kings captain and two-time Stanley Cup champion Anže Kopitar will retire after the 2025-26 season, he announced Thursday.

Kopitar, who turned 38 in August, is heading into his 20th season with the Kings and his 10th as the team's captain.

The veteran center is one of five active NHL players with 1,200 career points, and one of three active players with 14,000 face-off wins.

Originally selected by the Kings with the No. 11 pick of the 2005 draft, Kopitar made his NHL debut in 2006 and capped off his rookie season with a fourth-place finish in voting for the Calder Trophy.

He earned his first All-Star nod after leading the Kings in scoring during his sophomore NHL campaign, then was named an alternate captain ahead of his third season in 2008.

Kopitar played a key role in leading the Kings to the franchise's first championship in 2012, including with a breakaway overtime winner against the New Jersey Devils in the Stanley Cup Final.

Two years later, Kopitar led the 2014 playoffs with 21 assists in 26 games to help the Kings lift a second Stanley Cup.

Named Dustin Brown's successor as captain in 2016, Kopitar won the Selke Trophy in both 2016 and 2018 as the NHL's best defensive forward.

He paced the Kings in points 15 times in 16 seasons between 2007 and 2023, ranking him behind only Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe for the most seasons as a single team's leading producer, per NHL PR.

Kopitar received the Mark Messier NHL Leadership award in 2022 for his efforts to promote hockey in both South California and his home country of Slovenia, per NHL.com's David Satriano. He was honored with the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 2023 and 2025.

He remained an effective playmaker in 2024-25, winning more than 57 percent of his faceoffs while joining Jaromir Jagr and Alex Ovechkin as the third player born and trained outside North America to record 18 career 50-point seasons.

Kopitar currently stands as the Kings' all-time leader in both games played (1,454) and career assists (838). He could pass Marcel Dionne's record for the most points scored in a Kings uniform if he scores 30 during his final NHL campaign.