Los Angeles honors its captain
The Los Angeles Kings will retire Anze Kopitar’s No. 11 during the 2026-27 season and raise a statue of him outside Crypto.com Arena. Both ceremonies land on Feb. 24, before the Kings host the Montreal Canadiens.
Kopitar played 20 seasons in Los Angeles and retired after the 2025-26 campaign. He captained two Stanley Cup winners and spent his entire career with one organization, a rarity in the modern salary-cap era.
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Records that anchor a franchise
Kopitar leaves as the Kings’ all-time leader in goals (452), assists (864), points (1,316) and games played (1,521). He won the Selke Trophy as the league’s top defensive forward twice, in 2016 and 2018, and claimed the Lady Byng three times, in 2016, 2023 and 2025. Few forwards in NHL history have paired that scoring output with that defensive hardware.
“To have my number retired and a statue unveiled by the LA Kings is an incredible honor,” Kopitar said. He thanked his teammates, coaches and family, and recalled arriving in Los Angeles 21 years ago hoping only to earn an NHL job.
Kings president Luc Robitaille kept it plain. “Anze Kopitar has defined what it means to be a Los Angeles King for the past two decades,” he said.
Rare company
Kopitar becomes the eighth King to have his number retired, joining Rob Blake, Marcel Dionne, Dave Taylor, Robitaille, Dustin Brown, Rogie Vachon and Wayne Gretzky. He will also stand as the fourth Kings figure honored with a statue outside the arena, next to Brown, Robitaille and Gretzky.
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