LOS ANGELES -- When Drew Doughty went down with a serious injury in preseason, fans were rightly concerned and the media began raising serious questions about how the Los Angeles Kings would survive without their star defender.
Now 27 games into the season, the Los Angeles Kings are one of the league's best defensive teams, even without Doughty.
Of course, it's a group effort and Vladislav Gavrikov deserves a lot of credit for how well he's played on the top pair and on his off-side. Still, his partner Mikey Anderson is proving once again why he's one of the league's most underrated blueliners.
Anderson lacks the offensive production and flair to garner national attention and become a true star in this league. However, it would be difficult to find anyone who can match him as a pure defender.
He's been one of the league's best shot-suppressors and entry deniers for a few seasons now, and according to The Athletic's model, he's on pace to have the best defensive rating in hockey.
This isn't the first time Anderson has shined in Doughty's absence either. When Doughty was injured in the 2021-22 season, Anderson stepped up and helped lead the team to the playoffs.
He's been even better this go around, taking on the most difficult matchups and shining.
"I don't think by us," said Jim Hiller when asked if Anderson is taken for granted. "I will say, and we talked about this early in the preseason, Mikey has taken a step for me. We probably appreciate him more this year because he's an easy guy to appreciate that goes without saying, but he has more. I think he's given us more this year. I think he's seen himself, sometimes this is what it takes, 'oh I can be better, I can do more,' and sometimes you think you're doing enough and you've got more. I think he's touched that threshold and passed it."
Hiller then went on to expand on where he's seen the biggest growth in Anderson's game.
"I think it's physically, it's consistency. Just a general intensity, I think he's shooting the puck more, he might defer to Drew quite a bit when he's playing with Drew, now he gets the puck on his stick at the offensive blue line and his intention is to shoot it and it's a quicker decision."
You can never replace a player like Doughty, but players need to step up and pull a little extra weight when a player of that caliber goes down and Andrson has done that this season. He's established himself as one of the premier shutdown defensemen in the league and should be treated as such.