Not a lot of athletes could get home fans to stay in the arena to watch the final minutes of their team’s season end in a four-goal loss. Anze Kopitar did that.
Not a lot of athletes could make assembled media members burst into a round of applause at the end of their final press conference. Anze Kopitar did that.
Both of those moments were rare occurrences, but for Kopitar, they shouldn’t be surprising. He commands a unique level of respect, not only for the NHL but for the sports world in general.
This season marked my first year covering the Los Angeles Kings, and in Kopitar’s final season, nothing about him stood out to me more than that. He’s treated with a certain reverence throughout the league. Players and coaches hold his play, his personality and his leadership in tremendous esteem.
This respect is largely reflected in the way he played. As much as the NHL respects him, he respected the game of hockey the same amount. He never blew you away with flashy passes or dangles. Instead, he simply produced steady, consistent, mistake-free work on both sides of the ice. He always made the right play, seemingly never missed a defensive assignment, and never had more than 32 penalty minutes in a season. In contrast to players who earn nicknames like “The Human Highlight Reel,” I remember someone once referring to Kopitar as “The Human Instructional Video,” and it’s hard to think of a better way to describe who he is on the ice. That style has been rewarded with two Selke Trophies as the league’s best defensive forward and three Lady Byng Trophies for gentlemanly play (with a chance to win a fourth this season).
After Kopitar announced ahead of the season that it would be his last, he embarked on a farewell tour, where the NHL’s appreciation for his career manifested itself in many ways. As he and the Kings visited arenas around the league, opposing players lined up to give him postgame handshakes, wanting to offer him one last gesture. Whether they knew him personally or simply respected his game, the high regard they held him in could not have been clearer.
This season, Kopitar had the lowest scoring output of his career with 38 points, but still had multiple highlights on the ice, such as breaking the Kings franchise record for career points and playing in his 1,500th game. Like the team as a whole, he did just enough to sneak into the playoffs, appropriately marking his 11th career postseason appearance.
That postseason, in particular the end of it, perhaps offered the greatest sign of respect of all. Trailing by four goals in Game Four, Kopitar said he realized his career was about to be over with five or six minutes left in the third period. It was going to take those around him a little longer.
After leading one final handshake line, Kopitar exited to the Kings’ locker room, where his teammates almost couldn’t comprehend the thought of playing hockey without him. Drew Doughty admitted he was actively avoiding acknowledging the possibility. Adrian Kempe fought back tears trying to talk about the captain’s retirement. For as much respect as those outside the Kings organization have for him, those within the organization — those closest to him, who interact with him almost every day — have even more.
As Kopitar acknowledged during his final press conference, he’s making a pivot from professional athlete to full-time father and husband. At the same time, the Kings are making a change in direction of their own. Kopitar has served as their leader for a decade, and now they’ll have a challenge finding his replacement. The level of respect he commanded makes their search that much more difficult — but it’s also what allowed his career to end with the level of grace which it did.