Anze Kopitar’s 20-year career comes to an end in Kings’ loss

After years of telling himself there would be a next year, it wasn’t until the last six minutes of his final game that Anze Kopitar realized there wasn’t going to be a next year.

Kopitar’s 20-year career came to an end Sunday with the Los Angeles Kings losing 5-1 to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 4 of the Western Conference quarterfinals.

The Avalanche will advance to the second round where they’ll face either the Dallas Stars or the Minnesota Wild.

As for the Kings, they have failed to advance beyond the first round since they won their second Stanley Cup in 2014. They’ll be left to rue what went wrong after another first-round exit ahead of an offseason that won’t include Kopitar on their roster for the first time since he debuted in the 2006-07 season.

“It’s hard to comprehend,” said Kopitar, 38, surrounded by his two children. “But at the same time, these are the two reasons I’m really going to enjoy next year, too. It’s very bittersweet for sure. There’s going to be some tears. But that’s the way life goes, right? It’s a circle. It’s been one hell of a ride for 20 years.”

Kopitar’s final game began with Nathan MacKinnon grabbing a first-period goal and Cale Makar scoring in the second period to stake the Avs to a 2-0 lead. Joel Edmundson scored the Kings’ lone goal midway through the second period before the Avs scored three unanswered goals in the third for a 5-1 lead with 5:38 remaining.

Although the result was no longer in question, much of the crowd stayed to watch Kopitar’s final shifts. He took the ice with less than three minutes left before the fans started chanting “Kopi! Kopi! Kopi!” for the entirety of what would be his second-to-last shift.

Another chant came with 90 seconds left as fans repeatedly bellowed, “Thank you, Kopi!” before Kopitar returned to the ice to play a final shift that lasted one minute, 16 seconds.

He finished the game with one shot on goal while logging 18:30 in ice time.

“It was hard to keep it together,” Kopitar said. “Being here for 20 years — more than half of my lifetime — it’s extremely special. It’s been home for us for 20 years, and I really appreciate the fans. They’ve been behind me personally. They’ve been behind the team for all those years. I can truly say that they’re probably one of the best fan bases in the entire league.”

Kopitar led the Kings’ handshake line in which he was hugged by Avs players including Gabriel Landeskog, MacKinnon and Makar. Kopitar also shared an embrace with Brent Burns, 41, who played 11 seasons with the San Jose Sharks and had several encounters against him in the regular season and the playoffs.

Kopitar shook hands with Colorado coach Jared Bednar and his assistants before skating to the Avs bench to do the same with every athletic trainer and equipment manager.

The center then raised his stick in the air and used his other hand to waive to fans while skating to center ice. He was surrounded by Avalanche and Kings players who repeatedly tapped their sticks out of respect.

Then, as he has done thousands of times, he skated to the bench in his famed “Kopitar 11” sweater for the last time as defenseman Drew Doughty followed him into the tunnel before they reached the dressing room.

“I’m trying not to think about it right now,” an emotional Doughty told reporters after the game. “But he had an unbelievable career. Means so much to this organization. It’s going to be tough without him.”

There was already a belief that Kopitar, the first Slovenian in NHL history, could be getting close to the end of his career going back to July 2023, when he signed a two-year extension that was set to expire at the end of this season. He was in the final season of an eight-year pact upon signing what would be his last contract.

Kopitar announced in September, before this season began, that it would be his final campaign. The veteran told ESPN at the time that his family members “probably need me just as bad if not more than the guys do on the ice.”

He reiterated that commitment to his family toward the end of his 12-minute news conference Sunday that saw him receive a standing ovation.

“You guys know we’re away and you’re missing birthdays, and you’re missing competitions and hockey games,” Kopitar said. “Thank God for the new technology. … But now, they get to wake up in the morning and come barge in the room and see me there. That’s what they deserve. They’ve been 11 years, nine years, with a part-time dad, and now they get me full time.”

Selected with the No. 11 draft pick in 2005, he would become one of the greatest players in franchise history.

Los Angeles drafted Kopitar as part of a plan that included fellow homegrown talents Dustin Brown, Jonathan Quick and Doughty in the core that turned the Kings from a struggling franchise to Stanley Cup champions in 2012 and 2014.

That was also the last time the Kings advanced beyond the first round. They reached the playoffs twice in the first four seasons after winning the Stanley Cup before undergoing a significant rebuild.

Kopitar and Doughty remained in place with the club drafting talents such as Adrian Kempe, Gabriel Vilardi, Mikey Anderson, Quinton Byfield and Brandt Clarke.

Surrounding the future core with Kopitar and Doughty was meant to return the Kings to prominence in the Western Conference.

The new iteration of the Kings got back to the playoffs in 2021-22, when they lost in seven games to the Edmonton Oilers. That set the stage for the Kings to lose in the first round for five straight seasons, four of those defeats coming against the Oilers.

A five-time NHL All-Star Game selection, Kopitar provided consistency as a two-way player who was a nightly fixture. He had 15 seasons in which he played 75 or more games.

Kopitar reached the 20-goal plateau 14 times in his career and had three seasons in which he scored more than 30 goals. He led the team in scoring 15 times.

He retires as the Kings’ all-time leader in assists, points, games played, seasons and game-winning goals, and he is the longest-serving player in the club’s history. He is a two-time Selke Trophy winner for the NHL’s best defensive forward and a three-time recipient of the Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly play.

“A good teammate,” Kopitar said when asked how he wants to be remembered. “And a two-time Stanley Cup champion. That works, too.”