Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar announced the 2025-26 season will be the last of his NHL career. 

“I’ve decided that this year is going to be my last year playing in the NHL,” Kopitar said in a press conference on Thursday.

The Kings captain made the announcement with his wife and two kids sitting next to him at the table. He said it’s time to be available for the family.

“These guys sitting here with me have been with me for the past 20-plus years,” he said. “Now, they deserve a husband and a dad to be home and present.”

The timing for Kopitar to hang up his skates fits with the remaining duration of his contract. This is the final year of a two-year contract he signed in July 2023, earning $7 million per season.

Since the Kings drafted Kopitar 11th overall in the 2005 draft, the Slovenian center has played 19 NHL seasons, soon to be 20. He's feeatured in more than 1,500 regular-season and playoff games, all for Los Angeles.

Kopitar will go down as one of the best Kings in franchise history, if not the best. He already leads the organization in games played (1,454) and assists (838). Furthermore, considering his consistency over the last few years, he’ll likely become the franchise’s point leader as he’s just 29 points behind Marcel Dionne’s 1,307.

Speaking of Kopitar’s consistency, in campaigns where the 38-year-old played at least 50 games, he has never scored fewer than 50 points. His career high came in the 2017-18 campaign when he scored 35 goals and 92 points. He finished seventh in the NHL for scoring that year, alongside Pittsburgh Penguins right winger Phil Kessel.

In addition to his scoring consistency, L.A.’s captain could be counted on to suit up for nearly every contest. In the last eight seasons, Kopitar has only missed four games across the regular season and post-season.

Kopitar has accomplished many great things in his long career. The highlight of it all would be his two Stanley Cup championships in 2012 and 2014. To add to that hardware, he has two Selke Trophies, three Lady Byng Trophies and a Mark Messier Leadership Award.