Anze Kopitar has spent 20 years as the heartbeat of the Los Angeles Kings — a quiet, relentless force who won two Stanley Cups, rewrote the franchise record books, and redefined what it means to be a complete hockey player. Now, at 38, he's stepping onto the ice for what will almost certainly be the last playoff run of his career, facing the Presidents' Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche in a first-round series that begins Sunday, April 19, 2026, at Ball Arena in Denver. The odds are long. The opponent is formidable. But for Kopitar, that's never been the point.
The End of an Era: Kopitar's Final Season in Context
When Kopitar announced in September 2025 that he would retire after this season, it set the tone for a year of milestones and farewells across the NHL. But Kopitar being Kopitar, he didn't make it sentimental — he made it purposeful. "I don't plan on just playing seven more games," he said after a shootout loss to Nashville on April 2, and that declaration captured everything about how he's approached this farewell tour.
The numbers alone are staggering. In 1,521 career NHL games, Kopitar has accumulated 1,316 points — 452 goals and 864 assists — all with one franchise. He never chased a bigger market, never demanded a trade, never prioritized personal glory over team chemistry. That kind of loyalty is vanishingly rare in modern professional sports, and it's what makes his retirement so resonant for Kings fans and hockey observers alike.
The capstone of his regular season came on March 14, 2026, when Kopitar became the Kings' all-time scoring leader, surpassing Marcel Dionne's 1,307 career points with the franchise. Dionne played in an era of prolific offensive hockey, and eclipsing him required not just talent but extraordinary durability and consistency across two decades. The milestone received a standing ovation at Crypto.com Arena and cemented Kopitar's place as the greatest King in franchise history — a claim that no longer requires a qualifier.
What Makes Kopitar Different: A Legacy Built on Both Ends of the Ice
The easy statistical narrative about Kopitar focuses on his point totals, but the more interesting story is how he achieved them. He is, by any objective measure, one of the most complete two-way centers the NHL has ever produced. His two Selke Trophy wins (2017 and 2018) for best defensive forward came in back-to-back seasons — itself an uncommon achievement — and his three Lady Byng Trophies (2016, 2023, 2025) for sportsmanship and excellence reflect a player who dominated without relying on physicality or penalties.
In a league that increasingly rewards offensive specialists and analytics-friendly playmakers, Kopitar thrived by being genuinely excellent at everything. He could anchor a penalty kill, drive a power play, win critical faceoffs, and absorb the opponent's best line — all in the same game, sometimes the same shift. That versatility is why his teammates voted him both the Kings' best defensive player and most inspirational player (the Ace Bailey Memorial Award) for the 2025-26 season, even in a year he missed a career-high 15 games.
That plus-minus leadership despite missing games tells its own story. Teams feel a great player's absence; they collapse slightly without them. With Kopitar, the Kings held things together well enough that when he returned, the positive differential remained his. That's a player whose presence shapes how everyone around him plays.
The Road to the Playoffs: A 5-1-1 Surge and a Hard-Earned Berth
The Kings' path to the postseason wasn't smooth. With Kopitar sidelined for stretches and the Western Conference brutally competitive, Los Angeles spent much of the season on the playoff bubble. But they closed the regular season on a 5-1-1 run, clinching their berth with a 5-3 win at the Seattle Kraken on April 13, 2026 — one final road win to earn the right to compete.
Kopitar played in his final regular season game on April 14 against the Vancouver Canucks, completing a 20-year chapter that has included two championships, a franchise scoring record, and consistent playoff appearances across different eras of the team. The Kings' late surge proved that the roster still has legitimate competitive drive — this isn't a team limping in on sentiment. They want to win, not just participate.
That matters because playoff hockey has a way of flattening narratives. Regular season form and playoff performance diverge all the time. The Kings finishing hot suggests they've found something in their game, and arriving with momentum rather than relief is a meaningful distinction going into a series against the best team in the Western Conference.
The Avalanche Obstacle: What the Kings Are Actually Up Against
Let's be direct: the Colorado Avalanche are a genuinely intimidating opponent. Colorado finished the regular season with a franchise-record 121 points and compiled a remarkable 41-0-0 record when leading after two periods. That last number is perhaps the most telling — it means if you don't beat them through 40 minutes, you almost certainly don't beat them at all.
The home-ice situation also strongly favors Colorado. Ball Arena this season was a fortress: the Avalanche went 26-9-6 there, and Game 1 opens on that ice Sunday. The Kings went 0-3 against Colorado in the regular season, being outscored 13-5 in those three contests. That's a significant head-to-head deficit going into a seven-game series.
None of this means Los Angeles can't compete. The NHL playoffs reward adjustments, goaltending, and momentum shifts in ways the regular season doesn't. Teams regularly upset Presidents' Trophy winners — it's practically a tradition at this point. But the Kings will need their best hockey, elite goaltending, and probably a few bounces to advance. The margin for error is thin.
What This Means: The Weight of a Final Run
There's a particular emotional texture to watching an elite athlete's farewell playoff run that goes beyond wins and losses. Kopitar has been clear that he wants to compete, not just appear — "I don't plan on just playing seven more games" is a statement of intent, not hope. But the subtext of his season-long goodbye is inescapable for anyone paying attention.
What does it mean for a franchise when its defining player of two decades walks away? For the Kings, it means rebuilding an identity. Kopitar didn't just score points; he set a standard for how the franchise operates — physical but clean, competitive but disciplined, winning through systems rather than stars. The next generation of Kings players inherits a culture that Kopitar built and embodied. That's an intangible legacy that doesn't show up in the record books but may matter more than the goals and assists over the next decade.
For Kopitar personally, this playoff run carries the weight of everything left undone. The Kings haven't won the Cup since 2014, and a third championship would be an extraordinary coda to his career. The Avalanche matchup makes that improbable, but improbable isn't impossible — and Kopitar has spent his career doing things that seemed unlikely for a player from Jesenice, Slovenia, who grew up dreaming about hockey in a country where hockey barely existed.
The broader sports landscape this spring is full of major storylines — from European football's title races to boxing's heavyweight division — but Kopitar's farewell carries a particular dignity. It's a story about what loyalty and excellence look like when sustained over 20 years without shortcuts.
The Numbers That Define a Career
- 1,316 career points (452 goals, 864 assists) in 1,521 games — all with the Kings
- Two Stanley Cup championships — 2012 and 2014
- Two Selke Trophy wins — 2017, 2018 (best defensive forward)
- Three Lady Byng Trophy wins — 2016, 2023, 2025 (sportsmanship and excellence)
- Kings' all-time scoring leader — surpassed Marcel Dionne on March 14, 2026
- 20 seasons, all in Los Angeles — one of the longest one-franchise tenures in modern NHL history
The Selke-Lady Byng combination is particularly rare. Players who win the Selke are typically defensive specialists who sacrifice offensive production for defensive responsibility. Players who win the Lady Byng are typically offensive players who avoid penalties. Winning both, repeatedly, reflects a player operating at a level of all-around excellence that the game rarely sees.
Game 1 Preview: Sunday, April 19, 2026
Game 1 tips off at Ball Arena in Denver, where the altitude and the crowd create a genuine home-ice advantage that postseason teams consistently acknowledge. The Kings will need to manage zone exits cleanly, limit Colorado's transition opportunities, and find a way to make the Avalanche work for their chances rather than generating easy offense off turnovers.
Kopitar's role will be central. He'll likely be matched against Colorado's top line for significant stretches, using his defensive awareness and positioning to neutralize threats while creating opportunities at the other end. At 38 and in his final season, the question isn't whether his skill level has declined somewhat — it has, as it does for everyone — but whether he can still impose his will on a playoff series the way he has throughout his career.
The series will likely hinge on goaltending and special teams. Both are areas where small advantages compound over seven games. If Los Angeles can stay disciplined, avoid giving Colorado power play opportunities, and get contributions from its depth players, they have a path. If the Avalanche play to their regular-season standard, it will be a short spring.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this definitely Anze Kopitar's last season?
Yes. Kopitar announced in September 2025 that he would retire following the 2025-26 season. He has been consistent in that message throughout the year, and his post-season comments have framed this playoff run as his last. Barring a dramatic reversal — which would be unprecedented given how clearly he's communicated his intentions — this Kings-Avalanche series will be the final playoff run of his career.
How does Kopitar rank among the best two-way centers in NHL history?
He's comfortably in the top tier. His combination of offensive production (1,316 career points), defensive recognition (two Selke Trophies), and sportsmanship honors (three Lady Byng Trophies) is essentially unmatched in the modern era. Comparisons to Nicklas Backstrom, Rod Brind'Amour, and even elements of Sergei Fedorov's game are all defensible. What distinguishes Kopitar is the sustained consistency across 20 seasons — not a peak followed by decline, but a long plateau of elite performance.
Can the Kings realistically beat the Avalanche?
It's a significant upset ask, but not impossible. Colorado's 0-3 head-to-head record against the Kings this season, combined with 121 regular-season points and home-ice advantage, makes them heavy favorites. However, the Kings closed the season on a 5-1-1 run and enter with momentum. NHL playoffs have a long history of lower seeds advancing against Presidents' Trophy winners — the format rewards peaking at the right time. Los Angeles will need elite goaltending and disciplined play, but seven games is a long series.
What records does Kopitar hold with the Kings?
He is the Kings' all-time leading scorer with 1,316 points, surpassing Marcel Dionne's franchise record of 1,307 points on March 14, 2026. He is also the longest-tenured player in Kings history, having played all 20 of his NHL seasons with Los Angeles — a rare display of franchise loyalty in an era of free agency and trades.
Where did Kopitar come from originally?
Kopitar was born and raised in Jesenice, Slovenia — a country with a limited hockey infrastructure at the time he was developing as a player. He was drafted 11th overall by the Los Angeles Kings in the 2005 NHL Draft and made his NHL debut in 2006-07 at age 19. His career trajectory from a small Slovenian town to becoming the greatest player in Kings history is one of the more remarkable origin stories in the modern game.
Conclusion: The Last Dance Deserves a Full Audience
Anze Kopitar's final playoff run begins Sunday against the best team in the Western Conference, in a building that has been one of the NHL's toughest road environments all season. The Kings are underdogs. The math from the regular season is discouraging. And yet none of that changes what's actually happening: one of the most complete hockey players of his generation is stepping onto the playoff stage for the last time, with a championship still on his wish list.
Whether or not Los Angeles advances, Kopitar's farewell deserves the attention it's getting. Twenty seasons, two Cups, a franchise scoring record, and a reputation for playing the right way without exception — that's a career that holds up under any scrutiny. If the Kings find a way to win this series, it will rank among the great playoff upsets. If they don't, Kopitar will exit on his own terms, having competed at the highest level until the very end.
For now, puck drop at Ball Arena. One last run.
