The Kings’ trajectory changed one summer day in 2008, in the midst of an otherwise nondescript offseason, when the organization’s prospects gathered for developmental camp and heard a guest speaker.
Dustin Brown, just five years into his NHL draft year, spoke to the “kids” about what it means to be a pro, on and off the ice. Then-general manager Dean Lombardi lurked in the room and couldn’t believe his ears.
“When I first met this kid two years ago,” Lombardi said in 2008, “he didn’t say a word in my office.”
Three months later, Brown was named the youngest captain in Kings history at 23 years old. Less than four years later, Brown accepted the Stanley Cup from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, having helped oversee the Kings’ transformation from running back to champion.
Brown, now 37, announced Thursday that his 19-year career will end with the conclusion of this Kings playoff run, which begins next week against the Edmonton Oilers. Brown played his final regular-season game Thursday in Vancouver.
At an emotional news conference Friday in El Segundo, Brown said he had been thinking about the decision for months and said he felt it was time for him to “move on.” Brown later noted that, “if we hadn’t made the playoffs, this decision might have been a little harder for me.”
A surprising moment in Vancouver was the hug that Brown shared with Kopitar afterwards.
East @DustinBrown23 @AnzeKopitar A hug will make you feel things you never knew you could feel. pic.twitter.com/mm4Qj6gT8w
—x—LA Kings (@LAKings) April 29, 2022
“I’ve given her a lot of hugs over the course of 16 years together,” Kopitar said Friday. “Of course, it meant a lot to know that she won’t be here next year, which is not the best feeling in the world right now. At the same time, he has done a lot for the organization (and) for me personally.
“I came here when I was 19 years old. He was a shy guy, a quiet guy and so was I. The bond that we develop is brotherhood, it is for life. It is something you treasure until your last day on this planet.”
It was a fitting decision for Brown, the Kings’ captain from 2008 to 2016, to wear the “C” in Vancouver, a decision prompted by Kopitar. “Let’s be honest. That’s who he is,” Kopitar said. “He’s been the leader forever here. It also happened that his first regular-season game as captain was in that building.”
Brown said: “He asked me first. I said, ‘I’d appreciate it.’ More a nod to our relationship than anything else.”
Brown had a trade with Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf after the Kings-Ducks game on April 23, in what was Getzlaf’s penultimate NHL game. “At that point, he was pretty sure he had made his decision,” Brown said. “I told him, ‘Congratulations on your career. It’s been amazing fighting you. I told him, ‘I’m right behind you. I haven’t told anyone yet.’”
Brown has been front and center in what has been, at once, the most exciting, compelling and frustrating period in Kings history. It has been a complicated journey, one that the athletic one Lisa Dillman (Kings Beat writer most recently since 2011) and Rich Hammond (Kings Beat writer from 2005-16) chronicled it. Here, they share thoughts on Brown’s legacy.
The Beginning (2003-07)
dillman: The Kings had plenty of draft capital in the now famous 2003 draft: three first-round picks, highlighted by Brown, whom the Kings took at No. 13.
“We really liked him,” said Al Murray, who was then the Kings’ director of amateur scouting and now works for the Tampa Bay Lightning. the athletic Thursday. “I’m pretty sure we had him around six on our list. I saw him a lot in Guelph (in juniors). The combination of talent and competence from him is hard to find. He was one of the guys that we really wanted that year.”
Brown fell two spots behind Jeff Carter, who was drafted by Philadelphia, and ahead of Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, taken 19th and 28th, respectively, by the Ducks.
The Kings’ other two first-round picks had no impact in LA. Brian Boyle (#26) found success elsewhere after appearing in 36 games with the Kings, while Jeff Tambellini (#27) played 241 NHL games (but only four with the Kings).
Hammond: There’s a reason Lombardi, hired in 2006, hadn’t heard much from Brown. Brown came to Los Angeles in 2003 as one of the first-round picks announced by the Kings that year. He was 18 years old, a long way, both in mileage and style, from his native Ithaca, New York. He was living alone that year, with his girlfriend (and his future wife) across the country, and, quiet by nature, Brown found it difficult to connect with older teammates.
It didn’t help that Brown a) missed much of his rookie season with a severe ankle sprain and played for a coach who didn’t allow injured players near teammates at the Kings’ practice facility, and b ) had a teammate who made fun of him for the way he talked.
Slowly, Brown figured it out. A bowling ball on the ice, Brown became a fan favorite by delivering crushing blows.
The Rise (2008-11)
dillman: At the heart of his career, Brown was a physically striking player and was named team captain in 2008 at age 23, becoming the youngest captain and first American-born captain in franchise history.
“The silent leader,” said veteran NHL executive Jack Ferreira, who was with the Kings for 12 seasons through 2018. “Very smart. He didn’t say much, he just outplayed the opposition every turn. … One of my favorite people in the NHL.”
Hammond: At the end of the 2006-07 season, I asked then-Kings coach Marc Crawford about Brown’s scoring potential. Shortly after, Brown finished that season with an impressive total of 17 goals. Crawford told me that he thought Brown could be a 30-goal scorer. I used the Crawford quote in my story, but largely dismissed this idea, believing it to be unrealistic and perhaps an attempt to motivate Brown.
If so, it worked. Brown scored a career-high 33 goals in 2008 and established his credentials as a winger who could play up the top lane when needed but more often thrived as a third-row striker who could contribute on special teams and that he could play on either side. depending on what the team needed.
Brown never became a rah-rah guy, but no one expected that. His words carried weight, but his style of play and his body language said more. Brown didn’t crave attention either. As the Kings brought in veterans to complement Brown’s young core — Anze Kopitar, Jonathan Quick and Drew Doughty — Brown was happy to have more talkative teammates like Matt Greene, Jarrett Stoll, Willie Mitchell and Justin Williams filling reporters’ notebooks. . If Brown’s ego ever influenced anything he did on or off the ice, he never showed. Not coincidentally, after the Kings drafted Doughty in 2008, Brown became his roommate on road trips.
The Championship era (2012–14)
dillman: The Kings had yet to win a Stanley Cup and the organization was spinning in the 2011-12 season. One of the options under consideration near the trade deadline was moving Brown, who would have had considerable appeal to contending teams. In the end, the decision was made not to change it, and the rest is history.
Another example of the best deals are often the ones that teams don’t make.
The next indelible image is of Bettman handing Brown the Stanley Cup in front of a roaring crowd at Staples Center. Brown took the Stanley Cup from Bettman, pushed it over his head, kissed the Cup, then kissed it two more times before handing it to Mitchell.
Brown helped account for the biggest job in Kings franchise history: winning two Cups and reaching a conference final in the span of three years. Anze Kopitar told me in an interview three years ago about Brown: “His jersey will be retired and he’ll most likely have a statue in front of Staples Center.”
Hammond: One moment from every Stanley Cup race I’ll never forget…
In 2012, the highly underdog, eight-seeded Kings took a 2-0 series lead against the Canucks back at Staples Center. Early in the second period of a 0-0 Game 3, Vancouver’s Henrik Sedin played the puck near the blue line in front of his bench. As Sedin spun around and froze, he absorbed the full 220-pound force of Brown, who delivered a devastating shoulder shot to Sedin’s upper body. Who scored the only goal of the match, in the third half? Brown.
In 2014, the Kings won the Cup again, having completed a grueling 26-game playoff run. In the middle of the celebration on the ice were Brown, his wife and his children, one of whom tugged on Brown’s shirt to get his attention amid a chaotic scene. Brown leaned in to listen to his little boy and then said, above the noise, “Yes, when you wake up tomorrow, the Cup will be there.” What a feeling that was, not just for young Brown but for Kings fans everywhere.
The Aftermath (2015-22)
Hammond: The Kings took the “C” from Brown in June 2016, shortly after a first-round playoff loss to the Sharks that followed a playoffless season. That was a messy two-year stretch for the Kings, including questionable personnel choices, off-ice issues and maybe a personality conflict or two.
But there is often a certain rhythm in professional sports when things start to go wrong. First, the players and/or the leadership need to be changed. So the coach is fired. So the GM goes. The Kings took care of the bottom two on the same day in 2017, but first they sacrificed Brown and made Kopitar their captain.
That’s not a mark against Kopitar, who largely followed Brown’s easy-going, easy-going style and who has been a great role model. But the way the Kings continued to spiral, even after the change in leadership, showed that a Brown captaincy wasn’t the problem, or at least the only problem, and surely didn’t deserve to be publicly embarrassed shortly after leading the Kings to two Stanley Cup championships in three years.
dillman: You learn a lot about a person in the good times and even more in the bad. Management stripped Brown of the captaincy and gave it to Kopitar, in a clumsily executed transition. Despite how it happened, Brown and Kopitar never let it affect their friendship or partnership on the ice.
Brown’s career began with the Kings in one rebuild and will now end after another with the franchise trending and making the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
When you list the all-time greats who played for the Kings organization, there are plenty of shining names, including Wayne Gretzky, Marcel Dionne, Rogie Vachon, Dave Taylor, Luc Robitaille, and Rob Blake. Brown is part of that conversation of Kings greats and is the only one who captained both times the Kings won the Stanley Cup. That singular achievement will forge his legacy with the Kings.
(2012 Dustin Brown photo: Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty Images)
Reference-theathletic.com