EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — As you watched Drew Doughty score his spectacular game-tying goal in the second period of the Kings’ 3-2 overtime win over the Rangers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals, you would have been forgiven for thinking Doughty was one of the NHL’s best forwards instead of one of its top defensemen.
Well, it turns out Doughty spent as much time playing up front as on the blue line as a kid growing up in London, Ontario, where he played center until he arrived at training camp for the London Knights as a 13-year-old.
“We were in camp, I was captain of the team and we were short [defensemen] in camp,” Doughty said after the Kings practiced at the team’s facility Friday morning. “They asked me to play some ‘D’ in camp, and I did well. My coach had actually coached [former Blues, Panthers and Maple Leafs defenseman] Mike Van Ryn, and he had done the same thing with Mike Van Ryn.
“I wasn’t very keen on it at first, but he told me how he went through the same process with him, and I thought maybe it would be a good idea, and obviously it’s worked out pretty well.”
To say it’s worked out “pretty well” is a bit of an understatement, as Doughty has quickly become one of the NHL’s top defensemen since being drafted second overall by the Kings in 2008 and jumping straight into the league. With one Stanley Cup already on his resume and another one just three wins away — plus a pair of Olympic gold medals playing for Team Canada in the past two Olympics as well as a gold medal in the World Junior Championships in 2008 — he’s more than validated general manager Dean Lombardi’s decision to take him.
“When I was getting drafted to this team, before I was even drafted, Dean continually said he wanted a team of winners, and he said to make him a promise that I would be a winner one day in this league, and I promised him that.
“Obviously I didn’t know this was going to come before it happened, but I truly believed I could do those things for this organization.”
About the only thing left for Doughty to win at this point is the Norris Trophy, which goes annually to the league’s top defenseman. But Doughty, who was nominated for the award in 2010 — his second season in the league — said that while he would be honored to someday win the award, gladly would trade not doing so if it meant ending his career with several Stanley Cups instead.
“It’s not the be-all end-all for me at all, but I would [love] to be mentioned among the top three defensemen in this league, because I push myself to be one of the top in the league, and to be recognized that way would be awesome,” Doughty said. “But I can only control what I do. … I can only control what I do here in L.A., and at the end of the day if I’m not considered a top defenseman ever in this league and I win a bunch of Stanley Cups, I really don’t care.”
But after his terrific goal in Game 1, Doughty proved he has the ability to pitch in up front if necessary — something he admitted he thinks he could do, if necessary.
“Sometimes I do,” Doughty said with a smile, when asked if he thinks about playing forward. “Forward is pretty cool. I think I would be a good forward still. … Maybe not as good as I am at defense, but I think I could still do it.”
The Kings, though, undoubtedly will be happy to keep him right where he is.