LAK FINAL NOTE: A RIDE INTO THE SUNSET

LOS ANGELES, CA — As the Los Angeles Kings return to the post-season for the first time since 2018, they will do so with a bittersweet taste in their collective mouths. The first of their Core Four of the championship era, the captain of the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup winners, Dustin Brown has made the decision to retire after 18 NHL seasons and playing almost 1,400 total games, all in a Kings uniform.

The announcement came on Thursday as the Kings were preparing for their final game of the season in Vancouver, but the decision to step away from the game was not sudden. With his legacy cemented and his family’s future set, the choice to end his playing career with the final Kings game of the 2021-22 season evolved over the past few months, one in which he experienced reduced playing time and endured a painful hand injury which required surgery and sidelined him during the Los Angeles’ stretch-drive to the playoffs. The final, official decision was made just a few days ago but there were only two choices, retirement or one last season in Los Angeles. There was no appetite to chase a third ring with another franchise as some NHL veterans have.

I’ve been one of the few privileged to witness the novelty of a player playing a long NHL career with one franchise – a rarity in the days of salary cap and free agency – but not only to watch the accomplishments of the player but over the course of two decades, I’ve got to know the man, as well.

When Dustin Brown arrived in Los Angeles in 2003, he had not been west of Detroit and was painfully shy – I can’t recall him saying more than three words in a rookie season that saw him experience multiple ankle injuries limiting him to 31 games.  But from his second season on, he developed into a prototypical NHL power forward – scoring goals with net front presence combined with being one of the feared body checkers in the game.

He grew as the others did in the LA Core Four – Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty and Jonathan Quick – with it culminating with two championships that most Kings fans thought they would never see. I’m not the go-to-guy from a Kings historical perspective, but those were the best of times: the thunderous check on Henrik Sedin in their first round upset of the Canucks and the 20 points in 20 games output during the run to the first Cup, but my most vibrant memory was him reminding me that I picked against the Kings in every round leading up to the Final and encouraged me to pick New Jersey (spoiler: I picked the Kings.)

But the path to those titles were far from smooth. Though he wore the “C” through those triumphant days, had another scenario taken place, specifically the trade rumors in 2012 that were fueled by his tenuous relationship with coach Darryl Sutter, and had sanity not reigned to keep him in Los Angeles, the two banners that sit above the ice here would have never been raised.

And that’s where I got to know the essence of the man, in the days around those trade rumors. I learned of his loyalty to his wife Nicole, his high school sweetheart who followed him to Los Angeles from upstate New York and her powerful advocacy for him through the tough times. I learned about his dry sense of humor and how it’s not limited to just his friends but the media (otherwise known as pigeons). During the lockout, I learned what dirty the word “escrow” truly means to an NHL player and recalling long text conversations about the prospect of playing in Russia at that time – he came very close to signing with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg before decided to join Zurich SC in Switzerland. And sorry to disappoint 31 other fans bases (and yes, a faction of Kings fans), but I learned that the person away from the ice is a quality man that you would welcome into your family with open arms. He’s not the villain many outside Los Angeles portray him to be.

That’s the thing the public doesn’t see, the development of a relationship in the framework of professional sports and the media who cover it. Trust, when it is extended from a professional athlete, is the rarest of commodities, and if broken, it’s like a priceless vase that shatters when dropped, it’s impossible to repair. Even when opening up, he is a man of few words but in doing so those words carry more weight. The balance to achieve both a professional and personal relationship with an athlete is a challenging one but as I’ve come to learn, when people of like minds (in this case, straight shooters) find a thread between them, it’s obtainable.

When the captaincy was passed to Anze Kopitar the days following were difficult ones for Brown without even asking. A prideful man was stripped of something he carried proudly, and it not being far removed from when he raised the Stanley Cup for the second time added to the impact. Despite that devastating decision by management, he gathered himself and moved on, often playing through injury and mentoring the next generation of Kings while in the pursuit of a third championship that has yet to be captured. But time does heal wounds and it’s almost come full circle in what is now his final season, he’s matter-of-factly worn the “A” of the alternate captain role alongside Kopitar.

There have been both great public and private moments with the Browns, seeing them with the Cup on the ice in their home rink moments after winning it all, the ensuing Cup parties, births of children, discussions about coaches and playing time. But now, with the end clearly in sight is there truly a better way to go out than finishing your playing days in the Stanley Cup playoffs?

Once the season concludes the next step is obvious, his number 23 raised to the rafters on the corner of 11th and Figueroa and the first of the Core Four to get the honor. The presence of numerous youngsters on this surprising playoff team accelerated the move to the next generation but the clear first sign of the next hockey chapter being written in Los Angeles will be when that jersey reaches its apex in the rafters.

 It’s a good bet I’ll be in the building that night.