
Anze Kopitar, the Los Angeles Kings’ longtime star and captain, has dubbed the team’s impending five-game road trip ‘poor timing’ given the recent wildfires in Southern California.
Since Wayne Gretzky, no athlete has better identified himself as a Los Angeles King than Kopitar, who represents a broader community in his starring role. The Slovenian center may even surpass The Great One. That takes on new significance as flames have wreaked havoc in the Los Angeles area, killing at least ten people and causing massive property damage.
‘We know people that have lost their home and have been affected by it in the most tragic ways too,’ Kopitar said. ‘Yeah, it’s hard, it’s bad timing. At the end of the day, I guess, we‘ve got to do what we got to do, but we’re thinking about the families and wishing them all the best.’
The Kings’ home matchup against Calgary on Wednesday was the first sporting event postponed due to the wildfires.
Los Angeles’ road trip starts Friday against the Winnipeg Jets and continues with three more games in Canada through next Thursday before finishing the five-game swing in Seattle.
The Kings next scheduled home game is on January 20 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
‘It’s extremely hard to even comprehend what’s going on,’ Kopitar said. ‘In my 19 years here, I’ve never seen anything remotely close. Yeah, there were fires, but not in a populated area to where people are losing lives, losing houses and pretty much everything that they’ve worked for their entire life.’
‘Obviously thoughts and prayers with everybody that have lost a loved one… it’s extremely hard. Hopefully this gets under control fairly quickly.’
Kopitar has been with the Kings since 2006 and has served as the team’s captain since 2016, the fifth-longest tenure in the NHL.
The Kings’ organization has stated it will help with recovery efforts and provide aid to help ease the loss caused by the devastation while the team plays out of town.
For Friday’s game in Winnipeg, both the Jets and the Kings will have a decal honoring the Los Angeles Fire Department on the back of their helmets.