Anze Kopitar signs two-year extension with Los Angeles Kings

Anze Kopitar isn’t going anywhere, Los Angeles Kings fans.

The team has announced they have signed the long-time center to a two-year extension worth $7 million per season. The deal will run until the end of 2025-26.

According to Cap Friendly, Kopitar’s deal will have a $775,000 base salary in the first year with $6.225 million in bonuses available. His second year will be $7 million in just base salary, with a no-movement clause for both years.

Kopitar has spent his entire 17-season career with the Kings, recently finishing as the team’s leading scorer with 28 goals and 74 points. It’s the 15th time Kopitar has led the team in scoring, with just Gordie Howe (17) to lead one single team in scoring 15 times or more. Kopitar won his second Lady Byng Trophy in 2023 after finishing with just four penalty minutes, with his previous victory coming in 2016.

“Los Angeles has become home for me and my family, and I’m excited to extend my career here,” Kopitar said in a team release. “I’ve been with this organization through it all and I know our group is close to achieving something special. I look forward to helping us reach that next level and achieving the ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup again.”

Taken 11th overall in 2005, Kopitar has 393 goals and 1,141 points in 1,292 career games with the Kings. He is among the Kings’ leaders in most notable scoring leaders and was a huge part of Los Angeles two Stanley Cup victories in 2012 and 2014.

Kopitar is by far the most successful player out of Slovenia, and has experience at six IIHF men’s World Hockey Championships and various other events at different levels. Kopitar also was captain of Team Europe at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, leading the team to a second-place finish.

Kopitar has one more year left on his current deal at $10,000,000. The team is $751,667 over the salary cap, but will save an extra $3 million per year with Kopitar’s reduced rate starting next year. Los Angeles made a big swing this summer by acquiring Pierre-Luc Dubois ahead of the NHL Draft, giving the team a big-three center core of Kopitar, Duboi and Phillip Danault.