Doughty goes off again, throws in the towel

In case you missed it, Los Angeles Kings defensemen Drew Doughty went on a bit of a media rampage last week, throwing Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk and San Jose Sharks defenseman Brent Burns under the bus in quick succession.

First off Doughty teed off on Tkachuk ahead of a matchup against the Flames, saying that he has “no respect for him.” 

You may recall that Tkachuk earned himself a two games suspension during his rookie season in 2017-18 for viciously elbowing Doughty in the head.

Check it out:

Apparently Doughty hasn’t forgotten. Check out these comments from Doughty on his arch-nemesis courtesy of Sportsnet’s Eric Francis:

After thoroughly assassinating Tkachuk’s character, Doughty turned his focus to Burns, calling him out as a bogus Norris Trophy candidate.

Check it out:

“All you’ve got to do is watch one San Jose Sharks game and you’ll see Brent Burns get beat three times a game, literally, and everybody has him up for the Norris. I just don’t get it.”

A week later, it seems not even Doughty’s own Kings will be spared from criticism. When asked by Kings insider Lisa Dillman of The Athletic about his team’s remaining four games, Doughty was blunt in his reply:

Yikes… how’s that for veteran leadership?

To be fair, Doughty’s a proven winner and it can’t be easy to play for a team that’s dead last in the Western Conference. Here’s hoping that with a healthy Jonathan Quick and a fresh voice behind the bench that the Kings have a better campaign in 2019-20. Then again… it is refreshing to hear an NHLer speak his mind like Doughty has the past week. Maybe it won’t be so bad if the Kings continue to dwell in the basement of the league.