Longtime Los Angeles Kings star and captain Anze Kopitar called the team's upcoming five-game trip “a bad time” due to the ongoing wildfires in Southern California.
Not since Wayne Gretzky has a player been better defined as the King of Los Angeles than Kopitar, representing a larger community in his featured role. The Slovenian center could even surpass The Great One.
That takes on a different meaning as the wildfires have caused massive devastation in the Los Angeles area, with at least 10 deaths as a result and widespread property loss.
“We know people who have lost their homes and have also been affected in the most tragic way,” Kopitar said. 'Yes, it's difficult, it's a bad time. I guess at the end of the day we have to do what we have to do, but we are thinking about the families and wishing them all the best.”
The Kings' home game against Calgary on Wednesday was the first sporting event postponed due to the wildfires.
Los Angeles' road trip begins Friday against the Winnipeg Jets and continues with three more games in Canada through next Thursday before finishing the five-game road trip in Seattle.
Kopitar called the team's upcoming trip “a bad time” due to the ongoing wildfires.
At least 10 people have died as a result of the wildfires that massively devastated the area.
The Kings' next scheduled home game is Jan. 20 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“It's extremely difficult to even understand what's going on,” Kopitar said. 'In my 19 years here, I have never seen anything remotely like it. Yes, there were fires, but not in a populated area where people are losing lives, losing homes and pretty much everything they've worked for their entire lives.'
'Obviously thoughts and prayers with everyone who has lost a loved one… it is extremely difficult. “Hopefully this gets under control pretty quickly.”
Kopitar has been with the Kings since 2006 and has been the team's captain since 2016, the fifth-longest tenure in the NHL.
The Kings organization has stated that it will assist with recovery efforts and provide aid to help alleviate the loss caused by the devastation while the team plays out of town.