CALGARY — Drew Doughty has already lived his Olympic dream twice, winning gold with Canada as a 20-year-old in 2010 in Vancouver and again four years later in Sochi.
Now less than three months shy of his 36th birthday on Dec. 8, the Los Angeles Kings defenseman has a chance to represent Canada again at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.
It is his motivation.
“I expect to be on the team,” Doughty told NHL.com at Hockey Canada’s 2025 National Teams Orientation Camp last month. “I know it’s going to be hard for me to make it, but personally I expect to be on that team. I do think making the best team in the world at 36 years old is quite an accomplishment. That would be amazing. I’ve honestly been thinking about this way too much and it’s still so far away.”
Doughty laments the fact that this could be his fifth Olympic Games instead of his third, admitting to obvious disappointment that NHL players did not participate in the Olympics in 2018 or 2022.
However, he also recognizes what the potential opportunity in Milan next year means for his consistency, longevity and resiliency, how he’s been able to keep his game at a high level even through some tough years in Los Angeles.
By the time he was 26, Doughty had won the Stanley Cup twice (2012, 2014), two Olympic gold medals and the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman (2015-16).
But things changed for him after that.
The NHL didn’t go to the Olympics in 2018, when the Kings were swept in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the expansion Vegas Golden Knights. Los Angeles didn’t make the playoffs from 2019-21, and then NHL players were not able to participate in the 2022 Olympics.
Since then, the Kings haven’t made it out of the first round of the playoffs in the past four seasons, losing each time to the Edmonton Oilers. Doughty also missed the first 47 games last season because of an ankle injury.
“The focus is way different now,” Doughty said. “Now it upsets me my last few years we went through a rebuild, things kind of went downhill in my prime and I feel like people don’t see how good I actually still play out there and I want to show everybody.”
Doughty did in February at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
He was added to Canada’s roster three days before the tournament as an injury replacement for Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo. Doughty went to the 4 Nations having played in only six regular-season games, but he averaged 26:57 of ice time in those games.
“He was injured and sort of off of our radar screen, but I was very impressed with the training he did because he came back and started to play like 26 minutes right out of the gate,” said St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong, who is Canada’s GM for the Olympics and led its management group for the 4 Nations. “I don’t think that was by mistake. He wanted to prove to (coach) Jon [Cooper] and the rest of our staff that he was ready to play.”
Doughty played in each of Canada’s four games, had an assist and averaged 19:57 of ice time, including 20:54 in the 3-2 overtime win against the United States in the championship game.
“I showed I could still play at that level,” Doughty said. “I mean, my ankle was mangled and I did pretty well.”
