{"id":452970,"date":"2026-02-10T06:12:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T06:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/452970\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T06:12:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T06:12:44","slug":"kings-week-ahead-schedule-storylines-olympic-break-edition-the-hockey-writers-los-angeles-kings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/452970\/","title":{"rendered":"Kings Week Ahead: Schedule & Storylines \u2013 Olympic Break Edition – The Hockey Writers – Los Angeles Kings"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NHL season is currently paused for the 2026 Winter Olympic Break, which runs from Feb. 5 through Feb. 25. While the Los Angeles Kings as a team are off, attention turns to the five Kings players representing their countries in Milano Cortina.<\/p>\n

The Olympic Break & Playoff Push<\/p>\n

The Kings entered the break in a fierce battle for positioning in the Pacific Division. With the race tightening against the Vegas Golden Knights, Seattle Kraken, and Edmonton Oilers, this three-week pause offers critical rest\u2014especially for captain Anze Kopitar, who recently returned from an 11-game injury absence and recorded his 1,300th career point<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Drew Doughty\u2019s Legacy<\/p>\n

Just before the break, defenseman Drew Doughty recorded his 700th career point<\/a>, becoming the first defenseman in franchise history to reach that milestone. He now heads to the Olympics as a veteran leader for Team Canada, looking to add to his gold medal collection (2010, 2014).<\/p>\n

The \u201cOvertime Kings\u201d<\/p>\n

Heading into the break, Los Angeles developed a reputation for tight, low-scoring games that frequently went beyond regulation. While they have been collecting points, their inability to close out games in regulation could hurt them in tie-breaker scenarios down the stretch.<\/p>\n

Related \u2013 Guide to the 2026 Winter Olympics Men\u2019s Hockey Tournament<\/a><\/p>\n

Olympic Storylines<\/p>\n

Kings in Milano Cortina
Five Kings players have traveled to Italy to compete. Their performance is the main event for Kings fans this week.<\/p>\n

Drew Doughty & Darcy Kuemper (Team Canada): Doughty is a lock on the blue line, providing championship experience. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper is in a three-way battle for the starting crease, potentially sharing duties with Jordan Binnington (St. Louis Blues) or Logan Thompson (Washington Capitals).<\/p>\n

Adrian Kempe (Team Sweden): Kempe is expected to play a top-six role for a stacked Swedish team. His speed and scoring ability make him a primary offensive weapon for Tre Kronor.<\/p>\n

Kevin Fiala (Team Switzerland): Fiala is the offensive engine for the Swiss. As one of their few elite NHL scorers, he will carry a heavy workload and is critical to any upset bid they make.<\/p>\n

Joel Armia (Team Finland): A key depth piece for Finland, Armia\u2019s defensive responsibility and penalty-killing prowess secured him a spot on a roster that prioritizes structure and grit.<\/p>\n

Kings Olympic Schedule This Week<\/p>\n

DateTime (PT)MatchupKings Players InvolvedWed, Feb 113:10 AMSUI vs. FRAKevin Fiala (SUI)7:40 AMCAN vs. CZEDoughty, Kuemper (CAN)7:40 AMFIN vs. SVKJoel Armia (FIN)12:10 PMSWE vs. ITAAdrian Kempe (SWE)Thu, Feb 123:10 AMSWE vs. FINKempe (SWE) vs. Armia (FIN)12:10 PMSUI vs. CANFiala (SUI) vs. Doughty\/Kuemper (CAN)Sat, Feb 143:10 AMSWE vs. SVKAdrian Kempe (SWE)7:40 AMFIN vs. ITAJoel Armia (FIN)3:10 PMSUI vs. CZEKevin Fiala (SUI)7:40 PMCAN vs. FRADoughty, Kuemper (CAN)<\/p>\n

AI tools were used to support the creation or distribution of this content, however, it has been carefully edited and fact-checked by a member of The Hockey Writers editorial team. For more information on our use of AI, please visit our Editorial Standards<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NHL season is currently paused for the 2026 Winter Olympic Break, which runs from Feb. 5 through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5126],"tags":[3189,366,883,5,1270,186,1760,240,5303,793,145,5304,5302,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-452970","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-kings","8":"tag-2026-winter-olympics","9":"tag-adrian-kempe","10":"tag-drew-doughty","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-kevin-fiala","13":"tag-kings","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-la-kings","16":"tag-lakings","17":"tag-los-angeles","18":"tag-los-angeles-kings","19":"tag-losangeles","20":"tag-losangeleskings","21":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116044860940864017","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}