{"id":639349,"date":"2026-08-08T16:15:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/639349\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:15:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:15:38","slug":"la-kings-make-special-anze-kopitar-announcement-involving-the-montreal-canadiens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/639349\/","title":{"rendered":"LA Kings make special Anze Kopitar announcement involving the Montreal Canadiens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t  &#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/679231.webp\" style=\"width:100%;\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Los Angeles, California, USA;Montreal Canadiens center Jake Evans (71) and Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar (11) chase down the puck in the second period at Crypto.com Arena.\" title=\"Los Angeles, California, USA;Montreal Canadiens center Jake Evans (71) and Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar (11) chase down the puck in the second period at Crypto.com Arena.\"\/>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>A nice coincidence will bring Anze Kopitar and the Montreal Canadiens together.<\/p>\n<p>The Kings will retire their legend&#8217;s jersey during a game against the Canadiens in February 2027.<\/p>\n<p>The official announcement just dropped.<\/p>\n<p>The Los Angeles Kings have announced that the team will honor No. 11 and unveil a bronze statue of the franchise&#8217;s all-time leading scorer on February 24, 2027.<\/p>\n<p>The opponent chosen for that night is no small detail.<\/p>\n<p>Kopitar will see his number raised to the rafters in Los Angeles against the Montreal Canadiens.<\/p>\n<p>And that detail carries some special meaning.<\/p>\n<p>We called it a coincidence earlier, but when you think about it, maybe it isn&#8217;t a coincidence at all.<\/p>\n<p>Marco D&#8217;Amico pointed out that Kopitar has a special connection with Montreal.<\/p>\n<p>During his final game at the Bell Centre, he said Montreal was his favorite hockey market outside Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p>If he had ever signed elsewhere or changed teams, there&#8217;s a good chance he would have chosen the Montreal Canadiens.<\/p>\n<p>Seeing his banner raised with the Canadiens in town is a fitting touch.<\/p>\n<p>Anze Kopitar&#8217;s No. 11 retirement and statue cement his place in Kings history<\/p>\n<p>The honor is fully deserved.<\/p>\n<p>Kopitar left a huge mark on Kings history.<\/p>\n<p>His No. 11 will join the franchise&#8217;s biggest legends.<\/p>\n<p>His jersey will hang alongside those of legends such as Wayne Gretzky, Marcel Dionne, Luc Robitaille and Rob Blake.<\/p>\n<p>Becoming the all-time leading scorer in franchise history deserves to be celebrated.<\/p>\n<p>The bronze statue adds another level of prestige.<\/p>\n<p>Very few athletes receive that kind of honor, one reserved for figures who truly left a lasting mark on their organization.<\/p>\n<p>For Montreal Canadiens fans, it will also be a special moment to watch from afar.<\/p>\n<p>February 24, 2027 promises to be an emotional night.<\/p>\n<p>Previously on Montreal Hockey Fanatics<\/p>\n<p>POLL<\/p>\n<p>22 HOURS AGO|294 ANSWERS<\/p>\n<p>LA Kings make special Anze Kopitar announcement involving the Montreal Canadiens<\/p>\n<p>Do you think the Canadiens were one Anze Kopitar away from winning a Stanley Cup at any point in the last 20 years?<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; &#13; Photo credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images A nice coincidence will bring Anze Kopitar and the Montreal&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5126],"tags":[367,69794,5,26905,186,1760,240,5303,793,145,5304,5302,21,4,69793],"class_list":["post-639349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-kings","tag-anze-kopitar","tag-bronze-statue","tag-hockey","tag-jersey-retirement","tag-kings","tag-la","tag-la-kings","tag-lakings","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-kings","tag-losangeles","tag-losangeleskings","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-nhl","tag-number-11"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117060785103806819","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639349","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=639349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}