On Saturday Los Angeles Kings right winger Dustin Brown of Ithaca, New York was honoured on Saturday night with his retirement ceremony. The Kings captain from 2008 to 2016 who was their all-time leader in games played with 1296, was the eighth player in Kings franchise history to have his number retired. Brown, who wore number 23 from 2003 to 2022, also was honoured with his own statute outside of crypto.com Arena.
Since the honour, the Kings have been dominant. They clobbered the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-0 on February 11, and then beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 on Monday. That means the Kings have outscored their opponents by nine goals. The number nine also has some significance for Brown, as that was the number of goals Brown scored in his final NHL regular season.
Career Stats
Brown has 325 goals and 387 assists for 712 points in 1296 games. He was a -36 with 738 penalty minutes, 200 power-play points, 13 shorthanded points, 42 game-winning goals, and 3360 shots on goal. Brown also won the Mark Messier Award in 2013-14, was selected to the 2009 NHL All-Star Game. He was also part of the Kings’s team that won their first two Stanley Cup titles in franchise history. They defeated the New Jersey Devils in six games in 2012, and then the New York Rangers in five games in 2015.
Six Prior Kings honoured
The six Kings who have also been recognized over the years with a number retirement ceremony have been Canadian. They were Rogie Vachon of Palmarolle, Quebec (30), Marcel Dionne of Drummondville, Quebec (16), Dave Taylor of Levack, Ontario (18), Wayne Gretzky of Brantford, Ontario (99), Lucky Robitaille of Montreal, Quebec (20), and Rob Blake of Simcoe, Ontario (four).
Two wins since ceremony
On Saturday, Adrian Kempe scored four goals for the Kings in the six-goal rout. Once during his NHL career Brown scored four times for the Kings in a single game. That came in a 5-4 Los Angeles win over the Minnesota Wild on April 5, 2018. Then on Monday, the Kings scored four second period goals in the three-goal win over Buffalo.
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