Drew Doughty’s connection to the Los Angeles Kings started long before he wore the captain’s “C.” The veteran defenseman shared a handwritten childhood letter he sent to Wayne Gretzky, then the face of the franchise and the player Doughty called his favourite.
Doughty was five when he wrote the note to Gretzky, packing two pages with updates from his own youth hockey life, a request for an autograph and a few details that showed just how closely he was following the Kings.
One line made clear that young Doughty was already taking his games seriously. He wrote that his league did not track results and that the coaches would tell the players every game had finished tied.
He also told Gretzky that the Kings were his top team, adding that his mother had said he used to cry when he was two because he wanted to stay awake to watch hockey.
A young Kings fan writing to The Great One
The letter included a request that Gretzky pass along a greeting to goaltender Kelly Hrudey, an especially memorable touch considering Doughty wrote it as though he and the Kings netminder were already acquainted.
Doughty closed with a postscript congratulating Gretzky on reaching 2,500 NHL points. He also relayed a family connection of sorts, explaining that his grandmother had been at Parkwood Hospital in London, Ontario, where a nurse had attended Gretzky’s wedding.
Years later, Doughty is the Kings’ captain, carrying a role once held by Gretzky in Los Angeles. The letter offers a snapshot of a five-year-old fan who already knew exactly which NHL club he wanted to follow.
