Anze Kopitar leaves game due to potential concussion (video)

Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar left Tuesday’s game against the St. Louis Blues and has been placed under concussion protocol.

The Los Angeles Kings got a huge 3-0 win over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night. In the first period, star center Anze Kopitar was removed from the game after a hard hit from Blues forward Ryan Reaves. At the time, the Kings called it an upper body injury. Kings head coach Darryl Sutter confirmed after the game that the Kings were following concussion protocol when they removed Kopitar from the game.

Any amount of time that the Kings don’t have Kopitar hurts the Kings significantly because Kopitar is such an important player for them. He has four goals through his team’s first 12 games. In 695 career games, all with the Kings, Kopitar has scored 222 goals and has 614 points. Kopitar has been an integral part of the Kings two recent Stanley Cup winning teams with a combined 46 points in 46 games in the playoffs during those two Stanley Cup runs.

Kopitar is the Kings most reliable center. He might not be the most productive as far as points, but that’s mainly because Kopitar consistently faces the toughest minutes of any Kings center. He’s asked to take a majority of the tough draws and has averaged over two minutes per game killing penalties for a majority of his career. His production has dropped over the past few seasons, but the Kings still dominate shot attempts whenever Kopitar is on the ice.

If Kopitar misses time, expect Jeff Carter, Nick Shore, and Andy Andreoff to each get a share of the faceoffs that Kopitar takes. Andreoff and Shore would be the best candidates to take on Kopitar’s first line role. The Kings are 8-4-0 this season as they look to rebound from last season and return to the playoffs. Reaves was fined for the hit by the NHL.