EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Los Angeles Kings captain Anže Kopitar announced Thursday that he will retire after this season, the 20th of his career.Kopitar, 38, likely is headed to the Hockey Hall of Fame after he concludes a career that has included Stanley Cup championships in 2012 and 2014, along with Selke Trophy wins in 2016 and 2018. Kopitar, the first native of Slovenia to play in the NHL, also has been awarded the Lady Byng Trophy three times (2016, 2023, 2025).Kopitar made the announcement with a news conference at the Kings’ practice facility at the end of the first day of training camp, alongside his wife, Ines, and their children, Neža and Jakob.“These guys sitting here with me have been with me,” Kopitar said, “and now they deserve a husband and a dad to be home to be present for the moments that are going to be leading up, especially for these guys (children). They’re soon going to be teenagers, and we all know that that’s a very important time of their lives, and I want to be as present as I can be.“Why announce now? I just felt that, in a simple way to put it, I want to get this out of the way now, to where I’m not a distraction for the team. For example, if we’re in a fight coming down the stretch, the last thing I want to do is take any attention away from the team and put it on myself. I just felt that this is the best time. But in saying that, I am looking extremely forward to this next season. I still have a lot of motivation. I’ve got a lot of energy, a lot of desire to compete at the very highest level, and the moves that we’ve made, the moves that (GM) Ken (Holland) made, I think we’re a better team than we were last year and I just cannot wait to get going.”