Former King Brown has No. 23 retired, statue unveiled

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dustin Brown, who captained the Los Angeles Kings to both of their Stanley Cup titles, had his No. 23 retired and a statue of him unveiled during a ceremony before Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Brown played 18 seasons with the Kings before retiring at the end of last season. He holds the franchise record for games played ( 1,296). He was the 13th overall pick in the 2003 NHL draft and made his debut against Detroit on Oct. 9, 2003.

In 2007 he was named the youngest and first American-born captain in franchise history at 23 years old. He was the captain for eight seasons, including when the Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and ‘ 14.

“Throughout my 18 years, I experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. C or no C I always to retire a King,” Brown said during the one-hour ceremony. “Seeing my jersey raised to the rafters, my only hope is that in the future when you look up and see it hanging there, you think not about my achievements but our achievements.”

Brown — who grew up in Ithaca, New York— is the seventh player in the franchise’s 55 seasons to have his number retired. He joins Rob Blake (No. 4), Marcel Dionne (No. 16), Dave Taylor (No. 18), Luc Robitaille (No. 20), Rogie Vachon (No. 30) and Wayne Gretzky (No. 99).

Brown is the third former Kings player to have a statue outside Crypto. com Arena, along with Gretzky and Robitaille.

Before the ceremony began, Brown led the current Kings team onto the ice, where they took their place on stage. The ceremony ended with Brown lifting the Stanley Cup in the same spot he did in 2012 when Los Angeles defeated the New Jersey Devils in six games for its first championship.

“Shortly after being drafted, Dustin said he wanted to be the first King to lift the Stanley Cup. Where else but LA could a script like that happen?” said Rob Scuderi, who played on the Kings with Brown for five seasons.