LOS ANGELES — After 44 seasons, over 4,000 games and two Stanley Cups, longtime Los Angeles Kings play-by-play announcer Nick Nickson is hanging up his headset.
High above the ice at Crypto.com Arena, in a press box that now bears his name, Nickson has spent over four decades turning moments into memories — narrating the highs, the heartbreaks and the history of a franchise that became part of his own.
“You know, the game is so spontaneous, and it’s played by great athletes,” Nickson said. “You never know from one game to the next what you’re going to see. For me, I’ve never seen that before in doing over 4,000 games.”
Born and raised in Rochester, New York, Nickson fell in love with broadcasting at an early age. He started professionally in the American Hockey League before joining the Kings in 1981. Back then, Wayne Gretzky hadn’t yet arrived. The team had worn purple and gold and there were very few playoff wins.
But Nickson was there when it all changed.
He called the arrival of Gretzky in 1988 a seismic moment that put hockey on the Southern California map. He tracked the rise of stars such as Luc Robitaille and Anze Kopitar. He was behind the mic for the franchise’s most unforgettable triumphs — when the Kings hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2012 and again in 2014.
“I’d like to think that over the years I figured out how to do it the right way on most nights,” Nickson said.
He still starts every game the same way — pen and paper in hand, ready to document the chaos, rhythm and beauty of a sport that has defined his life.
“Those moments are some of the things I will probably miss,” he said.
For Kings fans like Luis Da Rosa, Nickson’s voice wasn’t just a part of the game — it was the game.
“Having Nick Nickson be there as a staple, as a pillar for us, has been great,” Da Rosa said. “He’s the soundtrack of my childhood and now my adulthood.”
Nickson was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015 and honored with the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for excellence in broadcasting.
Yet even with the accolades, he’s remained humble — more storyteller than star.
As the Kings begin their latest playoff run, Nickson has announced this will be his final postseason.
Fittingly, it begins against Edmonton—the same franchise that marked the early chapters of his career and has ended LA’s playoff hopes in each of the past three seasons.
This time, he hopes the Oilers are just the beginning of one last ride.
“It would give me the hat trick, right?” Nickson said with a smile. “Everybody likes to go out a winner. And for myself, that would be splendor in the grass.”
He never scored a goal. Never recorded a point. But few have meant more to this franchise.
Nick Nickson — a true King among Kings — whose voice now echoes from the rafters.
