Dustin Brown can leave an impression.
That was clear early in his Kings career. As a 20-year-old forward with fewer than 40 NHL games on his resume, he went to work. In one week, he clobbered three future Hall of Famers -- Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom, the Ducks' Chris Pronger and Colorado's Joe Sakic -- to start the 2005-06 season.
Some remember. "I recall that. I had the puck, then I was on the ice," Lidstrom said.
Some don't. "Nope, don't remember it," Pronger said.
"Who can Brown hit for you?" became a running joke.
That was the easy part of NHL life for Brown. A shy man, with a minor lisp, Brown tried to go unnoticed in what was at the time a volatile dressing room.
So this summer when that same wallflower stood up at the Kings' prospects camp and launched into a thoughtful life-in-the-NHL speech, team officials were stunned.
"I went upstairs and told [General Manager] Dean Lombardi, 'I just saw your team captain speak,' " said Jack Ferreira, special assistant to the GM.
The kid who two years ago said he "had blinders on" in the dressing room was given the jersey with a "C" this season. He had grown into it.
"Maybe two years ago, I wouldn't have believed this," he said.
Brown, now 24, chose to be here, seeking a long-term deal, which Lombardi was more than happy to give. The six-year, $19.05-million contract will probably be well below Brown's market value in a few years.
He is comfortable in Los Angeles, where he is finally among his peers on the ice.
Brown is also now a father, with another child on the way. Nicole Brown, his wife, is due in April.
"He was a very, very quiet kid, but we all saw the pure talent," said former teammate Luc Robitaille, now the team's president of business operations. "Looking back, I realize he was sitting, watching, trying to learn what it takes to be professional."
A Brown hit is hard to miss. There's the sound of a body being pounded against the boards, followed by primal screams from Kings fans at Staples Center.
Brown skates away, often with the victim in tow, chirping at him.
That's how it played out with Pronger, then with the Edmonton Oilers. He may choose to have a lapse in memory, but the night it happened, Pronger went after Brown, verbally anyway, yakking at him for 10 seconds while play continued.
It was part of a whirlwind week where Brown battered three players who have won seven Norris Trophies, two Hart Trophies and one Conn Smythe Trophy.
