Jim Jamieson, The Province November 10, 2011

Drew Doughty aspires to be the best defenceman in the world.

The Kings' young blueliner is talented enough to get there one day, but trying to make up for a lost training camp that was the casualty of a contract stalemate and justify the resulting eight-year $56 million deal, took him off his game in the early going.

A shoulder injury that cost him the last two weeks of October didn't help much either, but scoring his first goal of the season in Tuesday's 4-3 win over Nashville and leading his team, as usual, in ice-time at 23: 31 was a sign that things are turning around.

The Kings had an excellent start at 5-1-1, but hit a 1-4-2 slide before beating Nashville here on Tuesday.

Doughty is one of the differencemakers the Kings need to be at his best to keep the trend going when they host the Canucks tonight (7: 30 p.m., SNV, TEAM 1040).

"I think when I first came back, I felt great," said Doughty, who doesn't turn 22 until Dec. 9.

"I felt really good the first couple of games. Then the injury came and I was a little slow to come back, but I feel better now. I'm getting my legs under me. I'm starting to play a few more minutes again. Once I'm playing a lot of minutes I'm into the game and I play my best."