"General Manager Dean Lombardi often refers to the Kings' youth-fueled rebuilding process as "turning it over to the kids."

On Saturday, he turned his checkbook over to one of those kids, reaching agreement with first-line center Anze Kopitar on a seven-year, $47.6-million contract extension.

Kopitar, 21, will earn $765,000 this season, the finale of his current contract. The new deal will begin next season and run through 2015-16. The cap hit will be $6.8 million a year, though his salary will be less than that in the first few seasons and more than that in the later stages.

"I don't think there was any question we were going to get five to seven or it wouldn't have made sense to do right now," Lombardi said, referring to the duration of the deal.

The signing locks in another piece of the Kings' projected foundation.

Winger Dustin Brown, the team's newly appointed captain, signed a six-year, $19.05-million deal a year ago. Patrick O'Sullivan missed training camp while negotiating a new deal but signed a three-year, $8.775-million deal earlier this week.

Defenseman Drew Doughty, chosen second in the June entry draft, also is under contract for three years and was scheduled to make his NHL debut Saturday.

"We have a lot of good young players here," Kopitar said. "Sully signed for three years and Drew, and Brownie for six years. These are guys that are the core guys of the team, and seeing that I just went for seven years and I felt comfortable with that.

"I really like L.A. I like everything about it and I just want to stay here."

Kopitar, who was designated an alternate captain last week, also said he was determined to forge an agreement before the season began -- a deadline he beat by about 12 hours. Getting it done amicably was important to him, too.

"I'm glad, so now I can focus on hockey," said the 21-year-old Slovenian, who led the Kings in scoring last season with 32 goals and 77 points.

"If I wouldn't sign you never know what happens and I definitely didn't want a Sully case again. That's pretty painful.""