He was born in London, Ontario, the son of Paul and Connie Doughty. He was introduced to hockey when he was given a mini stick for his first birthday, was skating by the age of two and was playing before he was four. Doughty also played soccer as a youth as a goaltender – his father had a history with the game and his sister Chelsea is named after the English team of the same name. He was considered for a provincial under-14 team, but gave up the sport at 13 to focus on hockey. Nonetheless, Doughty felt that his time playing goal in soccer helped him develop an awareness of the players and the game in hockey.