The Kings and Ducks will head east on the 10 Freeway to drop the puck on their exhibition schedule at Sunday’s Empire Classic in Ontario.
While both teams were still brimming with training-camp participants as rounds of cuts were yet to come, the maiden voyage of the preseason will set sail with a prominent contract situation looming over each club.
For the Kings, it’s less urgent. Top scorer and emergent leader Adrian Kempe is in the final season of his contract and, having just turned 29, he is in line for what projects to be the biggest contract of his career.
General manager Ken Holland said he began talks with Kempe’s agent, J.P. Barry, in earnest at June’s scouting combine and was optimistic about the possibility of a new agreement. The Kings have lost their top unrestricted free agents in consecutive offseasons, defensemen Matt Roy and Vladislav Gavrikov, and they’d love to avert that situation with an even more vital player like Kempe.
“I’ve met with Kenny before a couple of times; I’ve talked with him as well. I’ve said this before, that I’m not in a huge rush,” Kempe said Thursday when camp opened. “Whenever it happens, it’s going to happen. I want to focus on hockey, I don’t want to sit on a call every other day. We’ll take our time, and hopefully get it done soon.”
The Ducks have been in protracted negotiations with Mason McTavish and his rep, Pat Morris, and now the restricted free agent’s lack of a firm pact has kept him out of the early stages of training camp.
McTavish, 22, is a player Ducks GM Pat Verbeek would like to keep in the fold, unlike the tepid commitment shown to Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegras two years ago, when they held out well into camp under similar circumstances. Both were later traded.
Retaining McTavish long-term could be even more important to the Ducks given their heavy turnover, particularly in terms of long-tenured players. Both Cam Fowler and John Gibson, they of more than a decade on Katella Avenue, were dealt in the 2025 calendar year, as was the one-time potential face of the franchise Zegras.
Now, Troy Terry is the longest-standing Duck, situated between a still-promising young nucleus and a broadened array of veterans after a busy offseason, which also included bringing in highly accomplished coach Joel Quenneville.
“It happened quickly. I’ve played with a lot of great people here, but we’ve brought a lot of new guys in. It’s a little weird, a lot of the guys, well, all of them, that I came in here with have moved on,” Terry said. “It is sort of a weird feeling, but I’m super excited about the new guys we got and the direction. It feels like a new day with a new path for us this year.”
Preseason: Ducks vs. Kings
When: 3 p.m. Sunday
Where: Toyota Arena, Ontario
How to watch: AnaheimDucks.com