With a revamped look – take a gander at all that orange – and a fresh outlook, the Ducks will be the last team to start a regular season in which they hope not to be among the first clubs to conclude again this year.
Before they can even begin to envision a playoff berth, they’ll have to get down to the grueling business of the campaign, which will be punctuated by these four marquee matchups.
Jan. 11 at Philadelphia Flyers
When news emerged that Cutter Gauthier was traded from Philly to Orange County because he refused to sign with the Flyers, their fans didn’t take it exceptionally well. A substantial contingent even traveled from Philadelphia to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts to boo and jeer Gauthier at his next game for Boston College following the swap for Jamie Drysdale and a 2025 second-round draft pick. Now, nearly 20,000 of those same fans will be in full throat as Gauthier enters the Wells Fargo Center for the first time in a Ducks uniform. Gauthier, who trash-talked the University of Denver before losing last year’s national championship game, is no stranger to antagonism and already said he had the game circled emphatically on his calendar.
Jan. 25 vs. Nashville Predators
In another “what if” game that has potential to ignite emotions, the Ducks will host Nashville, which raided the free agency chest this summer in a way the Ducks only aspired to do. Not only did the Predators land Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault, a pair of right-hand-shooting and Stanley-Cup-winning forwards whom the Ducks coveted, they added defender Brady Skjei as well. While Barry Trotz bettered Pat Verbeek in a front-office firefight, the Ducks will have this and two other clashes with the Preds to prove their mettle on the ice.
March 1 vs. Chicago Blackhawks
For the second consecutive season, Chicago picked right in front of the Ducks, selecting Calder Trophy winner Connor Bedard in front of Leo Carlsson in 2023 and then defenseman Artyom Levshunov before the Ducks shook up the draft board with their selection of winger Beckett Sennecke in June. This final meeting of the season might offer the best Carlsson vs. Bedard showdown to date. Sennecke and Levshunov sustained foot injuries during training camp and a head-to-head meeting seems unlikely. Levshunov will start the year on injured reserve, while Sennecke healed but was sent back to his junior club near the conclusion of the preseason schedule.
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April 10 at Kings
The Kings have made a comfortable home on the playoff bubble these past three seasons, qualifying and starting on the road each time, while the Ducks hope to ascend to that level after a half-dozen lean years. Whether or not the Ducks still have designs on a postseason berth or not at this point, the Kings have taken their fate down to the wire in recent years, including last season when an upset victory by the Ducks on April 9 denied, or at least deferred, the Kings’ chance to clinch a spot.