9/24 Preseason Preview – Tonight’s Lineup + Year Two-zmenko, Kuemper’s Progress, Opportunity for Thomas

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings are right back at it this evening as they visit the Anaheim Ducks for their second preseason game in as many days, with a short trip down to Orange County.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings and Ducks will square off four times during the 2025 preseason, with tonight’s game the second of two meetings between the two clubs. The Kings won 3-1 in the preseason opener on Sunday and the two teams will square off twice more – in Bakersfield and Los Angeles – over the next two weeks.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings are expected to dress a more veteran-laden lineup in toinght’s game against the Ducks.

Here is the expected game group for this afternoon’s tilt –

Forwards (13) – Adrian Kempe, Anze Kopitar, Alex Laferriere, Kevin Fiala, Akil Thomas, Kenny Connors, Jeff Malott, Martin Chromiak, Quinton Byfield, Francesco Pinelli, Aatu Jamsen, Samuel Helenius, Andrei Kuzmenko

Defensemen (7) – Joel Edmundson, Kyle Burroughs, Drew Doughty, Mikey Anderson, Henry Brzustewicz, Jared Woolley, Brandt Clarke

Goaltenders (3) – Erik Portillo, Darcy Kuemper, Isaiah Saville

Expecting preseason debuts this evening for Adrian Kempe, Anze Kopitar and Andrei Kuzmenko up front, along with Mikey Anderson and Drew Doughty on the blueline. Nice and easy trip to Anaheim for the veterans to open up their preseason slate. Joining that group are players who played in the Empire Classic on Sunday as well as a group playing for the first time, looking to make their first impression of training camp. As always, it’s a mixed bag early in the preseason, but this group does have a bit more experience than usual.

Based on today’s morning skate, here is a projected lineup for tonight –

Expecting this alignment from today’s @LAKings morning skate –

Kuzmenko – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Byfield – Laferriere
Malott – Helenius – Thomas
Jamsen – Connors – Chromiak

Anderson – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Woolley – Burroughs

Kuemper / Portillo https://t.co/nsuPnR2Bq2

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) September 24, 2025

DUCKS VITALS: Playing at home this evening, expecting a fairly experienced group on the Anaheim front, as it typically the case during the preseason.

For reference, here’s how Anaheim lined up on Monday against Utah –

Here’s who we fly with tonight. #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/9860rernFf

— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) September 23, 2025

Storyline Of The Day – Year Two-zmenko
Andrei Kuzmenko made it clear why he decided to return to the Kings this offseason. He believes.

“I believe in this organization,” Kuzmenko said. “I like this team, everyone is great, the players are good but great humans, it’s just so important to me. The coaching staff, who last season gave me belief in myself, is a great moment for me. I like the Kings and I want it to work with this team. I want to win. I want to go to the playoffs and go to the Cup with this team. I believe and that’s my choice.”

At the end of last season, Kuzmenko said that he gets it now. He’s referenced his past before and hasn’t shied away from things not working in other areas. Three teams and five coaches in three seasons as he’s put it. The skill level is undeniable and this is a player who scored 39 goals in this league just a couple of seasons back. What he gets is the other stuff, the way he needs to play to contribute in other ways as well. His offensive gifts aren’t suppressed when he does that, as we saw last season.

Kuzmenko pointed to Jim Hiller as a coach who “made me believe in myself”. He’s spoken highly of his relationship with Hiller a few times now. When he joined the Kings at the trade deadline, Kuzmenko went seven games without a point. You could see his ability, though, and the Kings won six of those seven games. Kuzmenko appreciated Hiller keeping him on the top forward line, despite not scoring. Then he exploded, with 23 points (8-15-23) from 21 games, including the playoffs.

Kuzmenko is back in that spot, with Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe, and there is belief in picking up right where they left off a season ago.

“High skill players and we have a good connection,” he added. “We understand the connection, me, Kopi and Juicy, it’s one mind, three players. We understand the next move, but we need a little work to be better in the offensive zone. I think if we have everyone’s 100 percent work, we’ll have good results.”

The contract Kuzmenko signed over the summer is one that Ken Holland feels should be a win/win. For the team, it’s a one-year commitment at a very manageable salary cap number. If the Kings get exactly who Kuzmenko was last season, it’s a home run. For Kuzmenko, his ceiling is higher than the contract he signed. Now he has a comfortable situation to show it, and a one-year term which won’t prevent him from cashing in if he plays as he did last season.

First look this fall at Kuzmenko and his line tonight in Anaheim.

3 To Watch For –
– Preseason debut for goaltender Darcy Kuemper!

Coming off a fine season, one that saw him finish third in the Vezina Trophy voting, Kuemper is back for another go, looking to keep things going. When he arrived in Los Angeles last year, there were things in his game that he and goaltending coach Mike Buckley felt needed to be changed. I think the results were evident.

“We’re building off things instead of changing things, so that’s a kind of a jump start on the season,” Kuemper said. “It’s been feeling really good. There’s an early comfort level that you had kind of had to establish last year.”

Kuemper added that his goal coming into camp now is to keep the ball rolling instead of what he talked about as more of a restart last year. In Washington, there were some bad habits that Buckley and Kuemper both felt got into his game and they did some impressive work last fall to correct that. Now, with those things considered to be the baseline, they’re pushing ahead to try and build off of what was already a really strong season.

“We’re trying to take advantage of [that], where you can just pick up where you left off rather than starting over in some areas,” he added. “Just building off the things that worked well last year and making sure they’re sharp for the start of the season.”

– Game 2 tonight for forward Akil Thomas.

After the preseason opener on Sunday, I asked Jim Hiller about the players on the roster bubble up front. He felt that everyone in that group played well but without being prompted, he highlighted forward Akil Thomas as a standout from that game.

“I thought Killer maybe played one of the best games I’ve seen him play – Akil Thomas – so I was really happy for him, what a game,” Hiller said of Thomas.

It was a tough year for Thomas last year. He made the NHL team and spent the entire season with the big club, but the expectation coming in was a regular spot in the lineup and that just didn’t materialize, as Thomas played in just 25 of 82 games last season.

Hiller added that Thomas “wasn’t satisfied” with last season and is determined to make things go better this year, and that he feels the same way. Sounds like a fresh start and a really good start for Thomas personally. Another chance for him to set himself apart tonight in Anaheim.

– Also excited to see the debut of Kenny Connors.

Connors was a fourth-round selection by the Kings in 2022 and is expected to make his NHL preseason debut this evening in Orange County. He scored a hat trick against Anaheim in the 2025 Golden State Rookie Faceoff last weekend, leading the Kings rookies to a 4-1 win over the Ducks. Connors signed his entry-level contract last spring and is slated to begin his professional career after playing three seasons at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Kings and Ducks! Good mix of veterans getting into the flow of things this evening in Anaheim! Puck drop at 7 PM in a variety of places!