59 Players Set To Begin LA Kings Training Camp on Thursday, September 18

We’re nearly there!

The LA Kings are set to begin their 2025 training camp on Thursday, September 18 with 59 players set to participate. The players will be split into three groups at the start, with the groups expected to be swapped around a bit from day-to-day.

The Kings roster consists of players at various stages in the process. Bona fide NHL players, players on the roster bubble, players targeted for the AHL’s Ontario Reign and players who will likely play their hockey in juniors or outside of Southern California. Headlining the group are the names you know – Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Adrian Kempe, etc, etc. There are several first-year pros in the mix as well as recent draft picks who won’t begin their professional careers this season, as well as players on AHL contracts and training-camp tryouts.

The full roster is available HERE, and also embedded below –

Of those 59 players, 58 are expected to be on the ice on Day 1 of camp tomorrow morning. The odd-man out is forward Corey Perry, who suffered a knee injury last week, leading to successful surgery that will cost him all of training camp and an estimated 6-8 weeks in total. That means Perry will not feature on Opening Night on October 7 and will likely feature a bit down the line. More on Perry HERE.

For tomorrow’s skate, the first group will hit the ice at 9:30 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center. A full schedule for the first week of training camp, from September 18 – 24, is listed below –

Thursday, September 18
– Group A Practice: 9:30 AM
– Group B Practice: 10:30 AM
– Group B vs. C Scrimmage: 11:15 AM
– Group C Practice: 12:30 PM

Friday, September 19
– Group B Practice: 9:30 AM
– Group C Practice: 10:30 AM
– Group A vs. C Scrimmage: 11:15 AM
– Group A Practice: 12:30 PM

Saturday, September 20
– Group C Practice: 9:30 AM
– Group A Practice: 10:30 AM
– Group A vs. B Scrimmage: 11:15 AM
– Group B Practice: 12:30 PM

Sunday, September 21
– Non-Game Group C Practice: 8:45 AM
– Non-Game Group B Practice: 10:00 AM
– Game vs. Anaheim (Empire Classic at Toyota Arena in Ontario, Calif.): 3:00 PM

Monday, September 22
– Full Team Day Off

Tuesday, September 23
– Game Group Morning Skate: 10:00 AM
– Non-Game Group B Practice: 10:45 AM
– Non-Game Group C Practice: 11:45 AM
– Game at Vegas (T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nev.): 7:00 PM

Wednesday, September 24
– Game Group Morning Skate: 10:30 AM
– Non-Game Group B Practice: 11:15 AM
– Non-Game Group C Practice: 12:15 PM
– Game at Anaheim (Honda Center, Anaheim, Calif.): 7:00 PM

The schedule for the remainder of training camp will be announced at a later date.

What is listed above is three games down and by that point, I imagine that just about everyone the Kings plan to get into a game during the preseason will have played at least once, even twice for some. There will likely be some roster cutdowns in there to reduce the size of the group and then a larger cutdown day the following weekend or early the week after. Typically, by the final week of training camp, the Kings like to be down to one group, with only players who are really in contention for the NHL roster. That group is usually not all that large so that everyone gets necessary reps during team practice sessions. Unlike the last two seasons, the entire training camp will be in Los Angeles, so there’s no need to split the roster at an earlier than usual point. It’ll be a more traditional camp in that sense and I’m targeting the final two preseason games – October 2 and October 4 – as closer to a dry-run for the actual squad. Maybe not 100 percent, but closer to.

Long way to go until that point, though. Long way. I usually like to split training camp up into segments and what we have listed above, for me, are Segments 1 and 2. Segment 1 is the three-group setup, with scrimmages sandwiched in between sessions and long days at the rink. Segment 2 is when the Kings start playing preseason games and days are split between game groups and practice groups. That’s what we have above. When the remainder of the schedule is ultimately released, it’ll likely have a bit of a different structure to it than what we see above. But that’s for next week.

For tomorrow, it’s finally here! Training camp gets underway and we’ll get our first look at the 2025-26 LA Kings on the ice. Exciting to get to this point.

I’ve got plenty of storylines to watch, both during training camp and entering the regular season, and there will be plenty – PLENTY – of content to follow. Excited to get back into the swing of things tomorrow!