10/4 Preview – Tonight’s Projected Lineup + Home Sweet Home, Edmundson/Moverare, One Last Trial run

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (4-1-0) vs. Anaheim Ducks (4-2-1)
WHAT: 2025 Preseason Game 7
WHEN: Saturday, October 4 @ 1:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network – AUDIO – ESPN LA 710, ESPN LA App & LA Kings App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The final game of the preseason is upon us, as the Kings host the Anaheim Ducks in the final exhibition game before the 2025-26 regular-season gets underway.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings and Ducks cap off a four-game preseason slate this afternoon in Los Angeles. The Kings have won two of those three games to date, including a 3-0 win at Honda Center last week, with several of the regular roster players on both sides in action in that game.

KINGS VITALS: As was the case in Thursday’s game in Utah, look for today’s game to be another dress rehearsal for the Kings with a veteran-heavy lineup expected.

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

Kuzmenko – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Byfield – Laferriere
Foegele – Danault – Moore
Malott – Turcotte – Armia

Anderson – Doughty
Dumoulin – Clarke
Edmundson – Ceci

Kuemper / Forsberg

Goaltender Anton Forsberg played his second and final game of the preseason on Thursday and look for goaltender Darcy Kuemper to do the same tonight. Kuemper posted a 14-save shutout in his first start of the exhibition season on 9/24 in Anaheim and will go against the Ducks again tonight, in preparation for likely getting the nod on Opening Night on Tuesday.

DUCKS VITALS: As noted above, expecting a veteran-heavy lineup for the Ducks today in what will be their final preparation game for the regular season as well.

Per Derek Lee of the Sporting Tribune, here’s how the Ducks lined up in practice this week –

Ducks practice lines (10/02):

Kreider-Carlsson-Terry
Vatrano-Strome-Killorn
Gauthier-McTavish-Granlund
Johnston-Washe-Sennecke
Nesterenko-Poehling-Colangelo

LaCombe-Gudas
Zellweger-Trouba
Mintyukov-Helleson
Hinds-Moore
Solberg-Luneau

Dostál-Mrázek-Husso#FlyTogether

— Derek Lee (@Derek_Lee27) October 2, 2025

Included in that group is forward Mason McTavish, who signed a six-year contract extension with the Ducks during camp, as well as defenseman Jackson LaCombe, who signed the largest contract in team history on Thursday to keep him in Anaheim for the next nine seasons. Assume we’ll see both in action this afternoon.

Storyline Of The Day – Home Sweet Home
Good to be back in Los Angeles.

For the first and only time during the exhibition season, we’ll see the Kings play a game at Crypto.com Arena. I think it’s good to get one in on home ice before the real deal, even if it’s more for the players than anything else. For Anze Kopitar, he knows the jyst. For say Brian Dumoulin, though, he’s never been to Crypto.com Arena as a home player.

He’s played games in the rink but the routine on the road is very similar in just about every arena. There are two buses from the hotel to the game rink, you pick the one you want to ride, you bus in and bus out right after. Basically, everything travel related is handled for you. At home, though players typically drive themselves to games, so having a bit of understanding isn’t a bad thing for a new player. Knowing the route from a new home to a new arena. Knowing where to enter the arena and how to get to the locker room. Getting a feel for a locker room that is different than at the practice rink.

Dustin Brown often joked that he paid for parking at STAPLES Center before his first game. And honestly, if you don’t know where you’re going, it’s fathomable.

Even for those who are familiar, the Kings will be walking into a brand-new locker room for the first time this fall. The fourth of four waves of renovations at Crypto.com Arena came this summer and into the fall, mostly focusing on the underbelly of the facility. Included in that are some changes and upgrades on the locker room front for the Kings, as they see their facilities take a step forward beginning this season. No one on the team has seen them until today, with the Kings practicing at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo, so they’ll get the lay of the land shortly as they arrive for today’s game.

Therefore, whether you’re Kopitar in his 20th season with the Kings or Dumoulin in his first, there are some things to get used to with today’s game and getting a dry run at seeing them, as opposed to having those things be new on Opening Night, can only be a benefit to the Kings.

3 To Watch For –
– Noted in the lieuep above is defenseman Joel Edmundson, who did not play in Utah on Thursday.

Edmundson has not skated this week, at least in full team practices, so consider his availability for tonight to be questionable. Admittedly, I have been away over the last couple of days, so I don’t have the inside scoop here but defenseman Jacob Moverare did take Edmundson’s place in Thursday’s preseason game in Utah, skating with Brandt Clarke, as Brian Dumoulin shifted alongside Cody Ceci, though we saw some Dumoulin/Clarke in that game as well.

Edmundson initially missed Wednesday’s practice for “maintenance” with defenseman Kyle Burroughs also not on the ice as an upper-body injury was examined. Will look for an update today on Edmundson’s status if he does not play.

– Should his status for Game 1 on Tuesday be in doubt, I’d expect Moverare to get the nod in what would be his first ever Opening Night appearance.

I spoke with Moverare earlier in the week about the concept of making the roster for the first time out of camp. He said that it was hard for him at times over past seasons when he felt he had done enough but was ultimately assigned to the AHL. Not this year. Moverare emerged last season as the team’s defined seventh defenseman, and even retained his place at times when the Kings dressed six defensemen. He’s reliable and steady. There’s not a ton of flash in his game but he takes care of his own zone and he’s been described as easy to play with by more dynamic partners, who feel he allows them to focus on and play their game.

It’s a nice story for a player who has a great attitude, does things the right way and has more than grinded at the minor-league level. Good for him.

– Lastly, it’s nice to be through the preseason.

This one dragged. Last season, there was the Quebec trip at the end to look towards as more or less the start of a regular season. The year before had Australia at the beginning, which seriously cut down on the exhibition slate. This year was just……there. And it felt long. The NHL has already agreed to cut the preseason schedule down to four games next season, coinciding with the return of an 84-game schedule. I think it’ll be welcomed. At least by those writing the stories.

Good to be back in Los Angeles, Insiders.! And good to nearly be done with the exhibition season. Kings and Ducks this afternoon in the final tune-up opportunity before the games begin for real on Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena!