Kings Announce 2023 Preseason Schedule

Some news, Insiders!

The LA Kings have announced their nine-game preseason slate, beginning on September 22. The Kings will play their first two preseason games in Melbourne, Australia against the Arizona Coyotes in the 2023 NHL Global Series – Melbourne, the first ever NHL games played in the Southern Hemisphere. In total, the Kings will play against four different opponents throughout the preseason, in seven different cities, across a schedule that consists of quite a bit of travel. The nine preseason games are two more than last season and one more than in 2021.

The Kings preseason slate will open with what will amount to a split-squad setup, with the games in Melbourne on September 23 and 24 against Arizona coinciding with the game against the Ducks on September 24 at Honda Center in Anaheim. The team will return to Los Angeles following the games in Australia with six games remaining on the exhibition slate. Headlining those final six games will be the annual Frozen Fury game in Salt Lake City, Utah, with this season’s game played against the San Jose Sharks. The Kings will also visit Pechanga Arena in San Diego – the home of Anaheim’s AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls – in the days following the Australia trip. The exhibition slate concludes with two of the final three games at home, as the Kings host Anaheim and Vegas at Crypto.com Arena.

The full exhibition slate is listed below –

Friday, September 22 – Kings vs. Arizona – 9:00 PM (Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia)
Saturday, September 23 – Kings vs. Arizona – 9:00 PM (Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia)
Sunday, September 24 – Kings at Anaheim – 5:00 PM
Wednesday, September 27 – Kings at Vegas – 7:00 PM
Friday, September 29 – Kings at Anaheim – 7:00 PM (Pechanga Arena in San Diego, CA)
Saturday, September 30 – Kings at San Jose – 7:00 PM
Tuesday, October 3 – Kings vs. Anaheim – 7:00 PM
Thursday, October 5 – Kings vs. San Jose – 6:00 PM (Delta Center in Salt Lake City, UT)
Saturday, October 7 – Kings vs. Vegas – 1:00 PM
*All Start Times and Start Dates are listed in Pacific Time.

The breakdown of the early part of the schedule confirms that the team will have to split up their camp roster to accommodate the games in Australia and Anaheim/Vegas. Australia time means that the games are actually played a day later local time (9/23 and 9/24 in Melbourne) and the team will have an exhaustive travel schedule coming back, meaning that we’ll likely see different rosters participate in the games contested stateside on 9/24 and 9/27. It would at least stand to reason. That leaves a slate of six remaining games in which the full group could be available, though as always, the Kings will manage the minutes and additional travel for their veteran players.

The games in Australia will be both the first NHL games played in Australia and the first NHL games played in the Southern Hemisphere. The Kings have played overseas several times throughout their existence, most recently in Beijing, China for a pair of exhibition games during the 2017-18 season. The Kings will now add Australia to an existing list of countries that includes China, Austria, Sweden, England and Germany. More details on the Australia games HERE.

Frozen Fury marks the return of the Kings to Utah, with a new opponent. The last two seasons, the game has been contested by the Kings and Vegas Golden Knights, but the San Jose Sharks will replace Vegas in this season’s edition. Frozen Fury has a long history for the Kings, with this season marking the third matchup in Utah and the 24th Frozen Fury overall. All time, the Kings are returning to Utah for the fifth time, including the original two games in what was previously called the Salt Lake Shootout.

Regarding tickets for any of the games at Crypto.com Arena or the home games at a neutral site, see below from the team’s official release –

Tickets for both games at Crypto.com Arena against the Ducks and Golden Knights will go on sale with all regular-season games in the coming weeks, following the release of the 2023-24 regular season schedule. Tickets for Frozen Fury between the Kings and Sharks and games in Australia are available for purchase at lakings.com/preseason.

LA Kings Season Ticket Memberships for the 2023-24 season are on sale now. Deposits are also being accepted for Groups of 15 or more and Private Event Suite rentals. Individual ticket sales information for the 2023-24 regular season will be released along with the regular season schedule. Visit LAKings.com or call 1.888.KINGS.LA for more information.

Regarding the games that matter, expect some movement on that front in the coming days/weeks. Last season, we had a schedule released just before the draft. Operating under that assumption for now this year as well. Will have a full, detailed breakdown here on LAKI when the time comes!