Ducks hockey is officially back.
The Ducks begin the 2025-26 regular season tonight by taking on the Seattle Kraken at 7 p.m. PT, exclusively on Victory+.
This is the 24th time in franchise history that Anaheim opens its season on the road and the first with a trip to Climate Pledge Arena.
This game marks the regular season return of head coach Joel Quenneville to the NHL bench. He’s assembled quite the resume in his 25 years as a head coach in the league, winning three Stanley Cup championships and leading his teams to a 969-572-77-150 record (.612%) while becoming the second-winningest head coach in the process.
“My personal excitement is as high as it’s ever been just getting back in the game,” Quenneville said of his return. “Being around these guys all month, there’s been great progress on a daily basis but the excitement and enthusiasm, I can feel it.”
Tonight’s game could be the much-anticipated NHL debut of 19-year-old right wing Beckett Sennecke, taken No. 3 overall by the Ducks in the 2024 NHL Draft. At 19 years, 254 days, Beckett would be the seventh-youngest forward (11th youngest skater) to appear in a game with the Ducks.
"I'm excited. That's basically the only word to sum it up," he said after today's morning skate. "I'm excited to get out there and play."
Sennecke's father Jurji, mother Candice and sister Piper will all be in attendance tonight at Climate Pledge Arena. "It's exciting for me to have them here," Sennecke said. "My sister is in school right now, so she took the time off and flew out. It's fun."
He added that the coaching staff has helped him try to break some of his junior-level habits as he gets ready for professional play.
"It's just the details," Sennecke said. "Transferring from junior, the wall plays a big [part] that coach was harping on me before, and managing the puck at the blue lines, too. Just little junior habits that I carry don't work in the NHL."
“I thought he made great progress,” Quenneville said of Sennecke’s development during camp. “I thought he got stronger everyday around the puck. It seemed like all of a sudden, he got more physical in the puck area … I think he’s one of those guys that we use the term ‘wildcard’ [for] in our lineup. You can play him anywhere because he has high-end ability.”
As for Seattle, the Kraken finished last season with a 35-41-6 record and missed the playoffs for the second-straight year. This year, Lane Lambert enters his first season as the Kraken’s head coach and third in franchise history.
As the Ducks embark on the regular season, Quenneville described the unknowns going into this game and what his team can do to prepare.
“There’s going to be a lot of unpredictability because it’s a different pace, kind of like the first playoff game at the end of the regular season,” he said. “I expect things happening early in that game [so we need to] be ready to start, be ready to play the right way, and keep it simple.”
