Anaheim Ducks Open Training Camp On Thursday

ANAHEIM, CA —The Anaheim Ducks will begin their 2021 Training Camp on Thursday in Irvine, and the team's first two days of practice will open to the public, the team announced.

The Ducks then will hold their Fly Together Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, which will feature an intrasquad scrimmage and the team's first exhibition game.

Irvine's Great Park Ice and FivePoint Arena, 888 Ridge Valley, will be the site of training camp, and on-ice workouts will take place at 9:30 a.m. Thursday and 10 a.m. Friday on Rink 3. The practices, which will include the team training in three different groups, are free and open to the public.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, at FivePoint Arena, the team will hold its first full intrasquad scrimmage. There is a suggested $5 donation to the Anaheim Ducks Foundation for fans attending, and tickets can be secured online.

The organization announced that fans attending Saturday's event will have the opportunity to win prizes and play interactive games. There also will be a sale of player autographed Wild Wing Breakout mini goalie sticks, an auction of player autographed practice jerseys and an opportunity drawing to win other Ducks prizes

At 5 p.m. Sunday at the Honda Center, the Ducks will open the preseason by hosting the San Jose Sharks. Orange Alliance Members can attend the game for free as a special "thank you," according to the team. For all other fans, tickets are available on the Anaheim Ducks website.

It will be the first of Anaheim's seven exhibition games, four of them at Honda Arena.

All attendees at the events hosted by the Ducks are required to properly wear face coverings at all times inside the facility unless actively eating or drinking, the team announced.

The Ducks are coming off a season in which they posted a 17-30-9 record, which was the worst result in franchise history in terms of points percentage, according to DailyFaceoff.com. It alsos was the third straight season the team missed the playoffs.

Cam Lewis, a writer for DailyFaceoff.com, was not particularly impressed by the the offseason moves made by the Ducks ahead of the 2021-22 season, the most notable of which might have been the re-signing of 36-year-old, free-agent forward Ryan Getzlaf in July. Getzlaf has played all 16 of his NHL seasons with the Ducks.

"Did they make some additions in order to fill holes on their roster with eyes on pushing for a playoff spot with their veteran core? Nope," Lewis wrote. "Did they sell veterans in order to stockpile draft picks to add to their next wave of talent coming up through the system? Nope.

"The Ducks did nothing of note this off-season, save for re-signing captain Ryan Getzlaf to a one-year deal and losing Haydn Fleury in the Expansion Draft. They'll be going into 2021-22 with virtually the same roster as they had last year. The only difference will be a few more young players getting in the mix."

The Ducks are scheduled to open the regular season on Oct. 13 at the Winnipeg Jets before returning to Anaheim for the home opener on Oct. 15 against the Minnesota Wild, faceoff at 7 p.m.

After playing last season in the NHL's West Division -after the league realigned temporarily due to the pandemic - the Ducks are back in the Pacific Division in 2021-22. The Pacific will feature the reintroduction of the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers, which were restricted to playing in Canada last season, and the introduction of the first-year Seattle Kraken.