The pucks drop for real in less than a month, and the NHL is suiting up for this season’s all-access preseason docuseries. Behind the Glass: Los Angeles Kings Training Camp will follow the SoCal club through its two exhibition games in Australia and the intensity, drama and competition of an NHL preseason.
Premiering on Monday, October 2, the three-episode Behind the Glass will give an insider’s look at the Kings’ trip to the Southern Hemisphere when they play the Arizona Coyotes in Melbourne on September 23 and 24. This year’s edition of the NHL Global Series will mark the league’s first-ever games played in Australia. Beginning this week in L.A., players will be featured away from the rink and mic’d up as they compete to solidify their spot on the roster and prepare for the regular season opener on October 11 against the Colorado Avalanche.
With the Kings having added prolific scorer Pierre-Luc Dubois in a huge offseason trade, Behind the Glass will follow its primary architect, VP and GM Rob Blake, and fifth-year head coach Todd McLellan as they lead the team throughout training camp. Dubois joins future Hall of Famers Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty, rising stars Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala and others, and team president Luc Robitaille also will detail what it means to be a King from his unique perspective.
The Kings are coming into the new campaign as a favorite to compete for just the second division title in their 56-year history. But the two-time Stanley Cup champs will have to beat the defending champion Vegas Golden Knights and longtime nemesis Edmonton Oilers, who have the world’s unquestioned greatest player in Connor McDavid to win the Pacific Division.
This is the fourth season of the Behind the Glass series. The other teams that have been spotlighted are the Nashville Predators last year, Philadelphia Flyers in 2019 and New Jersey Devils in 2018.
“Through three seasons, Behind the Glass has taken fans into the promise and complexities of NHL training camp,” said NHL Chief Content Officer Steve Mayer. “But the highlight of these shows are the international trips. In past years, we followed Jakub Voráček to Czechia and Nico Hischier and Roman Josi to Switzerland as they played in front of their families for the very first time in their NHL careers. … Behind the Glass is another example of the type of exclusive and unprecedented access NHL Productions proudly delivers to fans.”
The 2023-24 NHL faces off on October 10 with an opening-night tripleheader on ESPN, including the expected big-league debut of wunderkind Connor Bedard, the longtime standout who was drafted first overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in June.
