Two rebuilding squads will clash head on early in the season, along with some stops in the rookie camp tournament and the pre-season.
The Anaheim Ducks were making some serious waves in the off-season, mostly because of their surprising choice of Bennett Sennecke at no. 3 overall in the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft.
Which, you can expect, the Ducks used to their advantage and created a hilarious shirt that flew off the shelves (no pun intended):
But it's no laughing matter when you consider the cornerstones general manager Pat Verbeek is laying down for the future with Anaheim.
The same can be said for Utah general manager Bill Armstrong, who continues to preach his vision to be in meaningful games this season.
It's what makes Utah vs. Anaheim such an intriguing matchup this season.
Both teams have a mix of youth and experience; consider Cam Fowler and Trevor Zegras for the Ducks, Clayton Keller and Sean Durzi for Utah.
They also have Stanley Cup winners on their rosters: Robby Fabbri and Alex Killorn for Anaheim, Ian Cole and Mikhail Sergachev on the other side.
It's also a year where both teams' rebuilds are at an inflection point.
According to The Hockey Writers' article, the Ducks' rebuild must show signs of improvement this season, especially if Zegras and Troy Terry plateau.
If it sounds familiar, Utah might be in a similar position, though they're probably a little better off now with the acquisitions they made earlier this off-season.
The only way to tell where they will go is on the ice.
So, you may want to circle the calendar for October 16 -- it's the first game between these two clubs that may give an insight as to what direction they will go next.