Coyotes traveling preseason schedule creates challenges, opportunities

When the Coyotes released their regular-season schedule, it elicited gasps. Arizona will play 20 of its first 24 games on the road while it awaits the completion of the annex that it is building to house the NHL team areas at ASU’s Mullett Arena.

Lost in that eye-popping reality, however, is the fact that the Coyotes will play their entire preseason schedule — seven games — on the road. That means 27 of the team’s first 31 games will be on the road.

In four cases, those road preseason games are not even in NHL cities.

Saturday vs. St. Louis Blues in Wichita, Kansas, 5 p.m.
Sunday vs. Anaheim Ducks in Tucson, 2 p.m.
Tuesday vs. Dallas Stars in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 5 p.m.
Wednesday at Anaheim Ducks, 7 p.m.
Oct. 4 at Vegas Golden Knights, 7 p.m.
Oct. 7 at Vancouver Canucks, 7 p.m.
Oct. 8 vs. Vegas Golden Knights in Boise, Idaho, 5 p.m.

Like the start of the regular season, the all-road preseason slate was born out of necessity, but it will create myriad challenges for the Coyotes. While Wichita, Tulsa and Boise all boast minor-league teams, those venues are not accustomed to receiving NHL teams and there will no doubt be hiccups along the way, whether they are related to travel or amenities.

Of particular note will be the challenges these games create for the equipment staff, and the impact that all of this travel will have on the players. Coach André Tourigny and his staff have been formulating a plan to determine which players travel for which games, with an eye on ensuring enough rest ahead of the regular season.

“I would like all our veterans to play at least four preseason games so we will build the roster for the rest of the players for the other games,” Tourigny said. “We have a frame, but by experience, I know that every year it changes with performance. As an example, Liam O’Brien last year was probably planned for less games than he had, but when he arrived at camp he was really good and then he earned another game and another game and finally he made the team.

“Hopefully, that will happen again this year with other players, but we want to make sure we’re careful in the first four games to not wear down any veterans. And then on the last stretch, we should be heavy on veterans which is not rocket science; that’s expected.”

While the all-road preseason schedule creates challenges, it also presents opportunities.

“This is a great opportunity for us to expand our footprint as an organization and play in some non-traditional markets that share our passion for hockey,” Coyotes President and CEO Xavier A. Gutierrez said. “It will allow us to expose our great game to new fans in waiting, build our brand, and create impact in amazing communities. We are looking forward to it.”

So are the host cities.

“We’ve been trying to get a game up here in Boise for 25 years,” said Idaho Steelheads president Eric Trapp, whose ECHL team plays at 5,002-seat Idaho Central Arena. “When our building opened in 1997, we had San Jose play the L.A. Kings, and every year since then, we’ve been trying to get a game. Obviously, it’s difficult with where we’re at. It always comes down to scheduling. 

“We had a game scheduled in 2012 with Dallas, our affiliate, and Minnesota but unfortunately, that was the year that the NHL had a strike so that game got canceled. In 2018, we had the Dallas Stars training camp, but they just had an intrasquad game.” 

Fortunately for the Steelheads, Vegas was looking for another game when they lost a game with San Jose because the Sharks were chosen to open the regular season in Czechia against the Nashville Predators on Oct. 7 and Oct. 8 as part of the 2022 NHL Global Series.

“The game sold out in minutes,” Trapp said of the Oct. 8 game between the Coyotes and Golden Knights. “It’s not a big building, obviously, but we wanted to provide the first opportunity for our season ticket holders and whatever tickets were left over were gone in seconds. We are still getting calls from people wanting tickets.

“We don’t really have professional sports here unless you drive six hours down to Salt Lake for basketball, or you drive over to Seattle, which is another eight-10 hours, or to Portland. There’s not a lot of bigger cities close to Boise so I think this kind of event just extends our hockey fan base and makes hockey that much more exciting. We always want to have big events in our building.”

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The Wichita Thunder has been trying to land an NHL game since the team joined the ECHL in 2014.

“The last five years that the Edmonton Oilers were our affiliate, we had it written into our affiliation agreement that we would discuss the possibility of having an NHL preseason game here, but it never really came to fruition,” Thunder GM Joel Lomurno said. “NHL teams get six preseason games — three home and three road — and for them to give up a home game takes a large investment.

“We were fortunate that Arizona was looking for some places to play their exhibition games and then having a nice close opponent that fans here actually care about in the Blues.”

Intrust Bank Arena seats 13,450 for hockey and Lomurno said that the team was already expecting about 8,000 fans, a strong showing for a preseason game. The Coyotes will also get the opportunity to play the Dallas Stars in Tulsa’s BOK Center, which seats 17,096 for hockey and is home to then ECHL’s Tulsa Oilers, whose GM’s name, incidentally, is Taylor Hall.

“The locker rooms here are going to be some of the nicest locker rooms these guys have ever played in; they’re just that nice and big,” Lomurno said of Wichita’s arena. “The inside of the building’s layout is different from other arenas where the suites are all on one side so it kind of looks like apartments looking over the ice. It’s a really cool building.

“We’re entering our 31st season so we’re one of the oldest minor-league hockey teams in the country, but with this kind of game, more than anything, it’s going to bring new people out. There are people who are not Thunder fans but want to come see an NHL game because there’s never been anything like it here before. We’ve had NBA preseason games here but this is something new and we’re just trying to get as many cool new things in our building as we can.”

The Coyotes should get used to this sort of barnstorming preseason approach. Per sources, they will face a similar situation next season with only one preseason game at Mullett Arena, but their other hosts can’t wait to entertain them.

“We’ll have an American Idol finalist singing the national anthem, we’ll be doing your basic chuck-a-puck and we’ll have kids games and entertainment on the concourse,” Lomurno said. “I went to McDonald’s today for lunch and I was wearing my Thunder shirt. The first thing the guy behind the counter said was he was excited to see the Blues-Coyotes this weekend. People know that there’s a game coming and it’s cool. I think it has piqued a lot of interest around town and I think, based on the showing we’ll have this week, that there’s the potential that we make this an annual event.”

Top photo of Tulsa’s BOK Center via Getty Images

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