The Arizona Coyotes are set to play the Los Angeles Kings in Melbourne, Australia during the preseason.
This upcoming preseason for the Arizona Coyotes will provide a little bit of a different twist.
The Coyotes will play two preseason games against the Los Angeles Kings in Melbourne, Australia on Sept. 22 and 23 as part of the 2023 NHL Global Series.
This will be the first time the Coyotes have played outside of North America since 2010, when they faced-off against Dinamo Riga in Riga, Latvia and the Boston Bruins in Prague, Czech Republic.
General manager Bill Armstrong feels this will help bond the Coyotes and is looking forward to the unique experience.
"I believe the goodness of Australia is that we get to experience something that only one other team other than us gets to experience playing hockey over there," Armstrong said via NHL.com’s Jon Lane.
"I think that's going to be a huge bonding thing for us as an organization. We're not going to be bonded by Christmastime, we're going to be bonded before our first (regular-season) game takes place. I think coaches yearn to have their natural team together and that gives an opportunity for our coach right away to work with our team right out of the get-go, so I think that's a big positive if we can fight off the jet lag and get our legs underneath us."
The Coyotes will also play in Wichita, Cedar Park, Palm Springs and Tucson marking a truly interesting preseason of traveling.