Coyotes preparing for exhibition in Edmonton
After a four-month pause, two weeks of full-team training camp and a 31⁄2-hour flight to Canada, the Coyotes are only a few days away from returning to play.
While Rogers Place in Edmonton is about 1,600 miles away from Gila River Arena, their first opponent in the bubble can be considered a neighbor to the Coyotes, and a possible rival. Prior to their first game against Nashville on Sunday , the Coyotes face Vegas in a exhibition game on Thursday at 7 p.m.
The NHL is resuming play with two Canadian cities designated as hub cities to start, Edmonton for Western teams and Toronto for those in the East.
The Golden Knights got the best of the Coyotes in what was completed of their season series before the season was suspended in March, defeating Arizona twice in three games.
Head coach Rick Tocchet said the rivalry and desire among players to hit the ice again could add to the intensity.
“A lot of guys are itching to play and the rivalry gets intense too, but a lot of teams want to get their systems in, get the rust off of certain players and do the right things,” Tocchet said. “Everybody’s got the one exhibition game and they want to try new things and I’m sure the other teams are scouting to see what you’re doing. For me, this game is knocking the rust off for other guys.”
The Coyotes scrimmaged three times over the course of two weeks in training camp. But that can’t compare to actual games, and the exhibition game will help in that regard, forward Derek Stepan said.
“I personally think it’s a great way to get in some game reps,” Stepan said. “Obviously, we’ve done a couple scrimmages and at times it’s difficult to go against your teammates, but to be able to face off against another team allows us to get some good game reps in and have stuff that we can carry over to Nashville.”
Aside from not facing each other on Thursday, the Coyotes believe that they are getting the opportunity to face a high caliber team, similar to what they’ll see in Nashville, in Vegas. The Golden Knights are one of four teams who will bypass the play-in round and will play in a round robin series for top four seeding in the Western Conference.
Prior to the pause, the Golden Knights had a strong campaign during the 2019-20 regular season. Vegas was top 10 in the arugula season for goals scored at 224, complimented by a top 10 power play percentage at 22 percent.
“Vegas is a great team, so it’s a great warm up for us to play a team that has high end forwards and is one of the better team’s in the league,” Tocchet said. “Anytime you get a chance to play against high level players, where you have great coaches as well, that’s good for us. It’s a good exhibition game for us to play.”
Vegas has also found consistent strength in net in goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who is tied for second for most shutouts on the season with five. At the same time, the Coyotes continue to see one of their top strengths in goal tending through Darcy Kuemper and Antti Raanta. Arizona’s duo currently sits in the top 15 for save percentage in the league.
Tocchet said he hasn’t really discussed who is going to start game one against Nashville. Kuemper said he’s focused on working hard and being ready for when the play-in series starts in less than a week.
Outside of goal tending, Tocchet said his comfortable with the Coyotes line combinations and special teams, but isn’t afraid to shake things up when he needs to. After two weeks of training camp, the Coyotes top lines are looking to be made up of forwards Phil Kessel, Nick Schmaltz and Carl Soderberg followed by forwards Taylor Hall, Clayton Keller and Christian Dvorak.
“Most coaches say that you can’t be afraid to pull the trigger and switch lines mid-game,” Tocchet said. “There’s things I might do different against Vegas to see what might work against Nashville. You just have to adjust. The playoffs you have to be ready for anything. A lot of things happen at high pace and you have to make sure you can adjust on the fly.”
As excitement and anxiety heighten for the playoffs, the NHL has added details to the bubble that will bring players some comfort amidst everything going on. Upon arriving to the Sutton Place Hotel in Edmonton, Kuemper posted on his Instagram story “Thanks @nhl.”
Pictured behind the caption was a a framed photograph of his fiancee, himself and his dog, Rogue, on the nightstand next to his bed. Many other Coyotes we greeted to familiar faces as they walked into their rooms for the first time.
“We walked into the room and we all had loved ones sitting next to our beds,” Stepan said.
“I’ve been away from my family for about four weeks and I miss those guys a lot. It was good to see their smiling faces. It was nice little touch.”