The Arizona Coyotes, whose future in the state has come under a cloud after a recent proposal for a new arena in the Phoenix area was voted down, will play just one of nine 2023-24 pre-season games in their home state.
The team, which released its pre-season schedule on Tuesday, will play two games against the Los Angeles Kings at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia, Sept. 22-23.
The Coyotes and/or split squads will also play in Wichita, Kan.; Cedar Park, Texas; Palm Springs, Calif.; St. Louis; Las Vegas; and Anaheim before rounding out their 2023 pre-season in Tucson, Ariz., when they face the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 7 at TCC Arena.
The Coyotes will not play any pre-season games in Mullett Arena, their regular-season home shared with Arizona State University's men's and women's teams since early in the 2022-23 season.
Last season, before Mullett was completed, the Coyotes played a total of six pre-season games, two of which were "home games" in Tucson and Tulsa, Okla.
The Coyotes have been forced to play out of the 4,600-capacity Mullett since the city of Glendale informed the team in early 2022 it was not renewing its lease at Gila River Arena, where the team had been playing since 2003.
The franchise found a temporary solution, working out a deal to share Arizona State's Mullett Arena for three seasons. Mullett is by far the smallest home arena in the NHL.
The Coyotes submitted a bid to buy a tract of land in Tempe, and the Tempe City Council voted to begin negotiating on a new entertainment district. The city council later voted to send the project to a public vote, where it was decisively rejected in May.
By comparison, the Columbus Blue Jackets, another Western Conference team that has struggled over the years, is playing half of their eight pre-season games at home.
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