Star Trek: Arizona Coyotes

Gene Roddenberry likely never foresaw a Star Trek series based out of Mullett Arena, but it seems the Arizona Coyotes might be trying to break physics with their preseason schedule. As you probably have heard, the Coyotes are one of the teams that the NHL selected to play preseason games in Australia. They'll be taking a group of players down under to play two games against the Los Angeles Kings in Melbourne, and I hope they take some of their better players to give the Australian fans a good show. After everything the Coyotes' franchise has been through, a good showing in Australia where they could play in front of 14,000 fans on each night would certainly be something for which the players could and should get excited.

The problem, however, is that the Coyotes are in desperate need of players to fill their roster of three teams. You might be wondering what this "three teams" part of the equation is, and I'm going to point out that the Coyotes are scheduled to play three separate games on September 23, 2023. Yes, you read that correctly as shown below.

Now I'm no physicist by any means, but if a team is scheduled for three games on the same day, they'd need at least 70 players to be available. The first game listed above will be played in St. Louis, Missouri. The second game is scheduled for Wichita, Kansas. The third game is the second Australian game in Melbourne. Physically, it's possible for the players who played in St. Louis in the afternoon to pile into a bus and be in Wichita for the 7:30pm game, but it's probably not advisable to be making those arrangements. Therefore, 70 players will be needed to over the three games.

Here's the issue facing the Coyotes.

Fun Fact:#Yotes currently have more 2023 draft picks (12) than they do signed roster players (11)https://t.co/GBTULmVO89

— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) June 20, 2023

You're 59 players away from having a full squad in three cities, Arizona. Better get a few contracts out quickly for players needing to be re-signed because free agency is going to be insane if your rosters need to be filled. Yes, there are 17 more players still under contract who aren't on the Coyotes' final roster of 2022-23, but you're still needing 42 more players. That's a lot of players.

Transporter technology hasn't been invented yet, but one has to wonder if the Coyotes are investing heavily in that opportunity because I can't see the Arizona Coyotes attracting top talent to play for them with their situation in Arizona. If goaltender Karel Vejmelka still wants to be traded, the Coyotes have Anson Thornton under contract as their only goaltender. I suspect they'll want to have that situation under control sooner rather than later. Beyond that, they have four defenders under contract with only one being older than 25. And it should be noted that $23 million of their summer cap number will be eaten up by players who won't wear a Coyotes jersey next season. In short, GM Bill Armstrong has a lot of work to do.

Three games for one franchise on one day sandwiched between a game in Melbourne on September 22 and a game in Cedar Park, Texas on September 24 is pure lunacy. Three games for one franchise with very few players signed and an uncertain future is complete insanity. The Arizona Coyotes are going to spill a lot of ink this summer trying to sign enough players to cover their Melbourne trip and their two US games on September 23, and it will be interesting to see who ends up in the Kachina jersey in September.

I have no idea why the NHL thinks this is a good idea, but they seem to know better than everyone else. But hasn't that always been the problem in Arizona when it comes to the Coyotes?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!