PACK FACTS
Arizona is 19-17-4-1 all-time in season opening games, including 12-10-2 since relocating to the Valley prior to 1996-97.
Clayton Keller (2-2-4 in 4 GP) enters Thursday at a point-per-game in his career on opening nights, while Phil Kessel (3-7-10 in 14 GP) reached the 10-point threshold last season under that criteria. Kessel will look to extend his consecutive games played streak to 901 dating back to Nov. 3, 2009, good for fifth all-time and the third-longest active streak in the NHL (Keith Yandle, 922; Patrick Marleau, 910).
Keller (68-125-193 in 293 GP) enters Thursday two goals shy of 70, five assists shy of 130 and seven points shy of 200 in his career. Since the franchise moved to Arizona in 1996-97, 10 players have compiled 200 points in a Coyotes uniform.
Jakob Chychrun's 46 career goal total is one shy of tying Ed Jovanovski for the ninth-most in franchise history among defensemen. The Boca Raton, Fla. native's next multi-goal game would make him just the fourth blueliner in franchise history to compile five multi-goal games, and the second to do so since the franchise moved to Arizona.
FRESH FACES
Arizona welcomes 14 new players to the organization that were named to the 2021-22 opening night roster. Among them, four players come to the Valley with 500-plus regular-season games: forward Loui Eriksson (977), forward Andrew Ladd (950), defenseman Anton Stralman (856), forward Jay Beagle (613) and forward Antoine Roussel (554).
Eriksson (250-344-594) and Ladd (249-289-538) both enter the campaign with over 500 career points, while Ladd and Beagle join the club as Stanley Cup champions. Ladd, a two-time champion, was a member of the 2006 Carolina Hurricanes and 2010 Chicago Blackhawks, while Beagle won the Cup with the Washington Capitals in 2018.
Goaltenders Carter Hutton and Karel Vejmelka are both in their first seasons with the Coyotes. Hutton enters the year with 231 career games in the NHL, spotting a 94-88-27 record along with a .909 save percentage and a 2.71 goals-against average. Vejmelka comes to North America after playing parts of the last nine seasons in the Extraliga of the Czech Republic where the netminder captured two Extraliga Championships in 2017 and 2018.
ANDRÉ THE GIANT
Thursday marks a matchup between Coyotes head coach André Tourigny and Blue Jackets head coach Brad Larsen each making their NHL head coaching debuts against one another. There have been 11 previous instances of head coaches making their NHL debut against each other, including only four times since 1979-80 (last: Randy Carlyle [ANA] at Trent Yawney [CHI] on Oct. 5, 2005).
Tourigny most recently spent time with Hockey Canada's coaching staff in 2020-21 where he served as an assistant coach on Canada's gold medal-winning team at the World Championship along with the head coach for the silver medal-winning Canadian club at the World Junior Championship.
NOTABLE CONNECTIONS
Ex-Coyotes
• Max Domi (2015-18)
Ex-Blue Jackets
• Ryan Dzingel (2018-19)
• Anton Stralman (2009-11)
Shayne Gostisbehere played with Jakub Voracek in Philadelphia from 2014-21.
Phil Housley coached Sean Kuraly at the 2013 World Junior Championship, capturing gold for Team USA.
