'Yotes Notes: Arizona to Begin Preseason at Vegas

GLENDALE --The Coyotes will play five of seven preseason games on the road before starting their 2018-19 season.
Arizona's preseason opener is slated to be contested at the rink where the 2017-18 NHL season just ended: T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Coyotes will battle the Western Conference champions - a team they faced five times in the regular season last season - in their first exhibition game on Sept. 16.

Arizona's two home preseason games will be staged Sept. 18 vs. Los Angeles and Sept. 22 vs. Anaheim at Gila River Arena.
RELATED CONTENT:
Coyotes Announce 2018 Preseason Schedule
The Coyotes will conclude their exhibition schedule vs. the Vancouver Canucks on Sept. 29 at Prospera Place, a 7,000-seat junior hockey rink in Kelowna, B.C., that serves as the home arena for the Western Hockey League's Kelowna Rockets.
Per the Canucks, the game in Kelowna marks the start of a new tradition of hosting one home preseason game away from Rogers Arena each year. Kelowna is 170 miles northeast of Vancouver.
Several Coyotes prospects have ties to British Columbia, including goalie Adin Hill and defenseman Dysin Mayo. And then there's forward Nick Merkley, who played for Kelowna at Prospera Place from 2012-17.

• Barring a trade, the Coyotes will have to wait 50 picks before making their first and second selections at this year's NHL Draft in Dallas next week. Arizona is slated to pick fifth overall in the first round and then 55th overall in the second round.
Should nothing change, it would be the third-longest wait between first and second picks at the draft in franchise history. The team waited 62 picks between selecting 12th overall in the first round and 74th overall in the fourth round as the Winnipeg Jets in 1982, and then waited 53 picks between selecting 43rd overall in the second round and 96th overall in the fourth round as the Phoenix Coyotes in 1997.
"That's a big gap and there's a lot of good players who are going to get picked during that time," said Tim Bernhardt, the team's Director of Amateur Scouting. "As a staff, we have to thoroughly prepare because you never know what might happen. We might make a trade and end up with a pick in the 20s or 30s or 40s, so you have to prepare to make a pick within that range. It's just part of the job."

• The Coyotes are slated to make seven picks at the 2018 NHL Draft in Dallas next weekend, and all players chosen will be invited to the team's annual Prospect Development Camp from June 25-29.
Other noteworthy invitees include defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph, and forwards Tyler Steenbergen and MacKenzie Entwistle.
The camp will conclude with an intra-squad game at Gila River Arena on June 29. Fans are invited to attend all practices and the game free of charge.

RELATED CONTENT:
Coyotes Prospect Development Camp Info
• Clayton Keller is expected to walk the red carpet and attend the 2018 NHL Awards at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas next week as one of three finalists for the Calder Trophy. Mathew Barzal of the New York Islanders and Brock Boeser of the Vancouver Canucks are the other finalists for the league's Rookie of the Year award. Fans can watch the NHL Awards on NBC Sports Network on June 20 starting at 5 p.m. (AZ time).
After the awards show, Keller will head back to Arizona where he will attend the team's NHL Draft party at Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino in Chandler on June 22 and help the team unveil its new official third jersey for the 2018-19 season.

• June 25 is the deadline for NHL teams to tender offers to restricted free agents. The Coyotes have three RFAs: forwards Laurent Dauphin, Max Domi, and Freddie Hamilton.
• NHL teams will be able to begin signing unrestricted free agents starting on July 1. The Coyotes are expected to have four UFAs: forwards Brad Richardson and Zac Rinaldo, and defensemen Kevin Connauton and Luke Schenn.