from Helene Elliott of the LA Times,

The NHL apparently will go to any lengths to promote the sport — except to put a franchise back in Quebec City. In this case, the league is sending the Kings about 8,000 miles to expose Australian hockey fans — and there are enough to sustain a 10-team semipro league — to the NHL product in two preseason games against the Arizona Coyotes.

Since Melbourne is 17 hours ahead of Los Angeles, the teams will face off Friday and Saturday at 9 p.m. Pacific time. The games will be simulcast by familiar Kings announcers Nick Nickson, Jim Fox and Daryl Evans on NHL Network and iHeartRadio, a rehearsal for their simulcasts on Bally Sports West in the first year of a new three-year agreement with Diamond Sports Group. The games will take place at Rod Laver Arena, home of the Australian Open.

The Kings’ traveling party will include defenseman Jordan Spence, who was born in the Sydney suburb of Manly. Nathan Walker grew up in Australia and represented the country in international play but was born in Wales. Spence can’t double as a tour guide: his family left Australia for Canada when he was 1½, too young for him to remember his native land. This is his second trip back; his parents, Kyoko and Adam, will be among the fans in Melbourne.

“I think they’re more excited just because they lived there longer,” said Spence, who has Japanese and Canadian citizenship through his parents. “They have some friends they’re going to reconnect with and they’re going to come to the game and stuff. Yeah, it will be pretty cool.”

It’s a long way to go for two games that won’t count in the standings. Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the NHL had wanted to send teams to Australia for a while but the logistics didn’t work until now. It probably won’t be an annual destination because of the distance, and the NHL isn’t likely to threaten the popularity of Australian Rules Football or rugby, but it’s a toehold for a league seeking a bigger international footprint.

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