The Arizona Coyotes will play their first home game of the season Friday night against the Winnipeg Jets. They’ll do inside of their new home for at least the next three seasons, Arizona State University’s Mullett Arena.
Due to the peculiar agreement that sees the Coyotes playing in a college arena with a capacity of around 5,000, construction is underway to make the facilities more suitable for a pro team.
That construction is not done yet and that was on full display when the Coyotes gave reporters a look at their current home dressing room.
TVA Sports’ Andy Mailly-Pressoir posted the following photos of the team’s temporary home digs which they are expected to use for at least their first four home games of the season.
Le vestiaire temporaire des Coyotes de l’Arizona. @TVASports #NHL #Coyotes pic.twitter.com/CwDQt9e62Z
— Andy Mailly-Pressoir (@AndympTVAS) October 27, 2022
Poor Jack McBain doesn’t even get a shelf to put any of his things on as his name placard is just slapped on a wall. It also appears that defenseman Dysin Mayo, goaltender Karel Vejmelka, and goaltender Connor Ingram will have to get dressed in an entirely separate room from the rest of their teammates.
The problem isn’t just with the home locker room. The visitor’s room also caused some stir on social media when this photo was posted on Thursday.
The visiting dressing room at the Arizona Coyotes’ Mullet Arena is ready to go: pic.twitter.com/HvSGU4eCHA
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) October 27, 2022
The haphazard setup is on top of Mullett Arena’s community ice rink. You actually have to enter through one of the rink’s bench doors to get inside it as Mailly-Pressoir demonstrates in the below video.
Le fameux vestiaire des équipes adverses sur la glace communautaire, à quelques mètres de la glace principale. @TVASports #Coyotes pic.twitter.com/XJZ9ZC5vxj
— Andy Mailly-Pressoir (@AndympTVAS) October 27, 2022
ESPN’s Jon Buccigross posted this photo of one of the four “team shops” in the arena. Admittedly, this is one of the two smaller ones on the concourse. However, fans at the Home Opener might be just satisfied with their giveaway mullet wigs.
— BucciParmPastaExtension8X11 (@Buccigross) October 28, 2022
An, uh, interesting (?) arrangement to say the least.
