It’s the biggest day in Liam Kirk’s career to date as the youngster from Sheffield, England shall hit the ice with NHL players.

Kirk was invited to stay in Arizona as part of the Coyotes official NHL training camp, though he’s extremely likely to be amongst the first cuts to the 62 strong roster.

The assumption is that Arizona coaches want to take a longer look as Kirk made a strong first impression during the recent the prospects development camp.
Matching him up against NHL talent will allow the organisation to fully assess Kirk’s current ability, provide a report on which areas of his game require attention and set a baseline from which to gauge improvement this season.

The GB forward will be hitting the ice alongside the likes of Clayton Keller, Derek Stepan, new Captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Christian Dvorak, Michael Grabner and Brendan Perlini, whilst being under the eye of Arizona Head Coach Rich Tocchet.

Camp actually began on Thursday with medical and fitness testing taking place on what’s known as media day, but the real work begins today (Friday September, 14).

Arizona Coyotes Pre-Season Schedule
September 16 @ Vegas Golden Knights – T-Mobile Arena
September 18 vs. Los Angeles Kings (Gila River Arena)
September 18 @ Los Angeles Kings (Staples Center)
September 22 vs. Anaheim Ducks (Gila River Arena)
September 24 @ Anaheim Ducks (Honda Center)
September 27 @ Edmonton Oilers (Rogers Place)
September 29 @ Vancouver Canucks (Prospera Place)

A compact pre-season schedule for Arizona will likely give Kirk to opportunity to take part in at least one game before being cut but an extended stay out west means that the 18 year old will miss the beginning of the OHL season.

Peterborough Petes kick off their 2018-19 campaign on September 20 with a home opener against Kingston Frontenacs and play four games in ten days, of which three are hosted at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.

Arizona Coyotes 2018-19 Training Camp Roster

Goaltenders: Adin Hill, Darcy Kuemper, Merrick Madsen, Hunter Miska, Ivan Prosvetov, Antti Raanta, David Tendeck.

Defensemen: Kevin Bahl, Dennis Busby, Kyle Capobianco, Jakob Chychrun, Kevin Connauton, Jason Demers, Cam Dineen, Kevin Ekman-Larsson, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Alex Goligoski, Jacob Graves, Jordan Gross, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Noel Hoefenmayer, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Ilya Lyubushkin, Dysin Mayo, Dakota Mermis, Jordan Oesterle, Robbie Russo, Jalen Smereck.

Forwards: Josh Archibald, Michael Bunting, Brayden Burke, Trevor Cheek, Nick Cousins, Lawson Crouse, Laurent Dauphin, Christian Dvorak, Hudson Fasching, Christian Fischer, Alex Galchenyuk, Conor Garland, Mattero Gennaro, Michael Grabner, Barrett Hayton, Adam Helewka, Vinnie Hinostroza, Jan Jenik, Clayton Keller, Mario Kempe, Liam Kirk, Kelly Klima, Kevin Klima, Jens Looke, Nick Merkley, Richard Panik, Lane Pederson, Brendan Perlini, Brad Richardson, Nate Schnarr, Derek Stepan, Tyler Steenbergen, Dylan Strome, David Ullstrom.