GLENDALE -- The NHL season has been under way for over a week but for myself, Tyson Nash, Todd Walsh and the rest of the Fox Sports Arizona crew, our season finally begins on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. local time with the pre-game show prior to the home opener against the Detroit Red Wings. It’s been fun to watch the games from Prague and follow all the stories as they unfold around the league, but it’s time to get back to work.

Me and Nasher outside the dressing room. Photo by Dave Vest.

Our entire crew had our annual pre-season production meeting a few weeks ago to go over many of the general philosophies of what we want to bring to each telecast as well as sponsored elements, formats, etc. Now, we’ll have the first of 60 production meetings to discuss the specifics of our telecast on Saturday. These meetings are where we decide what topics will be a part of our open and which storylines we want to weave throughout the telecast. We also lay out a plan, if it applies to that game, for our pre-game coverage.

The pre-game show will probably look pretty much the same to the viewers at home as it did last season, but our location inside the arena has changed. Instead of being above Section 104 on the concourse level, we’ve been moved to the upper concourse level. It really doesn’t matter where they put us. With Emmy Award winning host Todd Walsh leading the way, Nasher and I just follow his lead. Another change from last season: not only will we have a full half-hour pre-game show prior to each home game* but Fox Sports AZ will have several 15-minute “mini” pre-game shows prior to select road games. Check your local listings so you don’t miss any of the coverage this season. The same holds true for our post-game coverage. We’ll go right to our post-game coverage after each home game* and we’ll have “mini” post-game reports after select road games.

*may be pre-empted due to other live programming

Todd Walsh

After our telecast on Saturday, it’s off to the airport for a short flight over to southern California. On Sunday, we’ll be on the air at 5 p.m. from Honda Center for the first of six meetings against division rival Anaheim. Generally, with these back-to-back situations, we’ll have our production meeting on the plane so the crew can start to assemble all the highlights we’ll need as soon as they get to the production truck in the morning.

I hope you’ll join us on Saturday and all season long on Fox Sports Arizona as we follow the Coyotes throughout the 2010-11 season. Also, follow Todd (@walshtodd), Tyson (@Nashty18) and me (@TheVoiceDS) on twitter for more tidbits… and a touch of humor.

For phoenixcoyotes.com, I’m Dave Strader.