NHL to play pre-season series in Melbourne

Two-time Stanley Cup winner Dustin Brown is urging local fans to get behind the Los Angeles Kings with Australian-born Jordan Spence in the line-up and as the "closest" NHL team.

The Kings and Arizona Coyotes are headed to Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena in September for two pre-season games, the first time the NHL has played matches in the southern hemisphere.

Exhibition matches have previously been contested in Australia but it's the first time two NHL teams have squared off.

NHL spokesman David Proper said the matches on September 23-24 would be a full experience for ice hockey fans.

"These games will be a true experience of an NHL game as they exist in north America - all the top players from the teams will be here participating and we have committed to bringing a full NHL regulation ice rink here and we intend to put in hung scoreboards," Proper said on Wednesday in Melbourne.

Superstar Brown, who has a statue alongside Kings alumni Wayne Gretzky outside their home arena, won't be part of the squad after retiring at the end of the 2022 season.

He played 19 seasons with the LA outfit including nine as captain and led them to the championship in 2012 and 2014.

But Brown said there was still plenty to like about the Kings, nominating 22-year-old Spence as one of his favourite players.

Spence was born in Sydney but grew up in Japan and Canada before making his NHL debut in March 2022.

The former right winger joked that as well as the Spence link it made sense for local fans to adopt the Kings given that geographically they are the closest NHL team to Australia.

"He's one of my favourite young guys," Brown told AAP.

"He's a good puck-moving defenceman and while I only played a handful of games with him, we had a great connection.

"He hit me with a shot and shattered my finger at the end of last year so we have a pretty unique connection.

"He's not the biggest guy in the world but he's a really offensive powerplay guy and he's got a unique story."

Brown, who was part of the NHL Global Series games in China in 2017, promised that both teams would go full-throttle.

"It's a preparation game but there will be a lot of kids trying to make the team so they will be going as hard as they possibly can," the 38-year-old said.

"They will have their top players fully in - I've played with the Kings in some of these Global Series games and when you're playing in a special environment the intensity of the game goes up regardless because it's an exciting thing to play in.

"It will be a true indication of what the NHL is really like."

Welsh-born Nathan Walker became the first Australian to make the NHL in 2017 and won the Stanley Cup in 2018 as part of the Washington Capitals' roster.

He currently plays for the St Louis Blues.