Utah’s new NHL franchise has released a survey that lists 20 different team names that fans will be able to vote on.
According to an ESPN report, Frost, Ice, Powder, Mountaineers, Freeze, Mammoth, Black Diamonds, Blast, Caribou, Blizzard, Swarm, Hive, Outlaws, Yeti, Squall, Fury, Glaciers, Canyons, Venom and HC (Hockey Club) were the team names that were included in the survey.
Ryan Smith, the owner of Utah’s new NHL franchise, announced that the team’s jerseys will say “Utah” on the front of them for the duration of the 2024-25 season. The new team, along with its logo and colors, will be unveiled for the 2025-26 season.
It’s expected that there will be multiple rounds of voting for a new team name given the large list of potential names.
Smith, who also owns the NBA’s Utah Jazz, bought the Arizona Coyotes from Alex Meruelo for $1.2 billion in April. Upon purchasing the Coyotes, Smith announced that the team would be relocating to Salt Lake City and begin play in 2024-25.
The Coyotes had called Arizona home since 1996 when the Winnipeg Jets relocated to the Phoenix area. However, the Coyotes saw their lease at the Footprinter Center come to an end, and had been playing their home games at the 5,000-seat Mullett Arena on the campus of Arizona State.
The new Utah NHL team will play its home games at the Delta Center, which is the home of the Jazz.
The team held a fan event last month in which they introduced the fanbase to many of the team’s players. Utah has already seemed to fall in love with the Utah NHL franchise as there are already 23,000 people who have paid season-ticket deposits following the move to Salt Lake City.
When the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery was held on Tuesday, the Utah NHL franchise just used an NHL logo along with the word “Utah” as its logo. Utah obtained the No. 6 pick in next month’s NHL Draft, which will take place in Las Vegas.
The Coyotes registered a 36-41-5 record (77 points) during the 2023-24 season.
