The new NHL team in Utah is entering the picture, even as it waits for a permanent name.
Utah sports mogul Ryan Smith officially closed on his purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes on Thursday, an opportunity the team used to confirm the team’s new temporary name and jerseys, as well as its permanent colors.
The Utah Hockey Club will take the ice this fall wearing jerseys with the word “Utah” and little else. Never say the Washington Football Team wasn’t a trendsetter.
Some will call them clean, some will call them plain, some will call them the most boring jerseys in the NHL.
The Utah Hockey Club is currently in the process of having fans vote to determine what name the team will use in the long run. Last week, it entered its second round of voting, with six options available: the now-incumbent Utah Hockey Club, the Utah Blizzard, the Utah Mammoth, the Utah Outlaws, the Utah Venom and the Utah Yeti.
Whatever name is chosen, the following colors will be used, seen below with the hockey club’s original logos: rock black, salt white and mountain blue.
Obviously some names fit those colors better than others (could a woolly mammoth be blue). The second round of fan voting runs until June 20 until 11:59 PM MT.
The NHL’s Board of Governors in April approved the $1.2 billion sale of the Coyotes to Smith, adding an NHL team to a personal sports empire that already includes the NBA’s Utah Jazz, MLS’s Real Salt Lake, NWSL’s Utah Royals and G League’s Salt Lake City Stars included , minor league baseball’s Salt Lake Bees and MLS Next Pro’s Real Monarchs.
As part of the sale deal, former Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo can secure a new arena in Arizona within five years, repay the $1.2 billion and get an expansion franchise.
