Owner Of Utah’s New NHL Team Says A Fan Vote Will Be Used To Pick Its Name

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Utah will have an NHL team for the first time in history when it kicks off its newest season later this year, and the proud new owner of the franchise has already promised to get fans involved when it comes to picking its name.

Salt Lake City was already listed as a potential candidate for an NHL expansion team as the league hinted at its plans to grow in the not-too-distant future, but we were treated to a fairly unexpected development at the end of the regular season courtesy of the now-defunct franchise that was the Arizona Coyotes.

The Coyotes set up shop in Phoenix in 1996, and their arrival marked the start of a wildly tumultuous existence defined by a revolving door of owners who were unable to get the team’s finances under control.

While Gary Bettman did everything in his power to prove Hockey Belongs in the Desert™, it became increasingly clear that was not the case for a franchise that spent its last two seasons sharing a 4,500-seat arena with the hockey team at Arizona State.

Those struggles ultimately led to the NHL connecting with Ryan Smith, the owner of the Utah Jazz, who spent months negotiating a deal that was finalized earlier this month when the league announced the Coyotes will be relocating to Salt Lake City for the 2024-25 campaign.

It seems like fans in Utah’s capital are ready for the team’s arrival based on how many season tickets it was able to move shortly after the news broke. As things currently stand, it’s unclear what moniker the franchise plans to adapt, although we got a peek at some potential candidates—including the Blizzard, Venom, and Hockey Club—thanks to some trademark applications that have been filed.

Now, we have some insight into how the creative process is going to play out courtesy of Smith, who announced his plans to have fans get in on the action by voting on a bracket that will narrow a list of eight potential choices down to an eventual winner during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.

Smith, who was able to buy the Jazz and amass a net worth north of $2 billion thanks to his involvement in the software company Qualtrics, stated he has an unspecified plan to prevent bots from influencing the result of the fan vote.

He’s previously stated he’s not in a huge rush to firm up the team’s branding and that the only decision that’s been made is to embrace “Utah” as opposed to Salt Lake City. It does seem like Hockey Club could be used as a placeholder until the fan vote is held, but it doesn’t sound like there’s currently a firm timeline in place for any decision.