Utah’s NHL Team Narrows Down Potential Names To Six Options After Fan Vote

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The NHL will be setting up shop in Utah next season now that the Coyotes have relocated to Salt Lake City after the team’s disastrous stint in Arizona came to a merciful end, and there are still plenty of things we don’t know about the league’s newest franchise—including what it will be called.

However, we’re one step closer to learning its new identity now that it’s narrowed down its list of potential names to six options.

The NHL did everything in its power to prove Hockey Belongs In The Desert™ before deciding to pull the plug on the Arizona Coyotes following the conclusion of their 27th season. In March, the league announced the team would be relocating more than 500 miles north to Salt Lake City after Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith purchased the franchise in a deal worth $1.2 billion.

As things currently stand, it appears the team will adopt the Utah Hockey Club moniker for its inaugural season while adopting a blue and black color scheme. After acquiring the franchise,  Smith made it clear he was in no rush to firm up a permanent identity and said he was hoping to give its fans a chance to weigh in before deciding on a name.

According to Chris Johnston of The Athletic, 520,000 people voted in the poll that featured a list of 20 names they could pick from, and on Thursday, the team unveiled a list of six semifinalists prior to opening up a second round of voting that will wrap up on June 20th.

Based on the general sentiment I’ve detected online, it appears Yeti is currently the fan favorite, although the Colorado Avalanche may take exception to that name (as well as the Blizzard) when you consider it used the cryptid as its first mascot and previously featured a “Bigfoot” footprint as a shoulder patch until dropping it in 2015.

In my personal opinion, Venom (which is a nod to Utah’s reputation as the “Beehive State”) and Outlaws sound like the generic options you can choose from when you’re creating a fake franchise in Madden. 

I also don’t think Mammoth comes close to measuring up to the other snow-inspired options, and while I don’t necessarily hate Hockey Club, if you’re going to put this much time and effort into branding, it seems like a major copout.

Again, the team isn’t scrambling to make a decision, so we’ll just have to wait and see what options are left on the table when the next round of voting comes to an end.