The NHL is officially coming to Utah — what will the team name be?

SALT LAKE CITY (KSL.com) — It’s now official: Utah is home to an NHL team.

The NHL Board of Governors voted Thursday to establish a new team in Utah. In the deal, Ryan and Ashley Smith have purchased the contracts of Arizona Coyotes executives, coaches, and players.

The Arizona franchise, meanwhile, will become inactive. As part of the deal, Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo has the option to reactivate the Coyotes franchise as an expansion club, if he builds a suitable arena within five years.

The new Utah team will be considered a new franchise — but in place of an expansion draft, they get an already functioning hockey operations department. A department featuring a young All-Star, a group of young exciting players, draft picks, and a well-respected coach.

The Smith group reportedly paid $1.2 billion to establish the franchise, which will begin its Utah era playing at the Smith-owned Delta Center.

“As everyone knows, Utah is a vibrant and thriving state, and we are thrilled to be a part of it,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “We are also delighted to welcome Ashley and Ryan Smith to the NHL family and know they will be great stewards of the game in Utah. We thank them for working so collaboratively with the League to resolve a complex situation in this unprecedented and beneficial way.”

The Smiths said they intended to pursue an expansion team to bring the NHL to the state, but plans changed when Bettman came to them with a new proposal. To help solve the seemingly never-ending saga in Arizona, the Smiths could create a new franchise out of the Coyotes’ assets.

The stage is set for #NHLinUtah! pic.twitter.com/bPBdSyW7q9

— NHL (@NHL) April 18, 2024

“We are honored to bring an NHL team to Utah and understand the responsibility we have as stewards of a new NHL franchise,” Ryan and Ashley Smith said in a statement. “This is a transformative day for our state and our fans.”

For the last two seasons, the Coyotes have played games in the 5,000-seat Mullett Arena on the Arizona State University campus. Meanwhile, the franchise’s efforts to build a permanent home have been voted down.

“I agree with Commissioner Gary Bettman and the National Hockey League, that it is simply unfair to continue to have our players, coaches, hockey front office, and the NHL teams they compete against, spend several more years playing in an arena that is not suited for NHL hockey,” Meruelo said. “But this is not the end for NHL hockey in Arizona.”

The Coyotes’ name, brand and history will remain in Arizona for the potentially reactivated franchise.

So what will Utah’s team be called? The Utah … TBD.

Ryan Smith told NHL.com that he plans to be patient when it comes to coming up with the brand and name of the franchise — especially given the tight timeline. The franchise will likely start next season without a team name.

“It will 100% be ‘Utah,’ and then it will be ‘Utah Something,’ obviously,” Ryan Smith said. “I don’t think given this timeline that we’re going to have time — or nor should we rush with everything else that’s going on — to go force what that is in the next three months.”

The NHL team has contracted with Doubleday & Cartwright — a creative studio that has worked with the Detroit Pistons, the Milwaukee Bucks, Inter Miami CF and the New York Red Bulls — to help shape the brand.

“We’ll start with ‘Utah’ on the jersey, and we’ll figure out the logo and everything else and what it is that we are,” Smith said. “But that’s a one-way door. You get to do it once. And with this timeline, I think both the league feels better and we feel better to just run the process, and then we’ll drop it when we drop it.”

So the team will take the ice in the fall as just Utah … Hockey Club? Hockey Team? HC? Just Utah? Regardless, it will be a temporary placeholder.

“I don’t think it’s a 24-month process,” he said. “It’s a placeholder, but it’s kind of not a placeholder because we’re going to be ‘Utah’ either way, right? We have the first part of the name. We don’t have the last.”

But they do have a team. The NHL fits right in with the winter sports haven that is Utah. And the new Utah players are excited to watch the game grow in the state.

“I think putting an NHL team in any city is going to really grow the game,” rookie forward Josh Doan said. “If the fans like hockey and they like fun, high-energy games, they’re gonna love it and they’ll enjoy it. We’ve got a great group here that it’s really good and exciting to watch. So it’ll be exciting.”