Utah HC media day blog: Has a team name been chosen?

By Ryan Miller, KSL | Updated - Sept. 18, 2024 at 1:10 p.m. | Posted - Sept. 18, 2024 at 9:41 a.m.

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's first NHL season is nearly here.

The Utah Hockey Club started final preparations for its inaugural season with media day on Wednesday. Follow along to hear from general manager Bill Armstrong, head coach Andre Tourigny, and stars Clayton Keller and Mikhail Sergachev as they get ready to drop the puck in Utah.

Wednesday, 01:04 pm

The new hockey statue won't serve as a name announcement

There will be a new statue outside the Delta Center this season.Last week, a construction crew temporarily removed the J-note statue on the Delta Center plaza — don't worry, Jazz fans, it will be returning — to make room for a new hockey statue.The hockey and J-note statues will sit side by side on the plaza.There has been some fan speculation that the new statue will be used to unveil the permanent team name for Utah's NHL team. Alas, a Smith Entertainment Group spokesperson told KSL.com that won't be the case.It will be hockey statue, yes, but won't be an announcement for a name. The statue is expected to be unveiled just before the start of the regular season on Oct. 8.

A better idea of how the J-Note and hockey addition statues will be placed within the plaza pic.twitter.com/eac8FYlLN2

— Carter Williams (@cwilliamsKSL) September 14, 2024

Wednesday, 12:55 pm

Utah's jerseys are getting the good kind of attention

So far the reviews are good for the new Utah Hockey Club jerseys.At least according to Clayton Keller. The star forward was Utah's representative in Las Vegas last week for the NHL media tour last week. His fellow NHL stars liked what they saw from the Utah sweaters."All the comments that I got were good comments," he said. "Everyone likes the colors and just how clean the jerseys look. So super excited to put it on for the first time in a game."That day will be coming soon.The first Utah Hockey Club preseason game will be Sunday in Des Moines, Iowa. The next day, the team will play its first game on home ice at the Delta Center.

A closer look at the details. 🔎#UtahHC pic.twitter.com/a52BCx7eco

— Utah Hockey Club (@utahhockeyclub) September 9, 2024

Wednesday, 10:21 am

Oh captain, my captain? Utah HC explains process of choosing captain

For Utah Hockey Club coach Andre Tourigny, picking a captain should be simple. It's the player that just about everyone can agree on."The fans think they choose the captain. The media think they choose a captain. The president thinks he chose the captain. The owner thinks he chose the captain. The coach thinks he chooses, the GM thinks he chooses a captain and the players think, 'That's a captain,'" Tourigny said. "For me, that's when that's a real captain. It's not someone who has a 'C' on his jersey."The last captain for Tourigny's then-Arizona Coyotes team was Oliver Ekman-Larsson during the 2020-21 season. So for three seasons now, he hasn't felt the team has had that obvious choice.Will that change in the first season in Utah?"We believe in the guys we have in our lineup, in our team," he said. "I think we're getting there. We're getting to the point where we're all comfortable with what's coming."Potential options include Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz and Mikhail Sergachev.

Wednesday, 09:58 am

Utah GM says organization might be in 'best shape' in the NHL

Utah HC general manager Bill Armstrong has overseen a long rebuild. He tore the team down to the studs, acquiring a treasure chest of draft picks in the process, and methodically built things back up. Now, he thinks the team is in a desirable position in the NHL."I'm a little biased about the way it's built, but I would say that out of all the 32 teams, we might be in the best shape as an organization," Armstrong said. "We don't really have any bad contracts. We've got a cap room. We've got a boatload of picks. We've got a boatload of prospects that are knocking on the door to become NHL players."Due to all that, he's not interested in moves that will solely bring draft capital back to Utah."We're past that point," he said. "At this stage, we're interested in building upon what we have and moving forward with what we can do; we went through that time. I think there's a psychological part, to be honest, with being a player and seeing your team kind of taken apart. Our guys have been through that before; we want to move forward."So does he anticipate being a buyer come the trade deadline?"We'll deal with that at that point," he said. "We have assets and we haven't been afraid in the past to add better players."One such example of that is Utah's draft weekend trade to land top defenseman Mikhail Sergachev.

Wednesday, 09:31 am

Has a team name been chosen?

It certainly sounds like the Utah Hockey Club knows what its permanent name will be."It's been very clear to us what our fans would like us to be called, and so now it's a matter of trying to explore exhaustively all avenues to try to deliver that to our fans," Utah Hockey Club president Chris Armstrong said.The last update of the team name contest came in June when it was announced the list had been cut down to six names: Yeti, Outlaws, Mammoth, Venom, Blizzard and Utah Hockey Club.So what name is the winner?"I'm not in a position or prepared to tell you what that is today, but as we go through that process, we'll have more to say about it for sure," Armstrong said.He said it was a "complicated process" from a legal, trademarking and intellections property perspective, and the team is still sorting out what can be done.But Utah forward Clayton Keller may have spilled the beans at the NHL player media tour last week."It seems like it's going to be Yeti, so I'm good with that," Keller said, before looking around a bit nervously.That would certainly fit with the black, blue and white color scheme the team has said will be permanent.

Utah HC media day blog: Has a team name been chosen?

By Ryan Miller, KSL | Updated - Sept. 18, 2024 at 1:10 p.m. | Posted - Sept. 18, 2024 at 9:41 a.m.

The new hockey statue won't serve as a name announcement

Utah's jerseys are getting the good kind of attention

Oh captain, my captain? Utah HC explains process of choosing captain

Utah GM says organization might be in 'best shape' in the NHL

Has a team name been chosen?

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Utah HC media day blog: Has a team name been chosen?

By Ryan Miller, KSL | Updated - Sept. 18, 2024 at 1:10 p.m. | Posted - Sept. 18, 2024 at 9:41 a.m.

The new hockey statue won't serve as a name announcement

Utah's jerseys are getting the good kind of attention

Oh captain, my captain? Utah HC explains process of choosing captain

Utah GM says organization might be in 'best shape' in the NHL

Has a team name been chosen?

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