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Utah Hockey Didn’t Exist Six Months Ago. It’s Debuting to Major Buzz

  • The franchise has rebranded after relocating from Arizona over the summer.
  • Owner Ryan Smith is making sure the team finds its identity.
Rob Gray-Imagn Images

The Utah Hockey Club completes its rebrand Tuesday night when it hosts the Blackhawks to cap off the NHL’s opening-night tripleheader of games on ESPN. The puck is dropping in North America after the Devils swept the Sabres in a two-game global series in Prague over the weekend.

Salt Lake City’s new NHL franchise has gone through a wild ride this year:

Now, as the season begins, Utah is a major part of the NHL’s expected continued growth.

Hitting the Ice

The hype has been building around Utah all summer and into the fall ahead of the franchise’s regular-season debut.

“You felt the general enthusiasm from the public—and that started with an Uber ride to dinner right after we first landed here,” Bill Armstrong, the club’s general manager, tells Front Office Sports senior reporter A.J. Perez, who is in Salt Lake City covering the special occasion.

“There’s a fascination with having their own NHL team in this market,” Armstrong says. “There’s already been a lot of powerful moments that we’ve had with this community and it’s still early on. We want to be community-obsessed and we want to pay them back for that emotion that they gave us on the first day.”

Utah head coach André Tourigny is ready to get the season started. “So far, everything that’s been promised has been delivered,” he told the media in Salt Lake City on Monday. “I think the enthusiasm around the team is through the roof.”

“We have a great opportunity to start in front of our fans with a lot of energy,” Tourigny said. Utah will go on a three-game road trip after their home opener.

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