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On a day in which Ryan Smith formally closed his deal to acquire an NHL franchise for Utah, the team is now taking several additional—and significant—steps to establish itself in its new home.
The organization said late Thursday that, as expected, it will be known officially as Utah Hockey Club for its first season in its new home, with “Utah” running across the jerseys. The franchise has also selected a color scheme of “rock black,” “salt white,” and “mountain blue” to serve as a base of its identity for both for this initial campaign in Salt Lake City and beyond. Those colors were chosen in part to be complementary to the existing look of the NBA’s Jazz, also owned by Smith.
Utah HC additionally released the first images of its new jerseys, which will be worn by the team’s selections at the NHL draft set for June 28–29. Some initial Utah HC merchandise will go on sale to fans at that time, followed by wide rollouts as the regular season approaches.
These key steps to prepare for the 2024–25 season arrive as the franchise prepares a forthcoming third round of fan voting on the permanent team name. After starting with 20 options, the remaining choices include Yeti, Mammoth, Blizzard, Venom, Outlaws, and retaining the Utah HC identity. There is not a timetable to conclude the process, but that third round of voting will happen later this summer.
Both this interim identity and the permanent one are being developed with the aid of design firm Doubleday & Cartwright. The closing of the deal for Smith, also the owner of two local pro soccer teams, happened just shy of two months after the NHL announced its plan to turn the Coyotes franchise dormant and set up a team in Utah.
The latest moves are also happening as Utah HC has received more than 34,000 deposits for season tickets, far in excess of the capacity of the Delta Center and creating something of a problematic demand crunch.
