Utah Hockey Club's future trending in a positive direction after first NHL season in Salt Lake City
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Reaching the NHL playoffs is a long shot for the Utah Hockey Club in its inaugural season in Salt Lake City.
Beyond Year 1, though, things are trending upward for the franchise.
Utah has plenty of draft picks over the next three years and has $21.5 million in projected cap space for the next season. Many key contributors are signed to long-term, team friendly deals. Starting goaltender Karel Vejmelka signed a five-year deal in March to stay.
Fan support has also been consistently robust throughout Utah's first season with hockey-capacity sellouts of 11,131 unobstructed seats for all regular-season home games.
'Everyone sees where we are from a roster standpoint: the youth that we have, the future that's ahead of us and then the intrigue of this market,' Utah owner Ryan Smith said. 'Honestly, the way the community has rallied behind everything that we're doing, it's super powerful.'
Smith faced a major challenge when he bought the Arizona Coyotes roughly a year ago and moved players and front office personnel to Salt Lake City with no previous hockey infrastructure in place. The Utah Olympic Oval from the 2002 Games, primarily a speedskating venue, had to be converted into a temporary practice facility and Delta Center, home of the NBA's Jazz, was primarily designed for basketball and not built for hockey.
The quick fixes even extended to what to call the team. Utah Hockey Club was designated as a placeholder name for the franchise while fans voted on a permanent team name that will be rolled out ahead of the 2025-26 regular-season opener.
Still, the season played out on the ice and behind the scenes how Smith hoped.
'It was pretty daunting a year ago ... walking into a room and then not knowing what to say to the guys besides: 'Trust us. It's going to be OK,'' Smith said. 'I think people do good with change in life. I think uncertainty is really hard for people, and that was probably one of the more uncertain moments.'
Utah quickly won over many new fans with an energetic and physical brand of hockey. While making a late playoff push, Utah has scored 21 goals over its past five games while allowing only nine.
Utah is not likely going to wrestle the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference from Minnesota. Still, the team's late-season form of play bodes well for its ability to be competitive beyond April in future seasons.
"That's what you want to raise, that's what you want to be as a team … a team who will never quit,' Utah coach Andre Tourigny said after a victory over Calgary on April 1. 'There's no quitting in that room. There's no quitting in those players.'
Smith is quickly building up infrastructure that the team lacked when he purchased the team.
Utah will open a new, 115,780 square-foot practice facility in the southern suburb of Sandy in September. It will house two NHL-sized ice sheets and serve as the team's official headquarters. Training, medical, and dining facilities, offices, and a locker room will also be part of the facility.
Utah's practice facility will also be open for public use starting in January 2026.
'This is the place where we're going to inspire the next generation of kids in Utah to play the game of hockey,' Utah president of hockey operations Chris Armstrong said. 'And this is where we're going to put down all the habits and the identity of this team for the future as we pursue a Stanley Cup for Utah.'
Delta Center will be remodeled within the next three years to improve sightlines for hockey games and bring the arena up to NHL standards. It will also serve as the anchor of a new $1.8 billion sports and entertainment district in downtown Salt Lake City.
'This is the next step,' Smith said. 'There's a lot more. The arena remodel and everything else that's coming around there, it's all just part of a big puzzle that we got to go put together.'
Smith is trying to grow hockey in Utah by funding the construction of up to 20 new community rinks. Through Smith Entertainment Group, he plans to donate up to $500,000 per rink to help build out the sport across the state.
___
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