The NHL has finally gotten its wish for a new expansion team: The league has awarded Salt Lake City the Utah Hockey Club and the new franchise has unveiled its jersey scheme for the 2024-25 season.
The organization's primary color scheme is light blue, white, and black, making for an attractive design, as revealed on the new X account.
The league provided more insight into the color scheme with a detailed explanation.
“The color palette consists of Rock Black, which represents the darkness of mountain nights and the volcanic rock of Utah's desert; Salt White, which represents the snow on Utah's mountaintops and famous salt flats; and Mountain Blue, which represents Utah's rich winter sports history and more than 230 days of sunshine per year. The distinctive colors will serve as a cornerstone of the club's brand, which will evolve through the team name selection ahead of the 2025-26 NHL season,” according to NHL.com.
Exciting era begins for Utah Hockey Club
Salt Lake City fans are excited about the arrival of their NHL team. Team president and Smith Entertainment Group chairman Ryan Smith released a statement upon the franchise announcement.
“Today is a monumental day for the state of Utah as we officially complete the creation of our newest NHL franchise,” Smith said. “The NHL has been a great partner throughout this process, providing us with invaluable guidance and support. We have a lot of work to do, with training camp starting in less than 100 days, and we couldn't be more excited for what's to come.”
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman also spoke about the formation of the team.
“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am pleased to officially welcome Utah to the National Hockey League. I congratulate Ryan and Ashley Smith, their entire organization, the state and our fans as the club continues its exciting journey toward kickoff in October,” Bettman said.
The growth of the Utah Hockey Club continues. Fans can vote for the new team name. Options include Utah Blizzard, Utah Hockey Club (Utah HC), Utah Mammoth, Utah Outlaws, Utah Venom and Utah Yeti. Voting will run until June 20th.
This new franchise isn't just focused on branding. They want to build a team that can win. Utah general manager Bill Armstrong spoke about the process of assembling talent for the team at the scouting combine in early June.
“I think our staff has done a great job in terms of acquiring prospects, running the draft and acquiring a ton of promising players in a short period of time, so I think they're excited about the process we've developed here and the talent that we have, not just with the players we've acquired in the draft, but the talent that we have on our staff that fuels the engine every year,” Armstrong said.
These are exciting times, so it will be interesting to see how this new organisation fare beyond 2024.
