Liam O'Brien made a bold prediction: “I think we'll be in the playoffs straight away.”
Arizona Coyotes centre Liam O'Brien celebrates a goal against the Winnipeg Jets during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Tempe, Ariz., Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. (Photo by The Associated Press/Ross D. Franklin)
The Utah hockey club has fished the free agent market and caught a tuna of its own.
Liam O'Brien, who emphatically introduced himself to fans as “Spicy Tuna” in April, will sign a three-year contract to play in Salt Lake City.
The forward spent the past few seasons playing for the Arizona Coyotes, but now Utah has a new and important fan presence. O'Brien can go from talking about his love of punching people to caring for a newborn baby, all within minutes.
And he's not opposed to making some bold predictions along the way.
“I think we can make the playoffs right away,” O'Brien said of Utah's early hockey outlook.
O'Brien had little doubt he would end up in Utah, and he said many of his Arizona teammates have already begun the process of transferring to Salt Lake.
But O'Brien can now officially become a fan favorite. Salt Lake already got a taste of his personality when he stood in front of the Delta Center and yelled at fans to “call me Spicy Tuna.” Soon, chants began singing the Canadian's nickname.
On social media, O'Brien is simply known as the “Official Big Tuna.”
He was happy to explain the origins of the nickname, which he said came about when he was a rookie playing for Hershey, Pennsylvania, when defenseman Nate Schmidt came up to him one day and started saying it.
“I walked in the room and they started calling me Tuna,” he said. “Everybody loved it. The coaches started calling me Tuna.”
The name evolved to Spicy Tuna and then simply Spicy. Ironically, O'Brien revealed in Arizona that he is allergic to tuna and tries not to eat it anymore.
Now some in the locker room call him Obi.
O'Brien has combined his nickname with his physical prowess on the ice, finishing in the top 15 in the NHL with more than 200 hits last year.
“[Hitting somebody] “It's the best feeling in the world,” he said with a laugh, “and the second best feeling in the world is waking up after getting hit, and being like, 'Okay, now I've got to go run somebody.'”
O'Brien still lives in Arizona but is planning on moving to Salt Lake City. His family recently welcomed their first child, a daughter, Leilani Eva, and he plans to bring her back to his family's home in Canada before the season starts.
After that, he will begin the process of building hockey in Utah.
“It's still really new. The ownership side of it is really top-notch. As a player, it's really refreshing,” he said. “… I'm really looking forward to bringing my family to Utah. It's a really comfortable place, a really good place to have a family.”
He plans to attend schools and other youth events to promote basketball in the state.
Meanwhile, the man with the nickname is waiting for the team name to be announced.
“Be patient, it will come eventually,” he said.
But now that he's settling into his new home, Utah is where he wants to live, and he thinks it's only a matter of time before the state embraces “spicy tuna.”
“I knew I wanted to stay here,” he said. “Our group is really close. We've been through a lot together. There was no question. I wanted to be in Utah.”
“I'm looking forward to bringing hockey to Utah and bringing a strong hockey culture here.”
