Fans Are Throwing Season Ticket Deposits At The New Utah NHL Team Which May Not Have A Name Before Next Season

Yesterday the NHL officially announced that the Arizona Coyotes were going to go inactive while a new Utah-based franchise was on the way.

This happened pretty fast, but it's clear that fans are already fired up about Salt Lake City being home to an NHL team.

Just two hours after the news was made official, Ryan Smith, the new team's owner, revealed that they had already received 6,000 season-ticket deposits.

That's pretty damn good. Especially considering teams like Vegas and Seattle did season ticket drives with a bit more of a heads-up that it was happening.

Of course, that was after just two hours, on Friday, TSN's Pierre LeBrun reported that he had spoken to Smith and that the number of season ticket deposits was over 20,000,

Now, that's really impressive.

Especially when you consider that the team will be playing at the Delta Center — which is a basketball-first arena and home to the Utah Jazz — that has a seating capacity of 12,000 for hockey games.

However, part of Smith's plan involves renovating the arena and upping its capacity for hockey to 17,000.

People are fired up about an NHL team in Utah, but they may have to wait quite some time before they have an official nickname. (Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)

The NHL's New Utah Team Isn't Rushing Into A Name

The early returns appear to indicate that Utah will be fertile ground for the NHL because all of this is happening before the new Utah team even has a name.

Speaking of which, we may not know for a while what they're going to go with. The only real clue has been that Smith plans to use "Utah" not "Salt Lake City" as the team's location.

That makes a lot of sense. It's shorter, makes them "Utah's team" but also matches Smith's Utah Jazz.

But the full name may not be ready until after the team's inaugural season begins. They've hired a firm to work on branding, but LeBrun reported that they're not in any hurry to finalize a name.

That's not a huge surprise, and if anything it's a good thing. Creating a team's identity can be a lengthy process, and recent clubs like the Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken had more than a year to craft theirs.

Utah? Well, their season starts in six months.

What will be really interesting is what they're called at the NHL Draft on June 28 at The Sphere in Las Vegas.

Utah Hockey Team, maybe? Just Utah? I don't know, but that decision will need to be made soon because the team is also going to be part of the league's draft lottery, which is typically held in early May.