It’s official, the new NHL team in Utah, which is the relocated but also not relocated team from Arizona will have no team name in it’s first season. They will simply be known as Utah, and their jerseys will blandly say just “Utah” on them as the organization takes additional time to select a permanent name.
We still have no indication of what the team colors will be, but some are pointing to the light blue outline on the NHL Utah promos as a potential team color.
However, Icethetics pointed out a few weeks ago that just because there is a blue outline around the Utah does not mean anything. Back when Seattle was a brand new team and had yet to unveil a name or logos, they used red in a lot of their background and promotional material.
Cut to today, and red is certainly not the primary color of the Seattle Kraken.
In any case, with the Utah team going with the no-name route for 2024-25, new owner Ryan Smith has put out a public poll for fans to choose from 20 different names. Not that anyone really asked me or cares, but I decided it was imperative that I rank all 20 names for this new team.
For reference:
I’m fully aware that because I am not a resident of the Salt Lake City or greater Utah area, there are local references in some of these names that I do not know about. However, I did try to look into some of them to understand the context, but the general goal was to take these names at face value, so here we go:
20. Utah Powder
It’s crazy to me that someone would spend over $1 billion to buy a hockey team and not have an exact name in mind. The only thing crazier to me is spending over $1 billion to buy a hockey team and naming that team the Utah Powder.
Powder Mountain is North America’s largest ski area according to some website called Utah.com, but while that is a relevant name, Powder just isn’t working for me, like at all. So sadly we had to start somewhere, and Powder is at the bottom.
19. Utah Squall
While the idea of what a squall is (a sudden, sharp increase in wind speed) is a good backdrop for an intimidating name, the Squall simply is not. Squall sounds too much like squirrel to me, and while I love squirrels, we gotta keep them away from ice hockey.
18. Utah Black Diamonds
If Utah chose this name, they would be the second team to have a two-word name, sharing that role with the Vegas Golden Knights. Not that I am a huge Vegas defender, but I think a two-word name should be left to them unless a new name can really nail it.
The Utah Black Diamonds just doesn’t do that. It gives me the vibe of a minor league baseball team, not a National Hockey League franchise.
17. Utah Blast
This is another one that just sounds like a lower level team, and with the minimal research I did, I didn’t find any sort of significance or relevance to the area. It just seems kind of random…and random can absolutely work, just not here.
Plus, apparently Blast is also the name of some soccer club in the Salt Lake City area, and while I’m sure an NHL franchise could find a way to take that name if it really wanted, it might be a bit of a hassle.
16. Utah Blizzard
Just based on proximity, there is going to be a natural rivalry between the Utah Whoevers and the Colorado Avalanche, and the Avs are the reason I shot this name down rather early. A blizzard is inferior to an avalanche; a good blizzard can lead into an avalanche, but an avalanche will never lead into a blizzard.
Overall, it’s not a terrible name and it makes sense for the area, but I’d just prefer to go a different direction, one that doesn’t put them below the Avalanche.
15. Utah HC
I know it’s extremely common in other parts of the world, but I have always been against the idea of teams having no name. Any kind of team name that is just “__ club” or anything like that has always rubbed me the wrong way, and with Utah that would likely happen as well.
The fact that I have this 15th on the list mainly speaks to how much I don’t like the other names as opposed to how much I am ok with Utah HC. However, it would be neat I guess if they just stuck to their guns and owned the no-name identity permanently.
Maybe them doing that would make me respect it a little more, but it makes creating a compelling logo rather hard. Still, I’d prefer them have an actual name.
14. Utah Frost
These next few options are all kind of the same. I don’t hate any of them, but I don’t like them either. Frost is just kind of underwhelming for an option.
Hockey is cold, so frost fits the narrative, but it’s just kind of a boring name for Utah. Plus, I think branding around that name could be a challenge.
13. Utah Freeze
Incredibly similar to the Utah Frost option, Freeze is just boring. Again, it fits a cold narrative but for something as big as an NHL team name, Freeze just feels like a letdown.
It also suffers from the same problem that I think Frost would: a branding challenge.
12. Utah Ice
Utah Ice is marginally better than Frost or Freeze in my personal opinion. I think Ice lends itself to a slick looking jersey with a light blue color (which would fit the light blue outline around Utah we’ve seen so far) that they can utilize well.
However, I’m liking ice more for the potential it has in branding as opposed to the name itself. Ice seems a little too on the nose for an ice hockey team, but I like it better than some others that are on this list.
11. Utah Canyons
I’m torn on Canyons. I did a few different lists on all these names before I sat down to write this, and Canyons has kind of been all over the place. I’ve had it as high as 8 and as low as 15, so I guess it’s fitting that it ended up somewhere in the middle here at 11.
Obviously Canyons has a local importance, with Visit Utah proclaiming that “has the largest concentration of slot canyons in the world, and many of them are easily accessible” so it’s a name that makes sense.
I don’t hate it, but it sounds kind of awkward the more times I say it in my head. Perhaps that’s why I had it so low at one point. I do think though you could make a very artistic logo out of this, and I would love to see what that would look like.
10. Utah Hive
The Hive would be an AMAZING name for the arena of a Utah team, but unfortunately that building is already named the Delta Center. Hive is certainly unique and that’s why it ranks higher than some. It also doesn’t take on a stereotypical hockey name, which I do appreciate, and it does also have relevance with Utah being known as the Beehive State.
Hive apparently is also the name of a local volleyball and lacrosse team in the area, so it must be popular over there.
I would wonder how much bees play into branding and logos for the team, assuming the type of hive they name the team after is a beehive. Maybe the Hive would end up getting more known as the Bees or the Beehive?
9. Utah Mammoth
A quick web search for Utah Mammoth led me down a rabbit hole of a semi-ghost town called Mammoth in northern Utah, so I have that to read more about later. But in terms of a team name, it’s alright.
Mammoths are big and scary, traits that you’d like your hockey team to be, so the name fits.
This is one that would probably rank higher if it was plural; I’m not sure why it can’t be the Utah Mammoths, but I have to rate it solely on what the option was presented as, hence why it gets 9th.
8. Utah Caribou
I’m going to be honest, when I made the original list I had Caribou way down near the bottom. However, in some strange way, Caribou has grown on me and risen all the way to 8.
I think part of the reason for that is my excitement over a potential Caribou logo. I’ve always been a fan of the logo from the Michigan Stags, an old World Hockey Association team that didn’t even make it a full season in Detroit before moving. If the design and branding is something like that, I’m all in on the Caribou.
As for the name itself, I like that it’s unique and definitely unlike any other team name, but it makes little sense for the Utah market. Caribou are not native to Utah, so that option being available doesn’t really make sense to me.
7. Utah Swarm
This name is similar to Utah Hive, but for some reason I like the Swarm better. It’s a good name for what you would want your team to do: swarm your opponent.
I have to imagine that branding and such would be similar to what it would be if they went with Hive, but in my mind Swarm is the superior choice of the two.
6. Utah Glaciers
Now we’re getting into names I actually genuinely like. I think Utah Glaciers lends itself to a very artistic logo, and like the Utah Ice from earlier on this list, I can see a very nice light blue jersey.
And unlike the Utah Ice, I actually like the Glaciers name. It fits for the Salt Lake City and surrounding Utah area…kind of. At least there are rock glaciers, which actually could lead to more of a rustic color scheme which also could be very nice.
Either way, I like name Glaciers.
5. Utah Yeti
This is the most popular one online, but it clocks in at 5 for me. There’s a lot of fun you could have with a Yeti-themed logo and branding, and could you imagine how cool the mascot will be?
My big thing with it is this: why is it singular? It’s been proposed by the team as a singular name, not Yetis plural. Why have one yeti when you can have 20?
Maybe later on they change it to Yetis, but I have to rank it based on the official spelling of Yeti, and that’s what drops it down to 5.
4. Utah Fury
I’m a big fan of the Utah Fury. It’s fierce and it’s fun, and if you wanted to go with a warmer color scheme, like maroon and red, this name lends itself to that nicely.
The Utah Fury also does have a real-life: author Brittney Mulliner penned a 14-book series centered around a fictional NHL team named the Utah Fury, which I believe fall into a romance section if the descriptions of each book on GoodReads are accurate. Mulliner said she would be thrilled if Utah chose that name.
Regardless of that though, Fury is a good name to me.
3. Utah Venom
Here’s a name can strike fear into opponents. Utah’s ownership has seemed to have some sort of affinity for singular names, and this is the highest ranking non-plural name on this list.
I don’t really know what to say about this one, it’s just a really good name. I saw the above concept for a Utah Venom team on Reddit and I am in love with that color scheme.
2. Utah Mountaineers
Utah Mountaineers combines several elements that I’ve pointed out in earlier listings here. It has the local reference with mountains being present in the region, it has a name that could assist in creating a beautiful logo, and Mountaineers also is versatile enough to go in several different directions.
It’s just overall one of the few names on this list that makes sense and is actually good.
1. Utah Outlaws
And here rests my personal winner, the Utah Outlaws.
Outlaws brings the vibe of the wild wild west to the NHL, and has the potential to have a really cool logo. As for a color scheme, I’m not sure how that would work, but thankfully it’s not my job to figure it out.
Utah isn’t necessarily the most wild west place (ironically, this name probably would have worked better in Arizona), but Outlaws is still a great name for them.
I’ll be honest, there are not a lot of great names on this list, out Outlaws is the best one out of this 20-pack for me.
(Featured photo by Jim Spiewak, KUTV)
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