With the Arizona Coyotes move to Utah official, the long re-branding process begins. This is a process that many sports fans are learning takes a lot more time than expected. For that, the club has already announced they’ll go by the Utah Hockey Club for the 2024-25 season. After that, they’ll embrace their new identity.
To find this new name, they’re putting it up to a fan vote, which is the perfect move to try and build a new fanbase. Allow them to come up with the identity of the team. That way, the fans can build a stronger connection with the team. They’re the ones who are deciding what they want to be called. With the first round of voting here is a ranking of the six potential names.
6. Utah Hockey Club (Utah HC)
Now sure on paper, this is a pretty funny name. It’s so unoriginal and simple, that fans can quickly get behind it. It’s a tough act to pull off, but it is a good name if they can execute it properly. That’s the one issue if they could. From what we’ve seen so far for the 2024-25 version of the team, they haven’t. Here is what the logo looks like.
Applications for trademarks have been filed for eight logos for the Utah Hockey Club (including the one that circulated last week).
— Ryan Miller (@millerjryan) June 3, 2024
It looks like the branding for the inaugural season is coming together. pic.twitter.com/tGqNAObAqp
Now maybe these are just temporary and if it becomes their permanent name they’ll do a re-design. However, based on what we have now, these are the most basic and plain logos of all time. There is nothing unique about them. The only unique thing is not having a name. That’s not really something a team or city can rally around.
And it’s not like they have a cool color scheme either. It’s baby blue and black. It would be hard press not to find a team that has either blue or black in their color scheme. With such a bland basic logo and designs, the “hockey club” is the worst choice out of the six.
5. Outlaws
Yes, the Outlaws are a cool name for a sports team. However, what do you picture when you think of outlaws? You think of cowboys and criminals from the Old West. A character that Clint Eastwood would play in a spaghetti western. It just doesn’t feel like Utah. Sure, Utah has desert and the scenes of the Old West, but that is not where I think of cowboys riding. When I think of outlaws, I think of places like Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and even Arizona to an extent. Sure, you’ll have a cool identity and sort of a rebel attitude. But, it just doesn’t fit the city or state.
4. Blizzards
This is where the list gets really hard in my opinion. These four names are all good and fit Utah well. Really, you can have any one of these names, and the fans, plus the hockey world in general would give it a positive reception. However, I have the Blizzards at four solely because it’s too similar to the Avalanche. Both are natural disasters that involve a lot of snow. Sure, that might make a cool rivalry with the club since they’re so close. However, don’t you want to have some individuality? Be your own franchise, and not start an artificial rivalry just because your names are similar. It just won’t allow you to create your own identity without having to bring up another team.
3. Yeti
If Utah was to go with the Yeti it would create a trend of new teams using mythical creatures as the team names. We are just three years removed from Seattle picking the Kraken as their team names. Now the Yeti would be cool because you can have all sorts of cool logo designs with a Yeti-like creature on it. Plus, you have a perfect helmet sponsor with Yeti coolers. However, it runs into the same issue as the Blizzard being similar to the Avalanche. The Avs have an alternate logo of a Yeti foot. It would just be confusing having two teams with Yetis in their logos.
2. Mammoth
Similar to the Yeti, the Mammoth would allow Utah to get creative with its logo design. You have so many different things you can do with a Mammoth. You can do something with the tusks. Or, have the front of the mammoth look like it’s charging at you. Or, doing something with a detailed picture of one. Plus your mascot would be a no-brainer, making it much easier to create a team identity. Plus, the mammoth fits the history of Utah with mammoths believed to lived there at one time. However, there is one name that fits this franchise better.
1. Venom
At first, I wasn’t a big fan of the venom. However, the more I thought about it, the more and more I liked it. For starters, there are lots of cool logos and color designs you can do with this. The logo would no doubt involve fangs or a snake in some form. Then you can involve purple in your color scheme, just like the Jazz do. This is an idea that ownership has thrown out. But the best part is that it would honor the club’s history in Arizona. When I think of Arizona I think of rattlesnakes. A venomous snake. Having the team called Venom would allow Utah to develop its own identity while keeping a connection to the desert.
Thanks for reading! Credit for my feature image goes to Rebecca Harding. You can find more NHL content at Belly Up Sports and follow me on Twitter/X.
