The Utah Hockey Club are about to enter their inaugural season the NHL without their permanent team name or jerseys, but a decision could be right around the corner.
Utah star forward Clayton Keller may have leaked the team name in a new interview with NHL.com, saying plainly that he thinks the team name is going to be the Utah Yeti.
»It sounds like it's going to be the Yeti, but I don't know. We'll see what happens. Whatever they choose, I think it'll be a good one.»
- Clayton Keller
In the last year, the Utah ownership group has been aggressively testing potential team names, and even held a fan vote to see the public's opinion on the new name candidates. The team decided to use Utah Hockey Club and a temporary jersey for this year while they finalized the design and branding for their team. It's obviously less than ideal to have a temporary brand, but they did have limited time to prepare after relocation from Arizona.
The Utah Yeti was among the top candidates for the team name in the fan vote, along with the Mammoth, Ice, Blizzard, Outlaws, and Fury as other potential names. Kepler's comment confirming Yeti as the team name does make the most sense considering the fan vote results and the powder blue colour scheme on the temporary jerseys. Unfortunately, Utah jerseys won't be available for sale for until midway through the upcoming year.
It's exciting to see another franchise and city enter the NHL, and it was a much needed move to get rid of the incompetent Arizona Coyotes. Hopefully the Utah Hockey Club is able to capitalize on the young talent they've inherited, and turn it around into a competitive team relatively soon. Keller is their biggest star player currently, and will be a major part in their turnaround - it's great to see him locked in and excited for the future in Utah.
