It’s official – Utah Hockey Club is an NHL franchise.
Following the completion of business formalities on Thursday, June 13th, the team released the design of their home and away jerseys for the 2024-25 season.
The team’s name remains unknown after being bought by new ownership headed by Ryan Smith and relocating from Arizona, where they were the Coyotes.
“Utah Hockey Club,” which is the placeholder name for the organization, teamed up with design firm Doubleday & Cartwright to deliver the color scheme and font for the team’s jerseys.
Doubleday & Cartwright are also responsible for Inter Miami CF’s pink, black, and white design, which global superstar Lionel Messi sports every weekend in the MLS.
It’s safe to say that Utah HC’s colors don’t stand out quite as much as Inter Miami’s flowery, Floridian feel does.
It’s certainly location-appropriate. Salt Lake City doesn’t possess the vibrancy that Miami does. A pink NHL team would be a disaster.
The team decided on the following palette, and gave their reasoning for each color they chose:
1. Rock Black – “representing the darkness of night in the mountains and the volcanic rock of Utah’s deserts.”
I hate to break it to you Utah, but the night is always dark. That’s one of the main features of night time.
2. Salt White – “illustrating both the snow on Utah’s peaks and the famous salt flats.”
Salt is white. The team is located in Salt Lake City. Nice.
3. Mountain Blue – “a representation of Utah’s rich winter sports history and its clear skies for more than 230 days a year.”
I see the connection, and I like it.
For their home games at Delta Center (the arena they’ll share with the NBA’s Utah Jazz), the club will wear their “rock black” jerseys, while they’ll sport their “salt white” sweaters on the road.
Related: New NHL owner reveals frontrunners for Utah team name
Utah NHL team jerseys aren’t good, but no need for panic
There’s no two ways about it – the jerseys are bland.
Fans on X weren’t too pleased about the look when the club shared them with the public:
“It looks like the jerseys they give you when you sign up for an elementary school team,” one fan replied under their release post.
“Inspired by our love of Utah we give you… the word Utah,” another fan said, unhappy with the diagonal “Utah” across the chest.
They have good points here, but there’s good news.
These are the confirmed jerseys for 2024-25. That’s not to say they won’t be changed the following season.
In fact, it’s likely they will change should the team adopt a different name from “Utah Hockey Club.”
Keep in mind, there are five other options still up for grabs:
Blizzard, Mammoth, Venom, Yeti, and Outlaws.
“Yeti” seems to be the fan-favorite online, with Mammoth garnering praise as well.
Venom and Outlaws seem to be out of place with the color scheme, as one would expect a green/purple tone for Venom and a red/yellow desert hue for Outlaws.
And Blizzard would be great … if the team was sponsored by Dairy Queen.
Regardless, second-round voting for the team name will be open until June 20th, allowing fans to have the final say for the future of their Utah Hockey Club