2024-25 Utah Hockey Club Season Preview 

To the fans in Utah: Please support the team! As a former fan of the Arizona Coyotes, the move to Utah was the best thing that could happen to these great players, the good people of Utah and hockey in general. I wish them all the success in the world.

Utah is an expansion team that picked every player from the Coyotes during their expansion draft

This is my dark horse pick to make the playoffs.

10/10 Thumbnail

I expect a lot of shiny new car coverage for this old franchise/new location. The rebuilt defence corps looks great on paper, but so did Columbus when they made big moves for their blueline last season. Chemistry between linemates can happen instantly, take weeks, months, or just never quite work out. If things go well they'll likely climb over Minnesota in the standings and possibly even St Louis.

They should be a playoff team in the upcoming season, probably second wild card behind Winnipeg.

Utah is better now than Arizona was last year, plus the players should be excited for a new start. I don't think they will make the playoffs, but it they should be very close.

What a great analysis of the Utah HC. This covers everything a fan is looking for and helps the new fans of Utah to see how the Utah HC stacks up on paper in the NHL. Thank you and we will be watch your future posts.

A big plus about Ashley and Ryan Smith as owners is they're sports fans! And Ryan knows hockey. There's passion for the game.

Rookie watch is on Josh Doan this year. Tij Iginla for next year

Since the rights to the Coyotes were relinquished, you'd think the NHL would just hand it over to the current Winnipeg Jets so that the city of Winnipeg can celebrate their NHL history properly.

Love this series always

Utah, St Louis, and Winnipeg are going to make the Central wc race really interesting

I expect great things out of UHC this year. The Coyotes weakness last year was PK and Defense. Stenlund, Sergachev, Marino, Cole adds addressed these needs quite well.

Been excited for this one!

Great video

A fresh change of scenery definitely helps the team, but the Central will continue to be a very tough division. Best case, WC2 for Utah.

I'm looking forward to some Utah hockey. I see some solid potential. Still feel for the Arizona fans, happy to hear they is still repping hockey out there

I like to think that with all that "monkey" off their shoulders they are gonna be more stabil if I can put it like that Spicy Tuna!!!!

After time to cool down on the issue I am still a fan of this team mainly because of the players and I’m excited to see what they can do. I will always miss my home team in the Coyotes but I will still support the players especially ones who actually liked playing in the Desert.

So stoked for hockey in Utah!!!

This has a lot of Nordiques->Avs vibes. They are set up.

I will be surprised if Utah isn't battling for a wildcard spot at the end of the regular season.

Let’s go Utah! Gonna buy a hat and support em.

Yes! I was looking for this episode yesterday. I'm getting pumped for the season to begin. Welcome NHL to Utah! Go Utah Hockey Club 🙌🏼🤙🏼🏒

Hope they do good going forward

The Utah hockey club will be a competitive team this season and maybe make the playoffs.

Just wanted to mention as an ice breaker, I regrettably posted negative comments here related to some of the speculation around the team moving while in AZ. I understand now to identify you as a neutral reporter, that was not meant in bad faith. As someone who has followed this group of players, coaches, and management, I do think the team is extremely underrated moving into this season. The Coyotes were in a playoff spot until February last season when the players reportedly learned they would potentially moving causing them to go on a 15 game losing streak. Stability along with a vastly improved d core could do wonders for this group, not to mention the 3rd youngest team in the NHL getting a year older. Last season they scored a record number of goals per season in Coyotes history, the forward group is stronger than ever.

I think Utah will be a tough team. However, as I love to say, an NHL season is a marathon, full of surprises nobody anticipated.

Utahn here! Love the hat and pennant in the background! Big fan, let me know if you ever need/want anything from Utah!

The former Coyotes franchise is the perfect example of ‘who guards the guardians’ and where I blame the owners-not necessarily Bettman alone-because he in this case clearly needs acceptance from the owners regarding establishing the former Coyotes in the state of Arizona. Thrashers is another example. This naive approach along the lines of ‘this is a highly populated area-lets establish a NHL franchise there-period’ has crashed too many times to work out. That being said, it looks like both the owners group and Bettman have learned from former mistakes. Vegas, Kraken and now Utah have all satisfied several other parameters giving them a better chance of survival in the long run. I feel sorry for dedicated Coyotes fans, and even more for old Thrashers fans. But for places like Atlanta and Phoenix to work in the future, much tougher scrutiny is needed to make sure that everything is in order upfront before the slightest consideration to establish a franchise in these areas again is given. Now, lets hope Utah and Salt Lake City can get off nicely and be another contribution to Western Conference

Crouse and maccelli are better than some know. I could see Cooley and guenther to increase 20 to 30 points each. Defense is better… I’m excited.

Should be a playoff team. What is with the ridiculous delay in giving them a nickname?

Essesna was the first goalie I remember while watching the Canucks as a kid. I remember chanting "Bobby, Bobby, Bobby" after a cartwheel save, which was probably better in my memory than in real life. I think its my first memory watching hockey. Also miss Carter with the Sedins, wish they kept the Brother Line together.

Utah is making The playoffs. They are going to win the first series and Utah is going to love this team. The Delta Center is going to be raucous once SLC figures hockey out. This is going to be a great move for the NHL.

With hopefully good ownership, I can see them making the playoffs this year.

My name is Johnny UTAH.

even tho it technically doesn’t count i was kinda interested in seeing the past couple seasons of stats 😢😢

Imagine having an owner who says the right things...

Last season the Coyotes had so many 1 goal losses that it is almost ridiculous. With a better luck they could have had 15-20 more points. There was all the effort there.

Well they were Contenders 1 year in 2012 when they beat Chicago in round 1 then they beat Nashville in round 2 and lost to LA in the west finsls so they had 1 good run in Franchise history.

Team gets some quality players to go with the young core in a new city. I think thse factors will give a massive f you to Merulo and they surprise everyone. 5th in the Central, 2nd wild card with 91-96 points.

Wanted to watch this one since the Arizona/Utah expansion had me confused.

This is a season where they could knock at the door for playoffs but it's just such a tough division. We all know that the Avs and Stars are locks and that the Preds may have improved to that level of cup contender. It's a stretch to say that they'll be better than the Jets, even if there's some warranted pessimism about that team. The Wild could very well bounce back and some don't see the Blues as much of a decliner as I do. Their top-6 forward group should all get better. Their amped up blueline will probably need time to gell but will set up nicely for coming seasons. Their goaltending is ultimately average. Probably finish in 6th (ahead of the Blues and Hawks) but be playing meaningful hockey until March. If they get off to a good start and are close at the deadline, look out! The new owner would love playoffs in an inaugural season and they have the cap space and draft pick stock to make big moves!

All that you’re missing now Shannon is a Utah Hockey Club jersey both home and away and then the mini Utah Hockey Club logo magnets and then when Utah actually gets their permanent name and logo for next season

I think they finish in top 3 if the goaltending can handle it… I think people/other teams will underestimate them and they will have great start to the season…

Murelo is gone. So are the Yotes. Expansion PHX 2030 w/ATLANTA HOUSTON AND QUEBEC C

Quite a promising future for Utah! They’ll be a true contender if they can draft Jarrod Vesce in a few years. Kid looks like a future star!

Coyotes were only a real good team a couple seasons after the Jets moved there. When Jeremy Roenick, Keitch Tkachuk, Mike Gartner, Oleg Tverdovsky (an underrated offensive dman in his time, I would always trade something to get him if I was playing with a middle of the pack team in my season in the NHL games of the time on PC or Sega Genesis), Craig Janney and THG's favorite Cliff Ronning in the team too, also with the estimable Teppo Numminen and Khabibulin in goals. That was good times, after that, especially post cancelled season, they were always a pretty ehhh team. I hope the Utah TBD's will get somewhere, even with that neat lineup in the late 90's/early '00s, they could never get past first round, sometimes getting to games 7, but that's it. When you mention all 50 states having a grassroots culture like we do for hockey in Canada, northern states, especially in the prairies or bordering Quebec and Ontario, they have it, for the most part. But really where I'd like to see a new team that isn't in Canada? I always thought a team in Juneau, Alaska would be interesting, would get a 13-14k arena full, it's close enough to Anchorage for a drive, Alaskans like Canadians are used to long drives. Sure, the other main city Fairbanks is far from there, but Juneau hits a sweet spot in that strange area on the pacific coast that isn't Canadian but apparently the border little logging towns are pretty indistinguishable from northern logging towns in Canada, down that stretch tucked in on the coast with BC. It would be close enough to Vancouver too, so that could make for another rival, in a place that makes sense for hockey to be popular unlike Tempe,AZ...

No jerseys until Jan/ Feb suckssss

They might be underated but it's a tough division.

I agree that the team may never have been a serious contender during their time in Arizona, but don't forget they did make it to the Western Conference finals in 2012.

Meruelo made his money :D what a disaster his entire time was

They couldn't come up with a nice logo and name for the team.Wow

Coyotes history = Utah

I love the name as it is. Utah Hockey Club! very European

I still want them to be called the Utah Bighorns! With all the energy here in SLC, the players should feed off that, and have a good start. Plus they have a pre-season game vs. the Avs, at Maverik Center, so that should get them pumped!

As a fan of Utah/Coyotes. I follow my boys from Arizona to Utah. I see the history as Utah's til the coyotes return. However I will remain a Utah fan.

0650 Witting Cliffs

I'm from Utah, and I really wish the team would just use the Coyotes name and uniforms for a year or two before designing something new (similar to how the Houston Oilers were briefly the Tennessee Oilers before rebranding to the Titans). The name "Utah Hockey Club" has somewhat grown on me (I have to admit that I've already bought some Utah HC merch), but at the end of the day it's very boring and lacks creativity.

I thought Mike Smith would be first in wins. Come to find out, he had 128 with the team. Ended his career at 299. Very unsatisfying.

The Utah Hockey Team owns all the former Coyotes contracts, much of their front office and management. To suggest it is not the same team is silly. The NHL conducted a failed attempt to retain the Coyotes. They are gone forever now. The Coyotes did have a state of the art arena in Glendale... but could only attract flies. I expect the Winnipeg Jets to retain their history in Winnipeg and the UHC will assume the Coyotes franchise history.

What gets me is, a group of Calgary fans upset that Utah picked Tij Iginla. They wanted him to go to the Flames, to follow in his fathers footsteps.

Arizona will get another team just right now it’s the right thing to get them out of there

Saving the best for last I see

They need trade for Max Domi to get line Doan - Iginla - Domi 🤠

NHL should give winnipeg its history back period.

I think Utah gets close but not quite there for the playoffs. Next year, though, I think it's 70% chance.

What's missed is this: due to everything that had happened, this team can still sink lower. Morale isn't up because of a goalie change or coach change. We need to keep in mind that this team can, and probably will sink first before drawing themselves up. We now have Vegas and Seattle to think that they are going to succeed early. The difference is that this isn't an expansion team, despite what the NHL wants their lies to be. This is a franchise that was moved, stripped of its identity, and even the players are uncertain of their roles and positions now. Yes, this could be a year of simply "what the fuck?" and nothing more. Then again, they could be all roses and sunshine like you project. Their second season is the true proving ground.

The NHL probably didn't want Utah to be associated with the lingering stink of the Coyotes long term. Short term it's the same players as AZ, but in 10 years....

I love the name of this club even tho its not a club. Its so clean.

First round, better not pull a Colorado Avalanche Ryan Smith should have a back doors name the team contest and been named Swarm It's likely the official name revealed is going during the four nations cup, pretty likely Utah yeti

Are they going to get a name, or is that what they are sticking with it??

I chose them as my girlfriend team for this season. So I dropped 1/64th of a bitcoin on them to win the cup.

If somehow Arizona won the cup last year do you think they would have remained there at least another season

Coyotes were born with a Doan and died with Doan.

You forgot to say 12 k votes, but I’m so sorry about that.

Ok i dont understand this whole "history" thing. People are making it sound like a tangible object. Can someone explain?

They’ll be all excited, until reality sets in and they realize just going from A to U won’t hand them a Vegas-like Cinderalla season. They didn’t finish w/ the 26th Best Regulation record for nothing last year, after a promising few months. They’ll improve from 77 to 87 points, most likely.

So does the NHL own the rights to the Coyotes logo and jerseys again? Since that clown Merulo failed in Arizona as owner, he shouldn't have thr rights to that anymore

I was 999 :(

Waiting for Utah to trade Iginla for a solid veteran and for Iginla to quickly become his new team's franchise hero.

With all of your team previews, when you talk about their schedule why do you completely ignore March? You've done this will all of the teams. I see Utah competing for a playoff spot this year. I think that Vegas is too hyped and see a drop off for them.

Still find it ridiculous the coyotes get Winnipeg history/stats instead of.. ynow.. the actual Winnipeg Jets team, makes no sense and honestly seems dishonest

Rare for me to be critical with THG, but not interested in history since 2014. Has no bearing on what to expect for the forthcoming season. No big deal to just fast forward through that segment, but Maybe a history back to last season only is a better idea.

Utah went with the worst colors possible. Was really hoping they'd incorporate copper and red. Oh well, i look forward to cheering against them for the duration of their time in the league. They got handed a gift horse and one of the brightest futures, and ruined it with light blue 🤢🤮🤮🤮. I know it's kinda petty, but come on, AZ jerseys looked so good, and now they don't even have an identity. I hope they never win a game 😎 Yeah I'm a salty Arizonan.

So dumb how they just get to start playing without a name, can come out with one in a couple years and double dip on the "new team" jersey sales.

Feels likes the Washington football team with the name 🤮, they gotta get a mascot and proper name asap I don’t feel like ppl are going to connect with them atleast Vegas and Seattle had cool names and mascots from jump ppl resonated with them almost instantly

I except Utah to win the Stanley cup the first year there simultaneously breaking the hearts of coyotes fans and the entire nation of Canada.

Its so lame they dont even have a name yet...

Ugliest jerseys in the league hands down. And no I don't care about how it's "temporary". These make the league look amateurish. Excited for the new location and team though, it was about the time to move on from the Coyotes