‘We’re back in the NHL again.’ Utah already feels like home for ex-Coyotes

Frank Seravalli
Frank Seravalli(frank_seravalli)
‘We’re back in the NHL again.’ Utah already feels like home for ex-Coyotes

SALT LAKE CITY — Just past downtown and up a gentle trail that even an overweight sportswriter can navigate without a sweat lies a scenic overlook of one of the fastest-growing cities in America.

It was here, at the bottom of what is now known as Emigration Canyon, that Brigham Young rode over the mountain pass and after a grueling westward trek declared to his followers: “This is the place.”

A monument now marks where the long journey ended. If you stand there, peering out on the picturesque Salt Lake Valley below, it’s easy to understand why Young made the proclamation.

And if you stood in a delirious Delta Center on Wednesday night for a welcome without equal, you saw right away why commissioner Gary Bettman made Salt Lake City the destination for the NHL franchise that spent two decades wandering the desert without a true home.

More than 12,000 fans wrapped around the home of the NBA’s Utah Jazz waiting for hours on a warm spring day just for a glimpse of their new, yet-to-be named hockey team. With the ice down and dasher boards framing the stage, the building exploded when the former Arizona Coyotes entered the arena.

“This is one of the coolest experiences we’ve had as hockey players,” forward Alex Kerfoot told the packed crowd.

You don’t need boots on the ground long to learn that Utahans are fiercely proud. Before the players arrived, a chant of “Hooah … Utah!” echoed like a battle cry that sent a chill down your spine.

That is part of what made Wednesday’s event so fascinating. It was a feeling-out, Utah wanting to get a sense of what these guys are all about as much as the players wanting to see and experience their new home.

They both got their answer when scrapper Liam O’Brien grabbed the microphone. One-by-one, all 19 players in attendance passed the mic and introduced themselves. Like those before them in Utah, they are pioneers, and they have the gospel of hockey to spread.

“How we doin’ guys? Let’s gooo,” he said. “My name is Liam O’Brien. You guys can call me Spicy Tuna. And I cannot wait to get this place buzzing. Let’s go!”

The crowd roared, and Nick Schmaltz revved them up again when he led a chant of “Spi-cy Tu-na.” A love affair was born between city and team, like watching the scene in Step Brothers when they look at each other and ask: “Did we just become best friends?”

As one player messaged Daily Faceoff following the festivities: “It feels like we’re back in the NHL again.”

The hair-raising event capped a whirlwind day for a group of players who just one week prior were playing the final game in Coyotes franchise history at Mullett Arena against the Edmonton Oilers. They arrived in Salt Lake earlier on Wednesday, disembarking at the hangar to a throng of 500-plus local youth hockey players equipped with signs and jerseys of every NHL denomination.

There has been no shortage of emotions over the last number of months for this team. Coach Andre Tourigny referred to them as “battle scars,” and hinted that next year’s version in Utah will be a lot closer and stronger as a result. There has been fear of the unknown, both in who would be moving with the team, and in what it would be like.

“Everybody wants certainty, and that emotion is running through your body,” GM Bill Armstrong said.

But stepping off the plane into that crisp mountain air, there was also a feeling of a fresh start. Fair or unfair, these very Coyotes have carried around two decades’ worth of baggage, all of the losing and toxic energy, most of which was the sins of previous owners and stewards.

“It was a clean slate for them,” Armstrong said. “You could see the joy in their faces when they saw the kids. I don’t know if the kids will ever understand how much that meant to the players. I almost had a tear in my eye coming down [the air stairs], just seeing those kids chanting. I know our players were overwhelmed with emotion and that clean slate we talked about.”

Tourigny said he’s spent seven years working in the NHL and he told his wife: “This is my best day in the NHL so far.”

The group once again met with new owners Ryan and Ashley Smith and received tours of both the Jazz practice facility and Delta Center. The plan is for Smith Entertainment Group to massively overhaul the basketball-first arena to the tune of $700-plus million, a from-the-foundation renovation that will put it on par with every other NHL arena at 17,000 seats.

There are still a million logistical hurdles to overcome. Where will Utah practice? How will their games be broadcast and consumed? Will they have a logo or nickname when the puck drops in October? Smith said only on Wednesday that their jerseys this season will say “Utah,” and it sounds like the plan is still for fans to choose the team name by bracket-style voting.

But one thing is no longer a question: Will Utah show up and support hockey?

The season-ticket waiting list is now north of 29,000 deposits received – for an arena that will only seat 12,000 to start. Rabid hockey fans were flocking to merchandise stands to buy gear that quite literally only has an NHL shield and “Utah” written on it. Yes, you read that correctly. They are passionate, proud and hungry for another major professional sport to call their own.

“My first impression when I walk in this building,” Tourigny said, “is being sad that I have to wait four or five months to get back. I cannot wait to get on the ice.”

You know, they’re a lot of W’s on Bettman’s scorecard since becoming commissioner in 1993. There is the salary cap and cost certainty, the 2013 lockout which has resulted in a $4.3 billion transfer of wealth from players to owners in the decade since, and home run expansion entrees into Vegas and Seattle. But whenever his reign ends, this move from Arizona to Utah might go down as his most savvy heist.

Bettman convinced a headstrong, incompetent and litigious owner in Alex Meruelo to relinquish control of his baby in exchange for $1 billion and a seemingly flimsy option (dare?) to get a franchise back somehow, someday. And he flipped a problem child, by far the weakest link in a 32-team chain, into a burgeoning and affluent market in the hands of a young and energetic billionaire owner. This isn’t just going to work. It’s as sure as a Karl Malone rebound. To be there on Wednesday, to see it and feel it, is to believe it.

Yes. Utah, this is the place. At long last, and what a long, strange trip it has been. With faith, the Coyotes kept going until they reached the Great Salt Lake.

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