NHL heading to Salt Lake soon? Why a prospective team name survery is significant

Could the National Hockey League have a team in a new market?

In late January, Smith Entertainment Group—the same company that owns the NBA’s Utah Jazz—formally requested that the league begin a process to expand the NHL to Salt Lake City.

SEG is trying to ride the wave of momentum the NHL is riding in terms of successful expansion teams. The Vegas Golden Knights had just won the Stanley Cup in the organization’s sixth season, while the Seattle Kraken is one of the most popular teams in the league, especially in merchandise sales.

While there has been much public dialogue about a team in Salt Lake City not coming around for a couple of years, that narrative might be changing. On Monday, Ryan Smith went on social media to ask fans and followers to fill out a survey on what the team should be named.

On Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss what the near future could look like for the NHL in Utah.

Frank Seravalli: Look, we’ve known this forever, you don’t get an NHL franchise without kissing the ring. You have to play by [commissioner] Gary Bettman’s rules. Nothing that any prospective franchise owner does, is done without permission. I’m not saying he didn’t overtly give permission; you can bet with 100 percent certainty that Ryan Smith advised the NHL that he will be putting out a survey today collecting team names for a potential franchise.

If it were to be an expansion franchise, why would you need to do it now? They wouldn’t be beginning play next season. So, what’s the hurry? If the Arizona Coyotes are relocating…I would tell you that very much remains alive, and if not a strong possibility.

You can watch the full segment, and the entire episode here…