Table of Contents
Utah Mammoth
Foundation and Relocation
The Move to Utah
The NHL Board of Governors officially approved the establishment of a new franchise in Utah on April 18, 2024, acquiring the hockey assets of the Arizona Coyotes. 1)
Smith Entertainment Group
The franchise is owned by Smith Entertainment Group, led by Ryan and Ashley Smith, who also own the NBA's Utah Jazz. 2)
Inaugural Season Branding
For their inaugural 2024-25 season, the team simply went by “Utah Hockey Club” while the ownership group worked with fans to determine a permanent identity. 3)
The Permanent Name
After a massive fan vote and legal trademark checks, the permanent team name “Utah Mammoth” was officially revealed on May 7, 2025. 4)
Color Palette
The team's official colors were established during their first season as Rock Black, Salt White, and Mountain Blue, representing the natural beauty of the state. 5)
First General Manager
Bill Armstrong transitioned from the Coyotes to become the first-ever General Manager in the history of the Utah franchise. 6)
Inaugural Head Coach
Andre Tourigny, who had been coaching the Arizona roster, was retained as the first head coach of the newly established Utah team. 7)
A Grand Welcome
When the hockey staff and players first flew into Salt Lake City in April 2024, a massive hangar full of enthusiastic youth hockey players greeted them at the airport. 8)
Shared Arena
The Mammoth play their home games at the Delta Center in downtown Salt Lake City, sharing the arena with the NBA's Utah Jazz. 9)
Delta Center Renovations
Smith Entertainment Group committed to major renovations of the Delta Center, including raising the floor and installing retractable seating, to increase unobstructed hockey capacity to 17,000. 10)
The First Roster and Draft
Inaugural Captain
Star forward Clayton Keller was officially named the very first captain in franchise history prior to the 2024-25 season. 11)
First Draft Pick
Utah's first-ever NHL Draft selection was Tij Iginla, taken 6th overall in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft held at the Sphere in Las Vegas. 12)
A Hockey Pedigree
First draft pick Tij Iginla is the son of Hall of Fame forward and Calgary Flames legend Jarome Iginla. 13)
Goaltending Anchor
Karel Vejmelka quickly established himself as a fan favorite in Utah, eventually signing a five-year contract extension in March 2025. 14)
The First Trade Blockbuster
During the 2024 offseason, Utah made a massive splash by trading for two-time Stanley Cup champion defenseman Mikhail Sergachev from Tampa Bay. 15)
Immediate Defensive Upgrade
Alongside Sergachev, Utah heavily bolstered their inaugural blue line by acquiring top-four defenseman John Marino from the New Jersey Devils. 16)
Young Core
Utah started its franchise with one of the youngest rosters in the entire NHL, heavily relying on rising stars like Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther. 17)
The Tucson Affiliation
The team maintained its primary minor league affiliation with the Tucson Roadrunners of the American Hockey League (AHL). 18)
Minor League Travel
To support their AHL team while playing in Utah, the franchise frequently calls up players directly from Tucson, Arizona. 19)
A Local Anthem
Following the relocation, local Utah businesses and fans quickly adopted the team, heavily driving merchandise sales of the inaugural “Rock Black” jerseys. 20)
Early Milestones and Accolades
Early Success
During their very first month of existence, Utah started incredibly strong, earning points in five of their first six regular-season games. 21)
Historic First Game
The franchise played its first-ever regular-season NHL game on October 8, 2024, securing a thrilling 5-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. 22)
The First Goal
Dylan Guenther etched his name in the history books by scoring the very first regular-season goal in Utah franchise history. 23)
First Home Win
The team won its inaugural home opener at the Delta Center in front of a completely sold-out crowd of over 11,000 fans. 24)
Guenther's Hat Trick
In the third game of their first season, Dylan Guenther recorded the first hat trick in franchise history in an overtime win against the New York Rangers. 25)
Overtime Warriors
Utah quickly developed a reputation for dramatic finishes, winning three of their first four franchise victories in sudden-death overtime. 26)
Inaugural MVP
Goaltender Karel Vejmelka was selected by his teammates as the first-ever recipient of the Team MVP award following the 2024-25 season. 27)
Community Impact
Forward Alexander Kerfoot won the team's first “Community Obsessed Award” for his extensive work growing youth girls' hockey across the state of Utah. 28)
Leading Scorer Award
Captain Clayton Keller secured the team's first Leading Scorer Award after posting an impressive 85 points during the inaugural season. 29)
Sellout Streak
Utah fans embraced the team immediately, leading to a massive streak of hockey-capacity sellouts throughout their entire inaugural regular season. 30)
Growth and Development
Practice Facility Investment
Smith Entertainment Group committed to opening a state-of-the-art, 115,780 square-foot practice facility in the southern suburb of Sandy, Utah. 31)
Public Access
The team's official Sandy practice facility was deliberately designed with public use in mind, helping to inspire the next generation of local hockey players. 32)
Growing the Game
Owner Ryan Smith pledged to donate up to $500,000 per rink to help construct new ice facilities and expand youth hockey infrastructure across Utah. 33)
Elite Playmaking
During the 2024-25 season, Clayton Keller established a career-high with 35 power-play points, anchoring Utah's top offensive unit. 34)
The First Five-Point Game
Clayton Keller recorded the first five-point game in Utah franchise history by registering one goal and four assists against the Minnesota Wild on February 27, 2025. 35)
The Naming Process
The process to select the permanent “Mammoth” name started with over 20 possibilities and resulted in more than 520,000 fan votes during the initial phases. 36)
The Finalists
Before “Mammoth” was officially chosen, the final fan voting phase also included the names “Utah Hockey Club” and “Utah Outlaws.” 37)
Rejected Options
The popular fan submission “Yeti” was ultimately removed from consideration due to insurmountable trademark conflicts with the YETI Coolers brand. 38)
Historic Scoring Draft Pick
In the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, Utah selected forward Caleb Desnoyers 4th overall to further bolster their dynamic, young offensive core. 39)
Iron Man Effort
Despite missing nearly three months the previous year with a broken leg, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev led Utah in ice time, averaging over 27 minutes per game early in his tenure. 40)
Strong Draft Capital
Because of previous rebuilding efforts by the Coyotes, Utah inherited a massive war chest of draft picks, giving them significant leverage to build a long-term contender. 41)
Cap Flexibility
The franchise entered its first off-season in Utah with significant financial flexibility, allowing management to strategically target high-impact free agents. 42)
Establishing Culture
Head coach Andre Tourigny successfully established a culture of resilience in Utah, famously stating “there's no quitting in that room” during a late-season 2025 playoff push. 43)
Advanced Analytics Leaders
During their first season, Utah ranked inside the NHL's top 10 for generating expected goals and slot shot attempts off the cycle. 44)
A Meaningful Debut
The establishment of the Utah franchise marked the first time the state of Utah had a team in the “Big Four” major professional sports leagues since the Jazz arrived in 1979. 45)