Utah Hockey Club finalizes branding designs for 2025

SALT LAKE CITY – As the deadline for next year’s jersey designs and more permanent branding approaches, the Utah Hockey Club has been busy finalizing its plans with the NHL.

According to NHL insider Nicholas Cotsonika, after this week’s Board of Governors meeting, front office members and individuals from Utah’s ownership group met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and senior executive vice president of marketing and chief branding officer Brian Jennings to discuss their plans .

“We’re deep in the (jersey) design process for next season, which is closely tied to our brand identity and what we’re going to do there,” Armstrong told NHL.com.

“We’re all working within the timelines and trying to get creative to give ourselves as much wiggle room as we can get all the pieces to line up properly.”

When will the jersey and branding designs be submitted?

Generally, submitting a new jersey design is an 18-month process that begins in April and is not completed until the following season.

Due to the nature of their sudden move to Utah and the fact that they had to put together an NHL season within five months, Utah was granted some leniency in this area.

However, Utah’s deadline to move things forward on a more permanent basis is fast approaching.

“I would say we are on the verge of having to make some decisions. I would say early in the new year. Everyone has tried their best to work flexibly – or stay away from fixed deadlines – because it is a complicated process, especially on the (intellectual property) side.

“We’re just making sure we have everything prepared and sorted before we make any concrete decisions,” Armstrong told NHL.com.

When will the new branding and jersey designs be revealed?

While the NHL and Fanatics will need the submissions shortly, the new designs likely won’t be revealed to the general public until after the inaugural season.

Because the team has had so much to do and received so much attention in its first year, Armstrong doesn’t want future branding to take away any of the current spotlight.

“That’s what we think now,” Armstrong said. “We said we didn’t want to take the wind out of our sails in the first season.”

“We’ve had such a great response and momentum in our inaugural season and we want the focus to continue to be on this inaugural season and the efforts our players are making to make it a successful season. “We want that conversation not dominate with the question of what we might or might not be next year. I think that’s important.”

Will the Utah Hockey Club jerseys change much next season?

As the newest franchise in the National Hockey League, the Utah Hockey Club has absolutely nailed its original sweaters for its inaugural season.

With a diagonal “Utah” on both sweaters, complemented by the colors Rock Black, Salt White and Mountain Blue, fans quickly fell in love with the new look.

Related: Utah Hockey Club President: No alternate jerseys planned, options like outdoor games could change that

But what does this mean for next season?

According to Armstrong, they won’t be changing much from the current jerseys, apart from introducing their new logo on one of them.

That means there probably won’t be too much change on the other end, and based on the fact that Armstrong said they like to showcase “Utah” on the road, that probably would mean the white sweater doesn’t change.

By Chris Armstrong,

Next season’s jerseys will be “substantially similar” to this season. Adjustments are made and “one of them” is adorned with its new logo.#UtahHC

— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) November 15, 2024

“Based on the response we have received, I would say we are essentially following a similar trend at the moment. But there will be differences, there will be adjustments. “Obviously one of these will be adorned with our logo that we land on… Because the response to these jerseys is so strong, we don’t want to dramatically change the sand on them,” Armstrong said.

“This is about Utah, it’s about Utah, people have really connected with that first season identity, Utah on the front of the jersey, so from our perspective we want to make sure that’s part of one of the jerseys.” I “I think people can appreciate and speculate that we want to represent Utah when we’re gone,” Armstrong shared.

Utah Hockey Club original team names in a fan poll

Shortly after the team was acquired by Smith Entertainment Group, a poll was released to fans giving them the opportunity to vote for their top favorites.

These are the nicknames listed in the survey:

• Utah explosion
• Utah powder
• Utah mammoth
• Utah Mountaineers
• Utah Black Diamonds
• Utah swarm
• Utah Yeti
• Utah caribou
• Utah Frost
• Utah poison
• Utah Gust
• Utah Outlaws
• Utah Hive
• Utah Freeze
• Utah Fury
• Utah HC
• Utah Glacier
• Utah Canyons
• Utah Blizzard
• Utah ice cream

Several members of the Utah Hockey Club share their thoughts on the team name

Although nothing has been confirmed, both general manager Bill Armstrong and forward Clayton Keller have commented on what they think the team will be called.

After the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft, Armstrong referenced the name Yeti when discussing Tij Iginla as his selection.

“When we clicked pick five, we knew. I think we knew then that he was going to be a Utah Yeti,” he said.

“I don’t get to choose the name. But I think the little kids in Utah vote about 25 times a day, so I think they get it,” Armstrong continued.

Keller mentioned the name Yeti during the preseason on the NHL North American Players Media Tour.

“It sounds like it’s the Yeti, but I don’t know,” Keller said. “We’ll see what happens. Whatever they decide, I think it will be a good choice.

Utah hockey schedule

The Utah Hockey Club will now return home for a single home game against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night. The game can be watched on ESPN+, Hulu or Disney+. Fans can also tune in live via the KSL Sports APP or on 97.5 and 1280 The Zone. Click here for the full schedule.

Cole Bagley is the Utah Hockey Club Insider for KSL Sports. Stay updated here on X. You can hear Cole break down the team on KSL Sports Zone and KSL 5 TV.

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