Utah Hockey Club Name: Officially Utah Mammoth Revealed

When the Arizona Coyotes packed up for Salt Lake City last year, fans knew “Utah Hockey Club” wouldn’t last forever. What nobody expected was a Mammoth reveal—and a fan vote that racked up more than 850,000 votes to make it official. Here’s how a prehistoric tie-in became Utah’s new NHL identity.

New Team Name: Utah Mammoth · Reveal Date: May 7, 2025 · Previous Name: Utah Hockey Club · Former Team: Arizona Coyotes · Naming Method: Fan vote

Which NHL team was replaced by Utah?

The Utah Mammoth is the direct successor to the Arizona Coyotes franchise, which relocated to Salt Lake City in 2024. That move ended nearly three decades of NHL hockey in Arizona—a state that first welcomed the league in 1996 when the Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix. The Phoenix Coyotes relocated to Glendale in 2003 and officially became the Arizona Coyotes in 2014. The franchise spent its final Arizona seasons bouncing between arenas after Glendale terminated its lease at Gila River Arena following the 2021-22 season. When voters rejected a proposed $2.1 billion entertainment district with a 16,000-seat arena in Tempe in May 2023, the path forward in Arizona effectively closed.

Alex Meruelo sold the franchise directly to Ryan Smith, with Meruelo receiving $1 billion and the NHL collecting a $200-million relocation fee (Sportsnet). The NHL indicated in March that it wanted to know if Smith was interested, and he agreed. The deal moved quickly once negotiations began.

Arizona Coyotes relocation details

The franchise played its final season in Arizona in 2024 before making the move to Utah. Smith Entertainment Group, the ownership vehicle for the franchise, adopted “Utah Hockey Club” as a placeholder name for the 2024-25 season while the permanent identity was developed.

What will the Arizona Coyotes’ new name be?

Utah’s NHL franchise officially announced its permanent name as the Utah Mammoth after fan voting (CBS Sports). The team unveiled new logos and jerseys alongside the Mammoth announcement. The color scheme—mountain blue, rock black, and salt white—will remain unchanged. Road uniforms feature “UTAH” written diagonally on a white jersey with the new primary logo on shoulder patches.

Official reveal process

Smith Entertainment Group announced the Mammoth name on May 7, 2025, delivering on its expectation to reveal a permanent name and identity before the 2025-26 NHL season. The reveal came after months of fan engagement that generated unprecedented participation numbers.

Why doesn’t the Utah NHL team have a name?

For one full season, the answer was simple: the franchise was still deciding. “Utah Hockey Club” served as a temporary placeholder from the moment the team arrived in Salt Lake City through the 2024-25 NHL season. The ownership group needed time to run trademark searches, gauge fan preferences, and craft an identity that would resonate with Utah’s history and geography.

The process wasn’t without obstacles. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected the Utah Yetis name and logos that the team had submitted (ESPN). The team submitted all 20 names from its initial survey to the USPTO, with the biggest refusal being for “Yeti” or “Yetis.” That forced the franchise to pivot away from one of its leading candidates and reshuffle the finalist pool.

Interim Utah Hockey Club usage

The “Utah Hockey Club” branding gave the franchise a functional identity during the naming process. It also allowed fans to rally behind something tangible while the permanent decision was made. The team converted the Delta Center into a more suitable home for hockey while playing under the interim name.

What does a Mammoth have to do with Utah?

Mammoths aren’t just an abstract mascot choice—they’re rooted in Utah’s prehistoric past. Fossil evidence of Columbian mammoths has been found throughout Utah, particularly in the lake beds and canyon regions of the western part of the state. The connection gives the Mammoth name genuine geological credibility rather than simply serving as a trendy or arbitrary pick.

Team owners Ryan and Ashley Smith stated the new name should represent the state and its people (CBS Sports). The Mammoth choice fulfills that brief by tying the franchise to something uniquely Utahn—a creature that once roamed the state and whose remains continue to surface during archaeological digs and construction projects.

Historical and prehistoric connection

Utah’s mammoth fossils have been featured in museum exhibits throughout the state, and the creature appears in educational materials about Ice Age fauna in the Intermountain West. By choosing Mammoth, the franchise aligned itself with a piece of natural history that resonates beyond sports.

Did mammoths exist in Utah?

Yes. Paleontological records confirm that mammoths inhabited what is now Utah during the Late Pleistocene epoch, roughly 10,000 to 40,000 years ago. Several complete and partial mammoth skeletons have been excavated in Utah, making the connection scientifically legitimate rather than purely symbolic.

Why are they called Mammoth Club?

The name emerged from a multi-stage fan voting process that narrowed a field of 20 initial submissions down to six finalists, then to three final candidates. The six finalists from the initial fan vote were Utah Blizzard, Utah Hockey Club, Utah Mammoth, Utah Outlaws, Utah Venom, and Utah Yeti. After the Yeti trademark was rejected, Outlaws was added as a replacement option alongside Mammoth and Hockey Club.

Fans attending Utah’s next four home games had the opportunity to vote using tablets stationed around the Delta Center, with an estimated 15,000 fans participating per game (ESPN). Voting was conducted only in-arena at iPad stations to protect the logos from public disclosure before the official reveal.

Owner Ryan Smith revealed on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” that Mammoth had made the final four options. The three finalists ultimately announced were Utah Hockey Club, Utah Mammoth, and Utah Wasatch. Mammoth outlasted those alternatives—and the Outlaws option that briefly entered the running—to claim the permanent franchise name.

Trademark issues

The Yeti rejection created a cascading effect through the naming process. When the USPTO blocked “Yeti” and “Yetis,” the franchise had to remove a leading candidate from contention. The team responded by adding Outlaws to the ballot and accelerating the timeline for finalizing the remaining options. The trademark landscape for team nicknames in professional sports is highly constrained, with many obvious choices already claimed or blocked by prior applications.

Fan vote outcome

The Mammoth selection carried a specific mandate: represent Utah’s identity, not just a sports team. The overwhelming vote total—more than 850,000 votes across four rounds—signaled genuine fan investment in the outcome rather than passive acceptance of whatever the ownership group preferred. The result positions the Mammoth as a choice with democratic legitimacy, not just corporate branding.

The franchise’s willingness to adapt its naming process after the USPTO rejection demonstrates how trademark challenges forced creative pivots that ultimately shaped the final outcome.

Timeline

Three events, one pattern: arena problems drove the Coyotes out of Arizona.

The timeline shows how quickly ownership moved once the Tempe arena referendum failed, compressing what could have been a multi-year deliberation into a rapid relocation decision.

Confirmed facts vs. rumors

High confidence: Mammoth is the official name, fan vote exceeded 850,000 votes, new logos and jerseys unveiled, color scheme retained, Delta Center conversion underway.

• Name officially Utah Mammoth per NHL.com and CBS Sports reporting
• Fan vote process completed with over 850,000 votes cast
• New logos and jerseys unveiled alongside announcement
• Color scheme of mountain blue, rock black, and salt white retained
• Road uniforms feature “UTAH” written diagonally

What remains unclear: specifics of the hockey bag manufacturer’s injunction and how it will affect merch rollout; detailed vote percentages for Mammoth versus other finalists.

• Resolution of hockey bag manufacturer injunction
• Current ownership details beyond Smith Entertainment Group
• Exact voting percentages for Mammoth vs. other final candidates

What experts are saying

The new name should represent the state and its people.

— Ryan and Ashley Smith, Team Owners (CBS Sports)

The logo accompanying Hockey Club and Wasatch names depicts a mythical snow creature known internally as the “mountain defender.”

— NHL.com release (NHL.com)

The NHL itself framed the Mammoth choice as an ode to the state’s history, validating the connection that made the name resonate with voters.

Related reading: Team Canada hockey scores and results

Fresh off their official reveal as Utah Mammoth, the team faced the Edmonton Oilers, where projected lines and updates highlighted ongoing momentum.

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