Florida Panthers Face Former Coyotes in Utah for the First Time

With the Florida Panthers visiting Utah for the first time on Wednesday, it might be a perfect time for a brief primer on hockey in the Beehive State.

The game does have a rich tradition there, and, the Panthers are excited about checking out a new market.

“It’s always nice to do that,” Sasha Barkov said. “Salt Lake is a nice city I have heard. And it’s in the mountains, so that’s going to be a lot of fun.”

The Utah Hockey Club may not have a nickname yet, but that is coming next season.
In this one, Utah is considered a new NHL franchise — and not the one that located from Arizona.

Owner Ryan Smith, who also owns the Utah Jazz, plunked down a cool $1.2 billion as a franchise fee after Seattle paid $650 million and Vegas $500 million for an expansion team.

In 1967, an original NHL expansion franchise cost $2 million.

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Of the $1.2 billion, only $200 million went to the other NHL owners.

A full billion went to purchase the assets of the Arizona Coyotes from owner Alex Meruelo.

The Coyotes franchise was not dissolved but remains inactive until such time as a new arena can be available in the Phoenix area.

If the NHL returns to Arizona, the Coyotes name and history will go with it.

But for all intent and purpose, the Coyotes are now in Utah.

The new ownership did not go through the normal lengthy bid and evaluation procedure for a new franchise. It was a matter of necessity for the NHL.

The Coyotes were pretty much homeless.

After years of financial difficulty and contentious relationships at two different arenas in downtown Phoenix and the Glendale suburbs, Meruelo acquired the team with the intention of constructing a new arena closer to the fan base.

After getting kicked out of Glendale, the team spent the past two seasons at Arizona State’s Mullett Arena — which held a paltry 4,600.

The team failed three times to win approval to develop new arena sites, and the NHL had enough.

In Salt Lake City, the 16,200-seat Delta Center, home of the Jazz, was immediately available.

When relocation was announced, there were reportedly 30,000 season ticket requests.

Currently, there are only 11,131 unobstructed seats for hockey, which have sold out every game.

Plans are currently underway to increase the unobstructed capacity to 17,500.

Salt Lake City is no stranger to professional hockey.

The Salt Lake Golden Eagles were a staple from 1969 to 1994. They played in three different leagues: the Western Hockey League, the Central Hockey League, and the International Hockey League.

Future NHL stars to play for the Golden Eagles included Hall of Famer Joe Mullen, Theo Fleury, Jim Nill, and Charlie Simmer.

There were many more.

The Eagles won back-to-back CHL Championships (Adams Cup) in 1979 and 1980 and back-to-back IHL championships (Turner Cup) in 1987 and 1988.

At various times, the Golden Eagles served as a farm club for the California Golden Seals, Minnesota North Stars, Buffalo Sabres, Cleveland Barons, New York Islanders, and Calgary Flames.

A year after the Golden Eagles were sold to Detroit interests and moved to Michigan, the Colorado Avalanche came to the NHL, precipitating a move of the Denver Grizzlies to Utah.

They played in the IHL from 1994 to 2001 and the AHL from 2001 to 2005. The franchise ceased operations for the 2005-2006 season and was sold to Ohio interests. The team is now the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters.

The Grizzlies’ name was purchased by new Utah ownership and resurfaced as the  Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL.

The team still plays at the Maverik Center in suburban West Valley City.

Professional hockey has been alive and well in Utah for many years, thus the instant popularity of the NHL in Salt Lake City.

The Panthers get to experience that for the first time on Wednesday.

“New place on the tour, so I think everyone is excited,” coach Paul Maurice said. “They have a good young team that’s getting better. It’s a great market for the league. It’s a whole new travel wrinkle. We look forward to it.”

ON DECK: GAME No. 42

FLORIDA PANTHERS at UTAH HOCKEY CLUB

• When: Wednesday, 10 p.m.
• Where: Delta Center, Salt Lake City
• National TV: TNT, TruTV
• Streaming: Max
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL app
• Season Series — At Utah: Wednesday. At Florida: March 28.
• Last Season vs. Arizona Coyotes: Florida Won 2-0
• All-time Regular Season Series vs. Coyotes: Florida leads 21-20-0, 3 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Saturday vs. Boston Bruins, 1 p.m. (ABC)