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Utah’s NHL team plans to build practice facility on Sandy mall site

The rinks will also be used for youth events, Smith Entertainment Group announced.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah NHL team general manager Bill Armstrong, left, and head coach André Tourigny answer questions during a news conference at the Delta Center on Wednesday, April 24, 2024.

Utah’s NHL team has its sights set on Sandy.

Smith Entertainment Group announced Monday it is buying the Shops at South Town, the 111-acre site at 10450 State Street, and will build the team’s offices and practice facility there.

While all the details aren’t finalized, the facility will have two hockey rinks and include elements of a community center.

Beyond ice time for the NHL team, the rinks will be used for youth events and amateur games, SEG said. Around the facility, there will be an NHL team store and seating to watch the rink.

“The city of Sandy could not be more excited to become the home to the new NHL team’s long-term practice facility,” Sandy Mayor Monica Zoltanski said in a statement. “We have worked collaboratively with Smith Entertainment Group for many years and are excited about their expanding presence in our community with one of the world’s premier hockey training facilities in our city.”

The timeline of this project should be completed over the next year, before the 2025 season.

The Smith Group said in a news release that it “is committed to ensuring The Shops at South Town continue to be a vibrant and integral part of the community, and the NHL practice facility is an important first step towards this goal.”

More immediately, team owner Ryan Smith is looking for an existing facility to house the team offices and practice space for 2024.

He is also planning renovations of the Delta Center beginning this summer.

That will include installing NHL locker rooms and some seating changes. The Delta Center’s NHL look will not be finalized for several years as Smith plans to use the next handful of summers to install changes.