With his hands hidden in his pockets and hundreds of new Utah Hockey Club fans roaring in the Delta Center behind him, forward Dylan Guenther couldn’t help but smile.
For many Utahns, Friday evening was a chance to watch their first NHL Draft, putting them one step closer to falling in love with the NHL’s newest franchise. More notably, it was Utah’s first time drafting a player in franchise history.
As the anticipation in the arena rose, fans watched as owners Ryan and Ashley Smith, and Bill Armstrong, the club’s general manager, slowly trotted to the podium inside of the MSG Sphere in Las Vegas to announce the No. 6 pick.
“For the 2024 draft, Utah selects,” Ryan, the governor of the Utah Hockey Club said, before beckoning his wife to the mic.
“Tij Iginla,” Ashley finished off, as the crowd in Salt Lake City erupted.
In short order, fans started dishing out hugs, high-fives and even a few fist bumps in Salt Lake City. What was once a first was no more, but the moment stamped an even more important message to Utah:
The NHL is officially here.
“I didn’t expect an event like this to be this busy and exciting. It’s pretty cool,” Guenther said during a media scrum inside the Delta Center, minutes before Iginla was drafted.
Guenther isn’t used to this amount of fanfare. Before moving to Salt Lake City, the Arizona Coyotes — the franchise’s former iteration — could only host about 5,000 fans in Mullet Arena.
As Utahns get used to professional hockey, that dynamic could be set to change. With a new city comes the opportunity to have a different fan culture, new expectations and long-term stability.
That doesn’t mean it won’t take some getting used to, however.
“Having that fresh start, a fresh city and new fans,” Guenther said, “brings a new kind of buzz and excitement around the team. That’s only going to help us.”
The fans crowding the stands during the inaugural Utah Hockey Club draft party certainly shared that same sentiment.
‘Almost too good to be true’
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Hockey fan Dylan Malstrom shows off the hand-tufted rug he made as the Utah Hockey Club hosts their first NHL draft party at the Delta Center on Friday, June 28, 2024.
It took Dylan Malstrom five hours to make his signature mountain blue, hand-tufted rug sporting the Utah Hockey Club logo.
Malstrom is a lifelong Utahn and a diehard Pittsburgh Penguins fan, but he’s making some room for the NHL’s newest franchise. So, when the Utah Hockey Club’s colors and temporary logo were announced by the team on social media, the 22-year-old grabbed his rug-tufting gun and immediately got to work.
“I saw videos about rug tufting on Tik-Tok during COVID-19, and it gave me something fun to do,” Malstrom told The Salt Lake Tribune.
Attending the Utah Hockey Club’s draft party on Friday, Malstrom, donning a Coyotes jersey, could be seen carrying the rug on his shoulder and posing for pictures with fellow fans. His excitement and dedication — enough to make a hand-crafted rug — is just one example of the growing hockey fanbase in Salt Lake City.
“This one took a long time because I wanted to get all the lines straight,” Malstrom said, while holding up the rug. “I’ll definitely make another one when the new mascot is announced.”
Sitting on the adjacent side of the Delta Center, you could find Darrin and Tanner Jensen soaking in the party and pointing toward the arena’s jumbotron, as the draft was minutes away. Darrin is Tanner’s father, and he grew up being a lifelong hockey fan in Utah.
Not once did he ever imagine that a team would move to Salt Lake City.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Hockey fans join the fun as the Utah Hockey Club hosts their first NHL draft party at the Delta Center on Friday, June 28, 2024.
“It was one of those deals where, as soon as the rumor started, it felt like it was almost too good to be true,” Darrin said. “The way that everything just dropped was amazing. I’m extremely excited. I’m a Montreal Canadiens fan, and now I’m a season-ticket holder, so I can’t wait for that game.”
Following his father’s love of hockey, Tanner — formerly a soccer player — started playing the sport when he was 12. From the moment he hit the puck, he, like his father, couldn’t get enough of the sport.
Tanner and Darrin weren’t the only Jensen in attendance for the draft party, though. They brought along Owen, Tanner’s toddler, in hopes of passing their NHL fandom onto him.
“I can’t ensure that he’ll be a Utah fan,” Darrin said. “I’m going to let him pick his own team.”
Tanner is on board with that idea as well but only if he doesn’t become a Las Vegas Golden Knights fan.
“I’m a hockey fan in general,” Tanner said. “I love to collect jerseys, but I will never own a jersey for the Vegas Golden Knights. I can’t stand them.”
It’s those types of traditions — the rivalries, joy and grit of hockey — that the trio, and hundreds of fans alike, can’t wait to replicate with the Utah Hockey Club in SLC.
“For the people that read this,” Darrin said, “you don’t know what an NHL game is like until you’ve been to one. It’s one thing on TV, but to see it live … is like nothing you’ve ever seen before.
“I know there’s a lot of fans here that have never been a part of hockey, but I think they’re going to be amazed at what they see in the future.”
‘A milestone moment’
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Hockey fans cheer on the No. 6 pick in the NHL Draft pick of center Tij Iginla as the Utah Hockey Club hosts their first NHL draft party at the Delta Center on Friday, June 28, 2024.
Ryan Smith would’ve thought you were crazy if you told him he’d own an NHL franchise a few months ago.
But, as the pro sports magnate walked among the different officials and owners of the NHL’s 31 other teams in Las Vegas on Friday, that reality started to set in.
The NHL has arrived in Utah.
“This is a big day for the state of Utah,” Smith said to a group of reporters before the draft. “It’s a big day for this new franchise. Someone’s going to get drafted here and be the first pick of this franchise. It’s a milestone moment for all of us in our state, and I think for hockey.”
In the lead-up to the 2024 NHL Draft, it was unclear who Smith and Armstrong would take with their first pick in franchise history.
Guenther and his teammate Josh Doan didn’t make any predictions when asked by the media, but they clapped and grinned once Iginla was officially selected, a sign they were pleased with the move.
“It’s pretty cool,” Guenther told The Salt Lake Tribune of his reaction to Iginla’s selection. “I played with Tij (growing up). He’s a great kid, so I’m super excited.”
Utah later added a second draft pick when the club traded back into the first round to get center Cole Beaudoin with No. 24 pick.
While Beaudoin and Iginla’s selections whet appetites in Salt Lake City, fans will have to wait until Sept. 22 when the Utah Hockey Club takes on the St. Louis Blues on the road.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Garrett Stone and his son Levi, 4, pose for a picture as they attend the NHL draft party at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, June 28, 2024.
Then, finally, the club’s first home game will be on Sept. 23 against the Los Angeles Kings at the Delta Center. Despite that, there are several moving parts ahead of Utah’s inaugural season in Salt Lake City.
SEG and the city are awaiting a potential vote on an entertainment district that would reshape downtown and renovate the 33-year-old Delta Center. Alongside that, the Utah Hockey Club has yet to select an official mascot and name. Those are set to be announced during the team’s first season following the results of a fan vote.
In time, those questions will be answered, but Ryan Smith and all of the team’s fans are focused on embracing the present.
“It’s been a whirlwind (two months),” Smith said. “... It feels very much like a startup in tech, where it’s all hands on deck all the time. That’s the world I come from. It’s been incredible.
“It’s been inspiring to watch that not only from a people standpoint but also from our state and the community.”
