Former Arizona Coyotes -Franchise has fans to vote on team name

On By Littum

The former Arizona Coyotes franchise, now Utah Hockey Club, has chosen three names for fans to vote for their permanent team name.

Not to make the list is the fan favorite “Yeti” or “Yetis” name. Utah Hockey Club filed a trademark to US Patent and Trademark Office, According to Associated Press. It was rejected on January 9th. The “Yeti” name compared to the hockey team would have confused most of people with the Yeti brand. Thus, Yeti and Utah Hockey Club could not reach an agreement on coexistence with branding and merchandising.

The last three names for consideration were Utah Mammoth, Utah Hockey Club and Utah Wasatch.

After Wednesday’s first voting day, Utah decided that the Wasatch name wasn’t as popular for the crowd as they thought.

On Thursday, the team announced that they would change the opportunity for Utah Wasatch to Utah Outlaws after the first round of voting.

For the next three home matches (voting started Wednesday night against Pittsburgh) fans at the Delta Center can vote on their favorite name on an iPad. The next three home matches are January 31 against Columbus, February 2 against St. Louis and February 4 against Philadelphia.

The first thought of using the Wasatch name was to still get over the idea behind the fans’ wishes of the Yeti, a mythical being who lives up in the Himalayas. The Wasatch Mountains run along the east side of Salt Lake Valley.

“We wanted to honor this idea that people had for a mythical snow being like Yeti and bring a very Utah-centered approach to it,” said Smith Entertainment Group director Mike Maughan in an article by AP’s John Coon. “Because we have the Wasatch Mountains because we have the Wasatch front, we have so many different iterations or ways we can do it. We wanted to honor the feeling of one of these top names of the last iteration (of fan voting), while we also included an Utah-centered version of it. “

A unique feature is that when fans click to vote on their favorite name, it will reveal logos, sweaters and branding for the special choice.

The permanent team name will be revealed in front of Utah Hockey Club’s home opener 2025-26.