The Utah Hockey Club and the NHL haven’t had the best relationship with the hockey fanbase in Arizona since the Arizona Coyotes were sold to Ryan and Ashley Smith and their hockey operations were relocated to Utah. Arguments over social media have been common between the two fanbases and it’s only been fueled by Utah’s recent success and former Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo causing drama behind the scenes.
With the Toronto Maple Leafs visiting Salt Lake City on Monday, it was clear the topic was going to be brought up. Add on the fact that Arizona natives Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies would be playing against the former Coyotes players for the first time since they moved up to Utah, and it seemed like a perfect storm.
As expected, the Arizona topic did get mentioned but Utah and the Maple Leafs didn’t speak badly about Arizona or Utah. Rather, the first visit to Salt Lake City offered a bittersweet and optimistic ending for some of the Arizona natives on the Maple Leafs, along with some more clarity on some of the opinions on the move from the Utah players.
Salt Lake City Is a Great Place for Players
All of the Utah players have been extremely vocal about their excitement and pleasure of being in Salt Lake City. There are obviously all of the off-ice upgrades from what they had in Arizona. The Smiths have made sure all of the players are treated like pros since the very beginning. It started with them asking what changes needed to be made when they first purchased the team, and they fulfilled their promises.
The Smiths care never wavered from there. They’re currently building a practice facility that will be state-of-the-art and will feature two sheets of ice. The players have also been allowed full access to the NBA’s Utah Jazz’s first-class assets like their weight room and coaches room. Even the visiting players have been treated to a massive locker room and incredible advantages in hot tubs and cold tubs. Not to mention the team’s permanent home, the Delta Center, is situated right downtown. All are things the Coyotes have only yearned to have during their franchise history.
On the ice as well, you can see the Smiths are putting love and money into the team. They acquired top defenseman Mikhail Sergachev from the Tampa Bay Lightning, John Marino from the New Jersey Devils, signed Ian Cole in free agency, and later traded for Olli Määttä from the Detroit Red Wings. General manager Bill Armstrong also handed out a couple of extensions before the trade deadline, along with extending future star Dylan Guenther to a long-term contract before the season began.
Not to mention, all of this has happened in less than a year. There’s a reason why many have been impressed with the Smith’s commitment to building an NHL team. The timeliness of putting up everything has been remarkable. Not to mention, you get to wake up to the view of Salt Lake City’s beautiful snowcapped mountains. Something that many players like Sean Durzi have commented about. Head coach André Tourigny is just the latest to share his sentiment on the iconic backdrop of the NHL’s newest city.
“When you woke up this morning and you look outside, that’s beautiful,” Tourigny said. “That’s the first thing. The second is everything that has been done, including the work last year. When you look at the facility here in April, there was nothing. Last May, there was nothing. They built that and it’s just for one year. They’re building a state-of-the-art facility that will be huge and will be beautiful. We cannot ask for anything better in terms of our ownership: Ashley and Ryan and all the organization.”
In Arizona, it usually starts heating up around this time of the season, and at the beginning of the season, it’s not the coolest weather. In Utah, outside of some snow in the winter, it’s usually 60 to 70 degrees outside. It allows the players to go out and explore their new surroundings. Karel Vejmelka, who was recently extended to a five-year deal, has been trying to get outside more this season, and he finds it easy to do so in his new home.
“When I have a day off, I’m trying to spend more time outside and go to Park City or just do some little hike,” Vejmelka said. “It’s pretty nice for me. It’s pretty easy to live here.”
The players have been able to visit some of Utah’s most attractive features in their free time. Sergachev has frequently posted pictures from his hikes on his Instagram. Liam O’Brien attended a BYU basketball game a couple of weeks ago. The team has consistently gone to Jazz games together. When driving up from Arizona at the beginning of the season, a lot of players stopped at places like Zion on the way up to Salt Lake City.
Players around the league have been hearing about how much players have been enjoying their time in Utah. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who was a Coyote for 11 seasons, still talks to some of his former teammates who are now in Utah. He was also close with Kevin Stenlund last season when he played for the Florida Panthers.
“It seems like the guys like it here,” Ekman-Larsson said. “I know a couple guys that I played with that play here now, and it’s gonna be fun to play a game here.”
Josh Doan was born in Arizona. He played junior hockey in Arizona. He played collegiate hockey for Arizona State University. He was drafted by the Coyotes. He started his pro career in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Tucson Roadrunners. He played his first NHL game and scored his first NHL goal in Arizona. His whole life has been in Arizona, yet he has enjoyed his new life in Utah.
When the Maple Leafs came into town, Doan got to spend some time with Knies who played on the Junior Coyotes with him. Knies enjoyed his time in the city, and Doan has heard that the entire NHL has learned about how incredible Utah has been, including the Maple Leafs.
“I was with Matthew Knies all day yesterday, and he was talking up the city and everything,” Doan said. “So it’s been good so far, and they’re enjoying their trip out here, and they’re excited to play here. They’ve heard great things from a lot of guys. Guys who played here before had a lot of good things to say about our arena and the fans.”
The fans have been incredible in Utah’s inaugural season. Despite some of the upper bowl being obstructed seating, the Delta Center has been packed to the brim every night. The fans have been rowdy with beer chugging on the jumbotron, Veggie chants every time Vejmelka makes a massive save, and incredible energy during every single game.
Related: Olli Määttä Turned Opportunity With Utah Into an Extension
It’s not saying that there were no fans in Arizona because that’s simply not true. It’s just different in Salt Lake City thanks to good ownership. It makes it easy for players to play their very best with the energy the crowd gives off.
“It’s a great state, great people around, and big fan base already,” Vejmelka said. “The crowd, especially on the home games, gives us special energy every night. I enjoy every game here, and it’s pretty special to play here.”
Again, there’s no hate going towards Arizona, but the math is simple. As special and loud Mullett Arena was, playing in front of 17,000 fans is better than 5,000 or even the poor attendance at Gila River Arena.
“If you look at the way the fans treat us, the way we’ve been treated in town, everywhere, wherever we go, it’s unbelievable,” Tourigny said. “We’re grateful to our fans, grateful to our city, to support us and embrace Utah HC. It’s great to play in front of 17,000 as opposed to five. It’s the love they give us. It’s unbelievable. Every night, they’re into it.”
Hockey Is Still a Part of Arizona
Just because the players love living in Utah doesn’t mean they don’t love living in Arizona. Clayton Keller still owns his house in the Phoenix area and Doan obviously has all of his family in Arizona. In fact, Alex Kerfoot made sure to emphasize that the team still believes Arizona is a great place to live.
“We love living in Arizona,” Kerfoot said. “It’s a great place to live, and we went out there and tried to win every night. We’re doing the same thing here.”
Unfortunately for fans in Arizona, pro hockey just hasn’t been treated correctly in the state. The turbulent ownership history of the Coyotes is well known, but even after the team left for Utah, Meruelo has still managed to create drama in the desert with threats of relocation for the Roadrunners and more recently, a lawsuit against the Arizona Board of Regents (the governing body of the state’s universities).
In the lawsuit, Meruelo claims that he should get his $3.5 million security deposit back from the original three-year lease at Mullett Arena the team signed due to it not being his fault the Coyotes didn’t fulfill that lease and the NHL “compelled” him to sell the team. This lawsuit is being pursued despite the fact that the former NHL owner pocketed almost $1 billion in the sale of the Coyotes.
Outside of the whole Meruelo drama and the pro scene, hockey is still thriving in the area. ASU’s NCAA program is competing for an NCHC title in its first season in the conference. The university’s ACHA women’s D1 program is heading to the national tournament for the third straight season. The Matt Shott Arizona Hockey Legacy Foundation has done a good job in supporting the youth teams, including the Kachinas and Shott’s Tots. Those youth programs are still being supported by NHL players, including Keller, who donated $10,000 to Shott’s Tots in August.
The biggest thing about losing the Coyotes is the fact there’s no pro team to help feed money into these youth programs. There are also no local NHL players the youth can look up to and be inspired by. When Doan was growing up, he got to skate with Matthews. Matthews was one of the first players raised in Arizona to become a big-time player in the NHL, and it inspired Doan to keep pushing to get there as well.
“You see the growth now in the game, and a majority of that is because of him and who he’s become in this league,” Doan said. “When I was 15 or 14 years old, he came out and skated with us. That to us was a moment of ‘you can you can make it in Arizona, and you can make it to high-level hockey’. He’s been a huge inspiration to me and a bunch of other kids in the Valley.”
Now, Matthews is putting it on himself and others who have come from the Valley to continue the growth of hockey in Arizona. While it was always exciting to go to a Coyotes game, the impact the players like him, Knies and Doan have had on the youth in the area is irreplaceable, with more on the way as well.
“It’s important that guys like myself, guys that are from there, continue to have an impact on the youth that are growing up here, that want to play hockey,” Matthews said. “I think losing the team doesn’t have too big of an impact on that.”
Knies agrees that there is a lot of interest in hockey in Arizona. It helps that there are quite a few former NHLers that still live in the Valley who are helping the sport survive. Knies believes that even though the Coyotes are gone, the sport will continue to grow and thrive in the desert.
“It’s going to hurt a little bit with the Coyotes leaving and everything,” Knies said. “I think that there’s still a lot of former NHL players that live down there to coach. I know there’s still a great group of kids that want to play hockey, and I think it’s gonna grow.”
The continued growth of youth hockey is hopefully one thing both Coyotes and Utah fans can agree on. It’s been a big focus in Arizona, and the Smiths have been focused on doing the same in Salt Lake City, along with all of the players. Kerfoot has been a big part of the growth of hockey in Utah, specifically girls’ hockey. He and his wife Marissa have been donating their personal tickets to local girls’ programs, hoping they can get the popularity of hockey with females up to where it is with males.
“I think that’s one of the great things about hockey is lots of guys around the league do things like that,” Kerfoot said. “We just wanted to make an effort to allow girls hockey to have the same opportunity that the boys have, and it’s been great seeing them come out. A lot of them are super excited to be out there, and hopefully, as youth hockey continues to grow, girls hockey is right there with the boys as well.”
The Coyotes leaving was a sad moment for Arizona natives, but it’s not the end of hockey. Players are continuing to come out of the area and into the NHL. Matthews will do his best to continue to ensure that happens and hopes that the growth of the sport continues.
“It’s unfortunate you lose the team,” Matthews said. “It was one of the exciting things about going out there was always going to watch those games. But I think just the impact that we have is that so many more guys that are coming out of Arizona, that are playing high-level hockey, that are playing anything. Knies, Josh Doan, other guys kind of coming up with the ranks. I think it’s grown a lot, especially since my childhood there. You can only hope that it continues to do so.
While the two fanbases will always have differentiating opinions on where the team should be, hockey belongs in both places and has continued to thrive in both places. It’s clear that NHL players love both Utah and Arizona. It’s only a matter of time before the league comes back to Arizona. Until then, Utah will keep growing as a team as they continue to chase the Stanley Cup, and the desert will continue to be well-represented by Matthews, Knies and Doan as hockey grows in both states.
