The NHL‘s Utah Jazz opened their training camp on Friday night against a touring New Zealand squad called the Breakers. The night before, Jazz owner Ryan Smith was overseas, golfing in Scotland. Despite the seemingly poorly timed vacation, Smith’s latest venture, the Utah Hockey Club, was set to make its debut just days later. However, when the trip was initially planned, Utah Hockey Club didn’t even exist, and the notion of it debuting in the fall of 2024 seemed ludicrous.
While Smith was teeing off and networking, his team in Salt Lake City was hard at work, hustling to meet an incredibly tight deadline – business as usual.
“We redid our (basketball) locker rooms, too, as we went through all this,” Smith mentioned from Scotland. “The team’s working all night. They’re still working. I bet if I walked in there, it wouldn’t look ready. But somehow, it will be by tomorrow.”
Smith and his team had the vision that the arena would resemble an NHL environment in an NHL rink. Somehow, they were going to make it happen. The plan was to execute a thoroughly thought-out, meticulously produced, and meticulously predetermined long-term strategy.
When NHL commissioner Gary Bettman posed a direct question to Smith, he demanded a simple yes or no response. No beating around the bush, no room for doubts or uncertainty. It was a moment demanding conviction.
Smith confidently replied with a yes, even though he had some lingering doubts. “You can believe it, but until you see it and you know what’s going to happen, that’s the work,” Smith explained.
It was mid-April, and the Coyotes had just finished their second season playing in the 4,600-seat Mullett Arena at Arizona State University. The tiny rink, while beautiful, had become a symbol of the franchise’s struggles after years of mismanagement and ineffective ownership. Bettman was finally ready to make a change, moving on from the troubled Coyotes franchise.
On April 18, the Coyotes’ brand, history, and team were effectively relocated to Utah. Smith gathered about 70 individuals to inform them of the move. Alongside his wife Ashley and president of hockey operations Chris Armstrong, he tried to reassure the team and staff that this unexpected turn of events was actually a positive change for everyone involved.
Then, Smith presented an even bolder idea.
