Utah Mammoth

The Utah Mammoth are a professional ice hockey team from Salt Lake City that plays in the National Hockey League’s Western Conference, specifically in the Central Division. They joined the NHL as an expansion franchise for the 2024–25 season and hold their home games at the Delta Center, which they share with the NBA’s Utah Jazz.

The franchise was established on April 18, 2024, when the NHL Board of Governors approved an expansion team for Jazz owner Ryan Smith. Instead of holding an expansion draft, Smith acquired the hockey assets—players, coaches, and draft picks—of the Arizona Coyotes, which simultaneously suspended operations. The team began its first season in 2024–25 under the temporary name Utah Hockey Club while a permanent name was chosen. On June 13, 2024, the team’s name, colors, and jerseys for that inaugural season were revealed. After playing a full season with the temporary name, a fan vote selected the permanent name Utah Mammoth, which was announced on May 7, 2025.

Salt Lake City had a long history of minor-league hockey before the NHL arrived. The Salt Lake Golden Eagles played from 1969 to 1994 across the Western Hockey League, Central Hockey League, and International Hockey League, winning three Adams Cup titles in the CHL and two Turner Cup titles in the IHL before moving to Michigan as the Detroit Vipers. After a one-year gap, the Denver Grizzlies—the reigning Turner Cup champions—relocated to Salt Lake City in 1995 as the Utah Grizzlies, winning another Turner Cup in 1996. That championship-clinching game drew 17,381 fans, the largest single-game attendance in minor-league hockey history at the time. The Grizzlies moved to the E Center in West Valley City in 1997 and joined the AHL in 2001, but suspended operations in 2005 and later relocated to Cleveland. An ECHL franchise of the same name replaced them in 2005, playing 21 seasons with limited success before being sold and moving to Trenton, New Jersey, in 2025. The Delta Center had previously hosted Los Angeles Kings preseason games as part of the Frozen Fury series, though it was not considered ideal for permanent hockey due to poor sightlines and broadcasting issues. The Maverik Center and Peaks Ice Arena in Provo hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics ice hockey tournaments, which featured NHL players, and Salt Lake City is set to host the 2034 Winter Olympics.