Sold on Salt Lake City

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This article was published 20/01/2025 (259 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SALT LAKE CITY — The NHL’s newest market is drawing rave reviews from the Winnipeg Jets.

“It’s a great city. Especially outdoors, you can see the mountains from everywhere,” a rather wide-eyed Alex Iafallo said Monday, a few hours before his Winnipeg Jets hit the ice at Delta Center for the very first time to face the Utah Hockey Club.

“It was cool flying in. It’s just awesome.”

Indeed, the sights in Salt Lake City are spectacular, especially on a clear, crisp day such as the one Mother Nature ordered up for the Canadian visitors.

“It seems really nice here. It’s obviously a little cold. Not Winnipeg cold, mind you,” said forward Cole Perfetti with a chuckle.

Let the record show it was about -8 C at the time of the morning skate with a windchill making it feel like -15. That would have felt tropical compared to the deep freeze Winnipeggers woke up to.

“The mountains are beautiful to look at. It’s nice to be in a new spot that I’ve never been to, and I love the scenery,” Perfetti continued.

There typically isn’t a lot of time to mix business with pleasure when an NHL team is on a road for a quick trip such as this, as players, coaches and staff basically go from airport (arrival day before the game) to hotel to rink (morning skate) to hotel (afternoon nap) to rink (game) to airport and quickly travel to the next city.

However, there was an opportunity for a little bit of sight-seeing as members of the 2.0 team got an up-close look at where the remains of the 1.0 era now reside. At least in theory, since the NHL is essentially treating this re-location as if it were expansion while parking the shared Jets/Arizona Coyotes history in hockey purgatory.

“I think we all loved going to Arizona. But it obviously didn’t work there,” said Jets coach Scott Arniel.

“To have a team here where the fans are passionate, to see the excitement new ownership’s brought in, it’s a great market. It came pretty quick for them, had to put it all together last summer. They’ve done a great job of doing what they had to do to get ready. It’s great to have them in the league.”

This is actually a homecoming of sorts for Arniel, who helped the Utah Grizzlies capture the Turner Cup in the now-defunct IHL back in 1995-96 while playing out of the Delta Center.

“It’s kind of cool being back. Coming in the city (Sunday), seeing the sights. I haven’t been here since then,” said Arniel

Although it’s the same arena, it’s undergone major changes with more to come. Owner Ryan Smith plans to start a three-phase process following this season which will make the venue more fan-friendly for a hockey audience. Currently, about 5,000 seats in the 16,200-capacity building have obstructed views of the ice.

That’s why their current attendance — an average of 11,131 per game which shows on websites as just 68.7 per cent capacity — is misleading.

One thing several Jets players were quick to point out is how steep the upper-deck is, with it resembling almost a direct plunge from top row to bottom from their vantage point on the ice.

“There’s definitely some interesting angles,” said Perfetti. “But it’s a beautiful building.”

Arniel said there could also be some growing pains for a team like his playing in the venue for the first time.

“You have to get a feel for how the boards work, the glass works, just kind of all that,” he said. “Hopefully we can be up and running once the game starts.”

It clearly hasn’t been too big of a problem for visitors, since Utah entered play with just a 6-11-4 record on home ice.

“It’s a real cool building and we got to see the city a little bit. My dad actually played here, and when I was little, there’s pictures of me on skates here for one of the first times,” said forward Vlad Namestnikov.

Indeed, Evgeny Namestnikov suited up for 62 games with the Grizzlies in 1997-98, along with six contests with the NHL’s New York Islanders that season.

“It’s a great city,” said Namestnikov.

Salt Lake City is a vibrant sports market. They have always supported the NBA’s Utah Jazz rain or shine (at 10-30 so far this year it’s been a perpetual downpour yet they continue to draw huge crowds at Delta Center), and the Winter Olympics are coming back in 2034 after being here in 2002.

“It’s exciting. To come here, there’s a little history. And at the end of the day we love when the markets like this are passionate,” Arniel said of the NHL now joining the Grizzlies (who are currently the ECHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche and now play at the 10,000 seat Maverik Center in nearby West Valley City).

With an exciting pool of potential future stars such as forwards Logan Cooley (20), Dylan Guenther (21) and Josh Doan (22) to go with existing young core players such as Barrett Hayton (24), Jack McBain (25) and Clayton Keller (26) the future seems bright and the growing fan-base should have plenty to cheer about.

“They’re right on the cusp,” Arniel said of Winnipeg’s division rival, who will host the Jets again on April 5.

“They had to go through the draft, rebuilding, made some trades, signed some big free agents. They’re getting real close. They’re right in the hunt in a playoff spot. Sometimes it’s just having to go through those experiences to grow as a team. They’ve got some great young pieces to build from.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg