about Utah's new NHL team

[BennTheOtter95]

good evening fellow children of God, today, I'd like to discuss a topic about Utah's new NHL team, the Utah Hockey Club, and that is are they really a relocation team (as in formerly the Winnipeg Jets and the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes), or are they another expansion team and the NHL's 33rd?, also what should be the nickname for the new team?.

 

[Gnarwhal]

good evening fellow children of God, today, I'd like to discuss a topic about Utah's new NHL team, the Utah Hockey Club, and that is are they really a relocation team (as in formerly the Winnipeg Jets and the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes), or are they another expansion team and the NHL's 33rd?, also what should be the nickname for the new team?.

It's six months since you posted the OP so I'm sure you've gotten the answer by now but it's both/and. What happened was the league awarded Utah an expansion team, and it happened as this ordeal in Arizona. It basically revolved around the Coyotes ownership's inability to find an appropriate venue. I guess the Coyotes had been playing in a college arena which was too small by NHL standards.

They ended up suspending hockey operations after last season, then the league brokered a deal where the team was "split in half", it's hockey assets (the players, staff, etc) were given to the Utah Hockey Club, but the name, history, and other intellectual property belonging to the Coyotes remained with the Coyotes owner who supposedly intends to start the Coyotes franchise over. However, there was supposed to be an auction for a parcel of land where he would build a new arena and start over, but that auction was canceled by the state of Arizona and at that point Maruelo (the owner) just abandoned all his plans to revive the Coyotes.

TL;DR - it's both. The Utah Hockey Club is indeed an expansion team, and just after it was awarded to Utah the Coyotes folded and their roster and coaching staff were given to Utah.