Labar: NHL's Newest Team is 'Unlike Anything Ever Done Before'

By Abby Labar
Sportmoney Columnist

“The important thing to distinguish with the Utah Hockey Club is that it is unlike anything ever done before. That’s what I’ve learned the most about being a part of this process. The situation is so rare and extreme that we may not even have seen anything else like this in all of professional sports.” 

Emmy-Award winning TV broadcaster and newly announced TV analyst for Utah Hockey Club, Nick Olczyk, was bleeding passion through the phone when I spoke with him. A great friend of mine who has been around the game of hockey and the NHL for the bulk of his life, he took time this week amidst the chaos of the start of preseason to share some insights and perspective with me in regard to the newest organization in the NHL. 

Kicking off the inaugural season, Olczyk was a part of history, as he broadcasted the very first UHC game: a preseason tilt against the St. Louis Blues in Des Moines, Iowa. Despite it being the preseason, the organization chose to dress a veteran-laden lineup to give the fans an opportunity to see their new group first-hand. Olczyk said the environment was unreal, some of the players he spoke with afterward and even noted that the Delta Center felt similar to a playoff like atmosphere. 

Olczyk spent two of the (now second-newest franchise) Seattle Kraken’s three seasons with the organization as a part of their broadcast team. So Olczyk’s perspective on how Utah has handled the preparation leading up to Opening Night, as well as the overall experience of bringing a new club to a new market, holds some serious weight (among many other reasons). 

He shared with me that Utah has a deep hockey history, dating back to the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, a team that was around from 1969-1994 as a part of the WHL, CHL and IHL. There’s also the ECHL Utah Grizzlies to provide a current hockey presence in the community. But like we’ve seen with Vegas and what Olczyk has seen with Seattle, “What an NHL team does when it moves to a new NHL market, youth hockey absolutely explodes. I saw such an influx of growth just in the two years I was with Seattle. We had a state-of-the-art practice facility similar to what UHC just announced they were breaking ground on, where even when the Kraken were not practicing there was not an hour in the day where we didn’t see players skating – whether it was a public skate, lessons, youth hockey tournaments etc.” 

“Youth hockey is so important and for kids who live in the community to turn on their TV, go to games or walk around and see Utah Hockey Club in public places, the hope is they feel they can achieve the goal of eventually growing up and playing for the NHL team themselves, ” Olczyk added.

There’s no doubt the potential to grow the game through the Utah community is very evident. But the excitement surrounding the team has escalated as fast as the process of relocating the team did. Although the team technically transitioned here from Arizona, there was a lot that had to be done in a short amount of time. According to Olczyk, organizationally this feels more like a brand-new franchise rather than a relocated team. 

“The entire operations, coaching staff and a chunk of the roster was essentially ‘copied and pasted’ over to Utah, but that’s just a small portion in comparison to the rest of the jobs that had to be filled in,” Olczyk told me. “It’s incredible what ownership did, getting an organization and franchise going from the ground up in 150 days – five months dating back to when the team was announced on April 18th. You look back at the Whalers, the Jets and the Minnesota North Stars, and those moves provided ample time to get naming in place, organize all the moving parts and get a rink built.”

One of the more helpful aspects for the club has been their new housemates in the Utah Jazz. “There has been so much crossover in terms of staff from the Utah Jazz side. They’ve been so integral in getting everybody situated, moved to town, onboarded, all the little details that they helped with. The Smiths didn't inherit the ticket sales team, social media staff, corporate partnerships, arena staff, all the day-to-day employees needed for the full operation,” he said.

Speaking of the Smiths, Olcyzk spoke highly of how hands-on and how important Ryan and Ashley Smith, the owners of the Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club, have been throughout the entirety of the process: “Not only has it been about the resources they’ve provided, but they truly do see this as a gift to the community. When you talk to them you get a real sense that they truly love Utah. There are a lot of passionate owners out there, but they want to give this to the community so it can give them something else to cheer for and get behind. Just look at the Jazz and the support for them.” 

Olczyk went on to share more about what he’s learned and seen in his short time in regard to the support for the Utah Jazz “People around here speak a lot about how the last home game of the season was a sold-out crowd with a playoff-type atmosphere despite the Jazz being out of the playoff contention”. He continued on to praise the ownership, “the one thing that the Smith’s always say is ‘Utah shows up,’ and it’s very clear that Ryan and Ashley showed up for this state by bringing a hockey team here in a way that could have seemed impossible, but they very much made it possible in a matter of just five months.”

The rivalries are all still up in the air as we approach the start of the season. As Olczyck noted, “rivalries are really born through the playoffs, but geographically you look at Seattle, one of the closer and newest teams as an option. Then there are the Golden Knights, with Nevada sharing a border.” However with such a competitive Central Division this season, Olczyk likes the idea of Colorado becoming a heated rival with how tough they will be to play and the fact that they share the east-side border with Utah. 

With that in mind, what can we expect from the on-ice product? “You have a young and skilled group coming from Arizona that will continue to grow and flourish with the community,” Olcyzk said. In addition to that “the messaging and the realistic goal in mind is to be playing competitive games at the end of the season. Sure, everyone wants to be in the playoffs, but to be able to be playing competitive games come February and March will be a very much achievable goal.” 

Olcyzk went on to share his excitement for how the front office handled the offseason. “They beefed up the defensive corps with some veteran players. They brought in four guys on the back end, two via trade and two free agency giving up young prospects and a pick to show they’re ready to compete now. This will support the goaltender, Connor Ingram who is coming off of a career year,” he said.

When I was on the phone with Olczyk, he joked about being surrounded by cardboard boxes still as he continues to get settled in his new home along with, I’m sure, many others within the organization. But his knowledge of the organization and perspective of this new club was impressive.  They truly do have a first-class organization ready to go up in Utah.