During Utah Hockey Club’s inaugural season, the team is “trying to prove that Salt Lake City and Utah as a whole can support the NHL,” according to Ryan Clark of ESPN.com. Utah President of Hockey Operations Chris Armstrong said that the franchise “‘feels very confident’ in that it could finish this season as both a top-20 revenue team and a top-20 ticketing team in the NHL” despite playing in at a “basketball-first venue that has around 5,000 obstructed view seats.”
Smith Entertainment Group President of Revenue & Commercial Strategy Chris Barney said that the club “will market to everyone,” but they are “concentrating on attracting young people so that they can grow those generational fans.” Part of that plan is “creating a youth hockey program.”
The short-term goal is to “drive new, young fans to the sport” while the long-term goal is to “make the youth of today the season-ticket holders of tomorrow.” Barney said the franchise has a “multiyear strategy” when it comes to how ticketing will work for fans from various economic backgrounds.
He noted that “adding 6,000 unobstructed seats once the Delta Center renovation is completed will help with making the UHC more accessible.” Another step is to “work with community partners to ensure they’re getting UHC tickets in the hands of fans from underrepresented groups so they can also have access”
The Utah Hockey Club tried to get Ivan Provorov out of Columbus but the Blue Jackets didn’t want to make a trade at this point in the season.
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun recently reported that the Columbus Blue Jackets declined a trade offer involving defenseman Ivan Provorov from the Utah Hockey Club. Utah was interested in Provorov to bolster their defense but shifted their focus to Olli Maatta from the Detroit Red Wings after Columbus signaled they weren’t willing to part with Provorov.
With Columbus performing better than anticipated this season, management is cautious about altering the roster, especially regarding key players like Provorov. As a pending UFA, Provorov is set to be crucial for Columbus’ defense. If there’s a shot at the playoffs, he’ll be essential. Even without a playoff push, Columbus wants to maintain the positive atmosphere around the team during this challenging time.
Additionally, with Los Angeles retaining 30% of Provorov’s salary from a prior trade, his cap hit is manageable, increasing his potential value as a trade asset if Columbus opts to sell later.
Utah’s Defensive Needs Drove Their Decision Utah, struggling with defensive injuries, needed a quick solution. They preferred a short-term option, leading them to choose Maatta as a temporary fix until John Marino returns. Maatta offers stability in a depth role and was more affordable, both in cap hit and in trade value, than pursuing Provorov.
Keep an eye on Provorov. Depending on what Columbus does this season, the defenseman will remain a high-ticket player to watch for teams looking to bolster their defense ahead of the trade deadline on March 7. It’s not clear if Utah will get back into the running (likely not if their players are healthy again), but a handful of other teams probably will.
David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period noted: “Don Waddell is getting calls and inquiries and the staff there as well, with respect to (Ivan) Provorov and a few others, he’s going to be a high ticket guy. He’s going to be somebody a lot of teams are going to be poking around on to see what that price tag is going to be later on in the season.”
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