Axios readers pick potential names for Utah's NHL team
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
We recently told you about the Arizona Coyotes' pending move to Salt Lake City and we asked ChatGPT to give us some names.
State of play: We also wanted to hear from you, and boy, did y'all deliver!
Most popular picks
The Golden Eagles takes the cake as the most popular name submitted. It's a callback to the days of old: Salt Lake's minor league team of the same name played from 1969-1994.
- The Blizzard and Yetis rounded out the list for the three most-pitched names.
What you're saying: "Would make for a great rivalry with the Colorado Avalanche. Blizzard vs Avalanche has a nice ring to it," Barry E. said.
- As for the Yetis, marketing professor Tony P. said it "flows off the tongue. The verbal alliteration of Utah Yetis works. Also, Yetis are fierce, elusive, strong, terrifying, fast....like a good hockey player."
Great idea, but taken
Some of you picked good names, except maybe you were inspired by teams that already exist?
- Those options include the Rockies (Colorado's MLB team), Rangers (defending World Series champs), Admirals (Milwaukee team in American Hockey League), Yellow Jackets (Georgia Tech), Utes (c'mon), Raptors (Toronto's NBA team), Lakers (one of Los Angeles' NBA teams), Lynx (Minnesota's WNBA team), Hornets (Charlotte's NBA team), Jets (one of New York's NFL teams) and Thunder (Oklahoma City NBA team).
- The Coyotes and Bees were also suggested, which, the issues with those are obvious.
Culture jabs
While some of y'all opted for names that would never be chosen, we did chuckle at the jabs or allusions to Utah's culture.
- We got suggestions for Fry Sauce and Salt Lake Brine Shrimp. Soakers and Polygamists were also tossed out (some of y'all were feeling edgy).
- The Stormin' Mormons, Pioneers, Trappers, Salt Shakers, Snow Birds and Salty Dogs were also sent in as options. As were Zion and Saltairs.
We love animals
A lot of sports teams take their cues and hopefully play style from the animal they were named after.
- Wolverines, Bison, Elks, Sidewinders and Gila Monsters held this category down with ease, while Stingers, Snowcats and Gulls got tossed out as potential names.
Off the wall
We appreciated the effort of some of these other names, but they don't seem to have the necessary pizzazz.
- That category includes Canonballs, Slayers, Sailors, Scholars, Vanilla Ice Pucks, Punk, Flats, Ice Breakers, Gold, Slope and Americans.
The bottom line: Thanks for your ideas and showing us how creative you can be. An official announcement on the Coyotes move could come as soon as this week.