SALT LAKE CITY | Are the Jets in worse shape than we think? According to an analyst assigned to cover the Utah Hockey Club, the team’s owners were targeting Arizona or Winnipeg in the event of a move to Salt Lake City.
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The information comes from Jay Stevens, analyst on KSL Sports and in the podcast Puck Report.
The latter was in short the only journalist following hockey in the region for the last 10 years and over time, he developed a close relationship with the man who became the owner of the Utah Hockey Club, Ryan Smith. Somehow he found himself in the secret of the gods.
“In March, I started talking with Ryan about the potential of a franchise in Salt Lake City. He told me about a two to five year plan before getting a team. What he told me from the start was that if we didn’t get an expansion team, we would either have the Coyotes or the Jets,” he said. Newspaper.
A cry from the heart
Photo Getty Images via AFP
This snippet is surprising, even if the Jets are clearly not about to pack up. However, last winter, a member of the team’s senior management declared that with 8,500 season ticket holders, the financial model was not viable in the long term.
“There was never any question of the Jets moving here right away, but we were talking about a horizon of a few years. They’re in trouble in Winnipeg. Ryan was monitoring the situation,” said Jay Stevens, himself a former goalie who previously played with the Utah Grizzlies in the ECHL.
A meeting canceled
Stevens participated in meetings last spring with Ryan Smith to see how to grow hockey in Utah.
“I had a meeting scheduled with Ryan in mid-April and without warning he had to cancel. I was told: “He’s going to buy the team, straight away, now!”
“It happened that quickly. The NHL could no longer stand what was happening in Arizona and Ryan became an easy solution because he told the league that he was ready for any eventuality,” said the man who always calls himself incredulous at this unexpected outcome.
“It’s an incredible feeling. Think about it, just a year ago I was arguing with people because I said we could support an American League team here. [de hockey]. Then suddenly, it’s the NHL that shows up!” he said, laughing into his mustache.