As the 2024-25 season nears its end, it is time for the teams out of the contention for the Stanley Cup to reflect on their performances this season. Additionally, the preparations have already begun for the next season, with teams sweating it out to leave their mark next year. One such team is Utah Mammoth HC, which finished sixth in the Central Division. Having joined the NHL just this season, it was a decent effort from them in their inaugural season. Ahead of the next season, the team announced some big news, which didn’t go down well with their fans.
Yes, Utah HC has received a brand makeover, and they will be called Utah Mammoth from the next season. They got their permanent name and identity through a fan-driven branding process, which spanned 850,000 votes, came together in 13 months, and includes a few juicy easter eggs.
Meanwhile, the owners of the club, Ryan and Ashley Smith, opened up about the new branding of the Utah HC, saying, “The community chose the Utah Mammoth brand, and it stands as a symbol of who we are, where we came from, and the unstoppable force we’re building together.” Despite this name and branding garnering maximum votes, it didn’t go down well with a section of fans, who took to social media to slam the new branding of the club.
Fans criticize Utah HC’s new branding to Utah Mammoth
The club name becomes a symbolic identity for years to come, something that the fans can resonate with. While Utah didn’t get a name in their inaugural season, the club owners decided to name it the Utah Mammoth after the voting process. However, one of the fans was critical of the new branding, saying, “Lightning, Kraken, Mammoth. A hate triangle with teams that don’t end in S.” Even as the latter is a new team, the other two teams don’t have the best of records in the NHL, due to which the fan questioned the teams not ending with s in their names.
Lightning, Kraken, Mammoth. A hate triangle with teams that don’t end in S
— USF Muscovy (@SoFloMuscovy) May 7, 2025
Further, another fan had some varied suggestions about the branding of the club. “Utah Outlaws would have been better,” the fan exclaimed, as he suggested an appropriate name ending with s. Meanwhile, a section of fans strongly criticized Mammoth as the name of the club. Calling out the team’s management for this name, a fan wrote, “Worst sports branding of all time.” The fan compared various team names across different sports and came down harshly on Utah HC.
On the other hand, although one of the Twitter users didn’t find anything wrong with the name, he called out the team’s logo and the color theme. “We already knew the name beforehand, because the admin of the YouTube account didn’t get the memo. Don’t like the logo or the colors; would’ve picked something else. Nothing wrong with the name though,” the fan said, as he made some detailed observations about this massive change. Lastly, one fan had a simple suggestion to make the branding better. The fan revealed, “Don’t love it (would get more points from me if it was MammothS), but thank God it wasn’t YETI. Omg, that would have been bad.” With most team names ending with the letter ‘S,’ the fan gave a suitable suggestion to improve the branding.
Even as the new branding hasn’t gone down well with the fans, they would look forward to the NHL draft, which takes place after a few weeks. Can the Utah Mammoth make a strong comeback next season? Let us know your views in the comments below.
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