Call it a six-hour party or a typical NHL opening day broadcast.
Whatever you call it, ESPN brought it to Salt Lake City on Tuesday to celebrate Utah Hockey Club’s first regular season game as a franchise.
NHL experts Steve Levy, Mark Messier and PK Subban spent their afternoon and early evening talking hockey at a temporary desk in front of the Delta Center while Utah hockey fans cheered behind them.
Before during and after the two games that preceded Utah Hockey Club’s contest against the Chicago Blackhawks, the trio discussed the unfolding NHL action and chatted with some high-profile guests.
Here are highlights from ESPN’s broadcast from outside the Delta Center.
The NHL commissioner loves Utah
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman heaped praise on Utah as a state and Utah as an NHL team during his time on Tuesday’s ESPN broadcast.
He described the state as a “winter sports market” with passionate fans, noting that Utah will host the Winter Olympics in 2034.
“The Utah Hockey Club is going to be part of the vitalization and revitalization of this downtown area, and I think the league is stronger by being in Utah with a club,” Bettman said.
NHL expansion isn’t coming — yet
Bettman also praised Ryan and Ashley Smith and the Smith Entertainment Group, noting that he was blown away by how they handled the Arizona Coyotes’ transition into the Utah Hockey Club.
“We had high expectations and they actually exceeded them,” the commissioner said.
But despite the league’s positive experience in Utah so far, Bettman said the NHL isn’t going to rush into expansion.
“We’re not going into a formal expansion process yet,” he said. “And there’s no necessity that we have to expand.”
Players are thrilled about the fan response
Bettman and the ESPN team had plenty of kind words for Utah hockey fans.
So did Utah Hockey Club defenseman Sean Durzi, who was interviewed on the “blue carpet” by Subban. (He and other players walked the blue carpet to enter the Delta Center and prep for the game.)
“You just look around and this is pretty special. I’m just happy to be a part of it,” Durzi said.
PK Subban would play in Utah
Utah Hockey Club co-owner Ryan Smith joined ESPN’s broadcast about 45 minutes before the start of Utah Hockey Club’s first-ever regular season game.
Among other topics, he addressed what makes Utah a great place to live, arguing that players — and fans — enjoy being able to hike in the state’s beautiful mountains.
Subban jumped in during Smith’s comment, noting that he made time for a hike Tuesday morning before the ESPN broadcast.
“I did 14,000 steps today in these mountains. Unbelievable. Love it here. I’d play here,” Subban said.
Ryan Smith says hockey can bring people together
During his segment, Smith spoke on the power of hockey to unify people as he thanked Utahns for embracing the opportunity to have an NHL team.
“In a world where people seem to not rally together that much, you’ve got a state, a city, Republicans, Democrats —everyone’s together about one thing right now and it’s Utah Hockey Club,” he said.
