You’d think somebody trying to get a NHL team and locate it in SLC has thought about names and logos before. Kinda disappointed that they’ll do a placeholder for a season or two although I get that time is not on their side.
There's too much precedent now. Washington Football Club. The PWHL.
It's showing that it won't hurt attendance, and they get to sell merch twice.
Smith seems to like singular names. Venom. Blizzard. Fury.
Yeti and Swarm would fit that scheme.
Smith has talked to the league for two years. Both the Kraken and Golden Knights did extensive searches, and have vetted names already. Utah has access to mascotdb and any number of dictionaries.
It's not disappointing because they're so far from a name, but that they're likely so close.
My own preference ranking for those five I've listed.
1. Swarm
2. Blizzard
3. Yeti
4. Venom
5. Fury
Swarm lends itself to black and yellow, although the NHL already has the Bruins and Penguins in those colors. They'd need to add a color in there. That'd also be the third insect mascot in the league, besides Bunderthug and Stinger. The downsides to the name are that Swarm feels a bit weird to say, IMO, and it's not immediately clear what that even is. It's like how it took a while for the Minnesota Wild name to settle in.
In the meantime, they should probably use the NHL logo colors. Black, silver, white. Every choice will get read into.