Lauri Markkanen is looking forward to watching the NHL in Salt Lake City as the sport of hockey was a big part of his childhood.
Utah Jazz power forward Lauri Markkanen is excited about the NHL’s arrival to Salt Lake City.
The Arizona Coyotes officially relocated to Salt Lake City following the end of the regular season with Jazz owner Ryan Smith seizing control of the franchise.
This new NHL team will share the Delta Center with the Jazz and Markkanen may attend a couple of games.
“I'll be excited. Love to go to the games any time I can on the road,” Markkanen said. “Been following that for a long time, obviously. Grew up playing that in a team. Went outside to play after school multiple times a week, so, big fan.”
Growing up in Finland, hockey played a pretty influential part of Markkanen’s childhood. Now he will be sharing many of the same facilities with an NHL team as everything is really coming full circle.
Markkanen has been with the Jazz for the past two seasons where his career has really taken off. He was named an NBA All-Star during the 2022-23 campaign and this past season the 26-year-old averaged 23.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists.
Prior to the relocation of the Coyotes, Utah only really had the Jazz when it came to major professional sports teams, so it’s an exciting time to be a Utah sports fan and Jazz players will surely embrace their new partners.