Andre Tourigny Among Many Supporting Ryan Smith and the New Utah Ownership

On Monday, March 17, James Mirtle of the Athletic put out an article ranking every NHL owner from 1-32, based on surveyed responses from over 4000 readers, including fans of every NHL team.

With the rankings being based on four categories—"willingness to spend, organizational stability, treatment of the fan base, and franchise vision"—combined with Mirtle's own analysis of various factors for each team, it was determined that Utah Hockey Club owner Ryan Smith was rated eighth best in the league, scoring a B+.

When asked about the high ranking and the team's own experience with the ownership, head coach André Tourigny said: "In reality, I'm sure he [Ryan Smith] was top three, but they just put him top ten."

Simply put, Tourigny agrees with the positive sentiment, but thinks that the newness of Utah Hockey Club still has put Smith too low with the grading. 

"The human values of SEG, you know, our entire organization, is unreal," said Tourigny. “So we're super grateful for Ryan and Ashley and the ownership group, I think that it's an honor and privilege to play for them.

With it not being a year removed from the official relocation of the formerly known Arizona Coyotes, it's got to be an encouraging sight to see such raving sentiments offered from the head coach who started his career in Arizona.

And if the coach of the team you own likes you, that's going to significantly help with developing relationships with the actual players on the roster.

"Even when you talk to the players they feel great about this organization, about living in Salt Lake City... their relationship with the fans," said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Utah HC's latest NashCast broadcast. "But it all starts again, not to repeat myself, it starts with ownership and to have this good of a situation is because of ownership. "

Smith's positive relationships with the team itself are probably one of the most important things he needed to do to integrate the team into its new reality in Utah.

Being part of a newly purchased team that still lacks an official name is certainly interesting from a business perspective in the NHL. However, the move itself lacks a sense of community and fan engagement, and it fails to consider the feelings of the people on the team.

"I mean, this is a little bit crazy," Smith said on Utah HC's recent NashCast during Utah's bizarre 5-2 win against Buffalo. "I try not to have pictures in my head of what it all is supposed to look like because a lot of the times you undershoot it. I mean, it hasn't been 12 months... and [we] said, hey, you're all coming to Utah. I don't care how many years you're in business or in leadership or how many teams you've been on, there's nothing that prepares you for that." 

But Smith's care for this team truly is a sight that should give hope to the team and any future players, coaches, and staff that may join the organization in years to come.

But it's not just his care for people like Tourigny that has given Smith his early popularity, it's also his care for the community.

He had already made a big impact on the Utah Jazz fans, who had already "taken note" of the new hockey team. Simply seeing a team owned by the same people as its NBA brothers in the Utah Jazz was already going to serve as a major selling point and entice people to root for this new NHL team. 

"Legitimately, I turn the corner and I start seeing people four blocks away coming and I was like those people would not have been downtown tonight...," said Smith. "I think we said that the impact of the NHL was going to be big, I don't think we've still anticipated, like, what happens [with this still.]"

With Smith already popular in Utah as the successor to a beloved Utah Jazz team and for guaranteeing that the team would remain in the state, his success in bringing an NHL team to Utah has likely only further boosted his popularity.

While Smith's positive image was already going to get Utahns curious about this team, having himself engaged with the team early on was very important, especially if it was going to directly help the community.

After all, when Smith introduced the friendly menu used at Jazz and Utah HC games, it was a hit and well-liked by the community.

Recently, Smith has committed to helping the community in new ways by pushing the price of Utah HC+ to just $1 per month for Utah's remaining games or explaining what he envisions Utah HC's "summer project" to look like on X/Twitter:

"Ryan's articulation of what Utah means, what hockey means, what the Hockey Club means, the relationship with the community, his vision, and the organizations ability to execute took his situation, that we [already] thought would be good, and took it to a whole nother level and made it great," said Bettman. "And I only see great things for this team and this city..."

Smith showing that he really cares about Utah by finding various ways to continue helping the community will end up leading to fans connecting with both the team and its ownership.

Plus, it always helps when the team itself is in a position as interesting as Utah, who is currently vying for a playoff spot.

But considering Utah was struggling to win at home, going 5-8-4 in its first 17 home games before its recent home success, going 9-5-3 in its next 17 home games, it wasn't Utah's success at home that was inspiring fans to invest in this team, but rather the exciting new team that Smith had brought to Utah.

But while it's the players and coaches job to generate the most excitement for the team, there have been ways that Smith has kept things exciting for Utahns too.

Delivering on bringing an NHL team to Utah already offered its fair share of buzz and excitement not just locally, but nationally as well. But Smith finding ways to really lean into the excitement has been another reason why Smith is well-liked.

One way Smith has done this is by holding multiple fan votes for the team's name. This has given fans a way to stay engaged with Utah HC while also allowing them to feel personally involved in the naming process of the team. 

Another way Smith has built excitement is by stating that he is looking to bring an NHL outdoor series game to Utah.

But now, instead of it being a tease and something hockey fans hope will happen some day, now there is virtually no doubt that it will happen after Bettman with the NHL said the outdoor game would "absolutely" happen during his NashCast broadcast appearance.

"Utah's going to get an outdoor game," said Bettman. "We're not going to break news because I don't have a date yet, but we're working on it." 

With Bettman also stating that the NHL has looked the University of Utah as the site for the game, there is sure to be plenty of buzz among both Utah HC fans and Utahns alike once the game is officially set.

With everything Smith has done, it's clear why he has gotten so much support from people like Tourigny, Utah HC fans and even the NHL commissioner himself.

What will continue to cement Smith as a "B+" graded owner, if not higher, is his commitment to making his contributions to the team part of a long-term plan.

If the effort he's putting in only lasts for a year, people will start to lose interest in Utah HC, even with a new name and potential playoff berths on the horizon.

If Smith can find ways to keep promoting Utah HC while using it to directly benefit the community, then maybe he really will be on track to becoming a "top 3" owner in the league.