Utah Grizzlies Likely To Relocate Following 2025-26 Season

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — The Utah Grizzlies, a staple of the ECHL and the Wasatch Front’s hockey scene for three decades, is up for sale, with plans to relocate following the 2025-26 season.

A message to our devoted fans 💚 pic.twitter.com/r0IFfK5V1M

— Utah Grizzlies (@UtahGrizzlies) June 23, 2025

Related: Utah Grizzlies To Begin Process Of Exploring Potential Sale

Utah Grizzlies to be sold

The announcement marks the end of an era for the Grizzlies, who have called the Maverik Center home since 1997.

As fans prepare for one final season of Grizzlies hockey in Utah, the team’s rich history in the state offers a bittersweet backdrop to this significant change.

The sale and impending move come as a surprise with so many rumors circulating about an eventual affiliation at some level with the Utah Mammoth and at a time when Utah’s hockey landscape is evolving as Utah’s NHL team draws significant attention following their inaugural 2024-25 season with plans to grow the game throughout the state.

According to sources close to the situation, a new ownership group leading the effort to purchase the team would relocate it to Trenton, New Jersey.

Per @Jaysus28

The Utah Grizzlies will likely relocate following the 2025-26 season.

A new ownership group leading the effort to purchase the team would relocate them to Trenton, NJ.

Currently, there are no plans to have hockey at Maverik Center following this season.

— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) June 23, 2025

Trenton has been eager for professional hockey’s return since the ECHL’s Trenton Titans folded in 2013.

As of now, there are no plans to have hockey in the Maverik Center after this season

For Grizzlies fans, the news is a tough pill to swallow. The team has been a source of pride for West Valley City, drawing over 203,000 fans in the 2017-18 season alone—the highest attendance since 2004—and averaging 6,000 spectators per game in recent years.

The 2025-26 season, the team’s 30th in Utah, will be a farewell tour, with officials promising promotions and events to honor the franchise’s legacy

A Brief History of the Utah Grizzlies in Utah

The Utah Grizzlies’ story in Utah began in 1995, when the Denver Grizzlies, fresh off a Turner Cup championship in the International Hockey League (IHL), relocated to Salt Lake City after the NHL’s Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver as the Colorado Avalanche.

Playing initially at the Delta Center, the Grizzlies repeated as IHL champions in their inaugural Utah season (1995-96), led by coach Butch Goring and goaltender Tommy Salo.

In 1997, the team relocated to the newly constructed E Center (now known as the Maverik Center) in West Valley City, which hosted hockey during the 2002 Winter Olympics.

The Grizzlies remained in the IHL until its collapse in 2001, then joined the American Hockey League (AHL) as an affiliate for teams like the Dallas Stars and Phoenix Coyotes.

After the 2004-05 season, the AHL Grizzlies suspended operations, but the franchise was revived in the ECHL in 2005 when owners David Elmore and Donna Tuttle purchased the rights to a dormant ECHL franchise (previously the Lexington Men O’ War).

Since then, the Grizzlies have been a mainstay in the ECHL, affiliated most recently with the Colorado Avalanche since 2018.

In their ECHL tenure, the Grizzlies have been competitive, reaching the playoffs 16 times in 19 seasons, including a 10-year streak from 2007-08 to 2016-17.

They won a Mountain Division title in 2021-22 but have yet to claim the Kelly Cup.

Standout players like Ryan Kinasewich, the franchise’s all-time leading scorer with 103 points in 2009-10, and 356 points in his Grizz career, and Trevor Lewis, who played for Utah during the 2012 NHL lockout, have left lasting marks.

Over 200 Grizzlies alumni have reached the NHL, including Stanley Cup winners Ray Whitney and Scott Niedermayer.

The Grizzlies’ presence has also been a boon for West Valley City, the state’s second-largest city, which owns a 40% stake in the team.

The Maverik Center, with a capacity of 10,100, has hosted memorable moments, from playoff runs to themed nights, such as the recent “Fishing Night” in February 2025.

Despite the arrival of the NHL’s Utah Mammoth, the Grizzlies have maintained strong community support, with ticket sales up 20% in 2024-25.

Kinasewich, who has served as coach for the past eight years (four as assistant and the last four as head coach), has just been announced as the new head coach for HC Innsbruck in Austria.

The end of the Utah Grizzlies era

As the curtain falls on the Grizzlies’ Utah era, the 2025-26 season will be a chance to celebrate a franchise that brought championship glory, nurtured NHL talent, gave me my 15 minutes of hockey fame, and fostered a deep hockey culture in Utah which helped usher in the NHL’s Utah Mammoth.

While Trenton awaits its new team, West Valley City will savor one last season of Grizzlies hockey before saying goodbye.

The Utah Puck Report Podcast will keep following this story as it develops. A new episode will drop today with me, Bill McCloud, and former Grizzly Mason Mannek.

Take us with you, wherever you go.

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