🆕 Utah team unveils new jerseys

In today’s edition:

• 🆕 Utah team unveils new jerseys

• 🆕 PWHL unveils names and logos

• 🪧 Veteran NHL forward announces retirement

• 📇 Luongo answers goalie ad

• And more!

Utah hockey club reveals jerseys

Utah unveiled its full sweater catalog, headlined by plain "rock black" and "salt white" looks with "mountain blue" prominent around the design. The three colors serve as the main palette staples.

The rock black uniforms were first shown during the 2024 NHL draft, when Utah selected center Cole Beaudoin at pick No. 24. But the white ones were not revealed until this week.

Utah's sweaters will include a jersey patch that commemorates the inaugural NHL season for the franchise. The hockey club was founded after the Arizona Coyotes were sold, and the franchise relocated to Salt Lake City.

Utah will make its NHL regular-season debut on Oct. 8 against the Chicago Blackhawks on ESPN.

PWHL teams announce names and logos

The PWHL rolled out the full branding for its "inaugural six" teams ahead of the 2024-25 season on Monday.

The teams have been rechristened as the Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Victoire de Montreal, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge and Toronto Sceptres.

The PWHL announced its arrival last August, only months out from the start of its first season in January. Rather than having the nicknames for its first six franchises in place, the league adopted a generic template for each one.

In terms of branding, the teams were identified only by their home city and the jerseys followed the same approach.

Amy Scheer, the PWHL's senior vice president of business operations, told The Athletic's Hailey Salvian last November the league wanted to be patient and make sure each team name fit.

"There are decisions you can make that are fast and if you make an error in your judgment on that decision, it's easy to walk back, or you can learn from it and move on," she said. "From the team name perspective, it was just better off slowing the process down.

"When you come out with a team name, you want to have a full brand story, why the imagery and the logo, why the colors, why the name. And I just didn't feel that we should rush it because you can't walk back from it."

Veteran forward announces retirement

Nine-year veteran forward Brad Malone has officially hung up his skates. It was previously alluded to in mid-April that the 2023-24 season would be his last with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors.

Malone was a fourth-round pick of the 2007 NHL Draft by the Colorado Avalanche and eventually debuted with the team during the 2011-12 NHL season. He played in nine contests for the 20th-placed Avalanche squad and tallied two assists in total. Malone would continue to collect small amounts of playing time at the NHL level for the next seven years between Colorado, the Carolina Hurricanes, and the Edmonton Oilers.

His career will come to a close with 14 goals and 32 points over 217 games in the NHL. He will finish with mild experience in the Stanley Cup playoffs with eight total games split between the 2014 Avalanche and the 2022 Oilers.

Luongo answers ad for goalie

In an unexpected turn of events, Hall of Fame goaltender Roberto Luongo made a surprise appearance at a local beer league hockey game in Florida, stepping in as a last-minute substitute and helping his team secure a 4-2 win against the defending champions.

The story began when a local team, in desperate need of a goaltender, posted a “goalie needed” ad on Facebook. That’s when Luongo, a former NHL star with the Florida Panthers and Vancouver Canucks, saw the ad and replied. The beer league team, which had no idea the NHL legend would actually show up, was shocked when Luongo arrived at the rink ready to play.