In June, the owners of the Utah Grizzlies hockey club announced plans to sell the team. Now comes word that they have made a deal, and the team is on its way out of Utah.
An announcement from the Elmore Sports Group said the Utah member of the ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) will play one more season in Utah before relocating to Trenton, New Jersey, following the 2025-26 season, which begins Oct. 17 and runs through mid-April. Any playoff run will begin after the regular season finale around April 13.
The Maverik Center confirmed the move with an emailed announcement that concluded, “The Grizzlies will be ready to play at Maverik Center for the 2025-26 season, and hopefully it will be a successful season.”
A New Jersey group called Pro Hockey Partners LLC will move the team to that state as its new owners.
The ECHL also announced that the league’s board of governors has approved the transfer of controlling interest in the Grizzlies to Pro Hockey Partners.
“The return of ECHL hockey to Trenton is extremely exciting as we welcome the market back to our North Division for the 2026-27 season amidst new teams and rivalries in the region,” said ECHL Commissioner Ryan Crelin.
“This was a difficult decision, but it is one that we feel is in the best long-term interest of the franchise,” said D.G. Elmore, chairman of Elmore Sports Group. “Our focus right now is entirely on the fans and the community that have supported us for three decades. We are dedicated to delivering the best possible experience for our final season and celebrating the incredible memories we’ve made together.”
The Grizzlies’ history in Utah began in 1995, when the Denver Grizzlies, fresh off a Turner Cup championship in the International Hockey League, relocated to Salt Lake City after the National Hockey League’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 Arizona Coyotes. After the 2004-05 season, the AHL Grizzlies suspended operations, but the franchise was revived in the ECHL in 2005 when owners Dave Elmore and Donna Tuttle purchased the rights to a dormant ECHL franchise that previously operated as the Lexington Men O’ War in Lexington, Kentucky. The ECHL is roughly the equivalent of AA leagues in baseball and feeds players to the IHL and NHL.
Since then, the Grizzlies have been an anchor in the ECHL, affiliated with the Colorado Avalanche since 2018. During their time in the ECHL, 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 never won the ECHL championship Kelly Cup.
Over 200 Grizzlies alumni have reached the NHL, including Stanley Cup winners Ray Whitney and Scott Niedermayer, according to The Hockey News.
Despite the arrival of the NHL’s Utah Mammoth, the Grizzlies report strong support, with ticket sales up 20 percent for the most recent season.
Any chance of the Grizzlies becoming connected to the Mammoth as its minor league affiliate were squelched because of the Mammoth’s affiliation with the Tucson Roadrunners of the AHL. The contractual association with Tucson existed before the Smith Entertainment Group bought the Arizona Coyotes, moved the team to Salt Lake City and renamed it the Mammoth.
The Grizzlies’ statement indicated that the decision to explore a sale came after a period of transition for the longtime owners, with the death of former owner Dave Elmore in 2023 and the declining health of current co-owner Donna Tuttle.
This won’t be the first time the ECHL has had a presence in the New Jersey capital city. For 13 seasons the city had a team, which underwent multiple name changes as the Trenton Titans, Trenton Devils and again the Trenton Titans. The Titans won the Kelly Cup in 2005. The new team in Trenton will play at the CURE Insurance Arena. CURE Arena holds just over 8,000 fans. It is located about a mile away from the stadium that houses the Trenton Thunder, the Double-A affiliate of baseball’s New York Yankees.