Bill Armstrong escapes on Salt Lake City team name

With the first round of the NHL Entry Draft now complete, the clubs have all reported on the first day at their press conferences.

For Montreal Canadiens fans, the majority expected to see Kent Hughes trade at least one of his defensemen for an impact forward to support the top-6.

On the other hand, he said he hadn’t finished his shopping, and it looks like the Habs GM will be one to watch today, on the final day of the draft.

As for the general manager of the Utah hockey team, Bill Armstrong, he seemed very excited at the idea of having drafted Tij Iginla sixth overall, immediately after the Habs’ choice.

He was even a little too excited at his press conference last night, and seems to have leaked the name of the team.

Did Bill Armstrong just leak the name of the team? pic.twitter.com/4VcbjiBBAl

– Dana Greene (@dana_greene) June 29, 2024

“[Seeing Tij Iginla’s availability], that’s when we knew he was going to be a Yeti… I think.” – Bill Armstrong

The journalists in attendance all laughed at this likely leak from Utah’s GM.

Even though Armstrong announced the name of Utah’s hockey team, it must be said that almost everyone expected it to be Yeti.

It’s the name that’s been circulating the most since the announcement of the club’s arrival in Salt Lake City.

Armstrong later mentioned that he couldn’t choose the name Yeti, but that Utah kids all voted about 25 times a day. He believes they got the name.

The Arizona Coyotes backups want to make sure they get off on the right foot and draft a guy like Tij Iginla, who’s guaranteed to bring character and some talent to solidify the top-6.

He joins a fine array of young forwards in Logan Cooley, Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenther and Josh Doan, among others.

All the GM had to do was improve his defense, and he did just that with two big trades.

Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino head to SLC.

Two great acquisitions by Armstrong to solidify his defense without having given too much away.

In addition to adding Tij Iginla and Cole Beaudoin with the two first-round picks to solidify the bank of hope on offense, Utah is coming off dangerous.

The new franchise could even make the playoffs in its first year in the NHL.

Chances are, the Pacific Division isn’t the most competitive right now, despite having four good teams (Kings, Golden Knights, Oilers and Canucks).