Utah ‘great hockey market,’ former Salt Lake Golden Eagles say 

The Utah Hockey Club will play its first regular-season game on Oct. 8 against the Chicago Blackhawks at Delta Center in Salt Lake City (10 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+). NHL.com is counting down to the first game with a five-part series about hockey in Utah. Today, in Part 2, former members of the Salt Lake Golden Eagles talk about why NHL hockey will succeed in Utah:

SALT LAKE CITY -- When the NHL established a new franchise in Utah on April 18, Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill felt confident it would succeed.

“It was a no-brainer,” he said. “It’s a great hockey market. It’s a great city. It’s an up-and-coming city. It’s vibrant. I loved it there.”

Nill began his pro career with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles. Among his teammates: Paul MacLean and Joe Mullen. All three have fond memories of Salt Lake City, and that slice of Utah hockey history helps provide background for the Utah Hockey Club, which makes its NHL regular-season debut against the Chicago Blackhawks at the Delta Center on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS).

“As far as the environment, the hockey tradition, the excitement, nothing can beat it,” Nill said. “It was as good as there is.”

The Golden Eagles played in Salt Lake City from 1969-94, competing in the Western Hockey League (1969-74), the Central Hockey League (1974-84) and the International Hockey League (1984-94). They were the minor league affiliate of several NHL teams over the years.

Their first home was the Salt Palace (1969-1991). That was a block away from their second home, the Delta Center (1991-94).

Mullen arrived in 1979-80. After four years at Boston College, the forward signed with the St. Louis Blues as an undrafted free agent, and they sent him to Salt Lake City.

He remembers playing in the first 10 games or so before coach Jack Evans sat him out for a while. He didn’t understand it. Linda -- then his girlfriend, now his wife -- came for a visit. When he got back in the lineup, he got a chance to play on the first line with veterans Rick Bowness -- yes, that Rick Bowness -- and Floyd Thomson. He gave Bowness a target by taping his stick blade with a couple of strips at the toe and a couple at the heel.

“They called me ‘Muggsy’ back then,” Mullen said. “He goes, ‘Muggs, I just love it when you tape your stick like that, because I just look for your stick and I just pass it there.’ It was fun playing with him. Every time somebody wanted to fight me, I’d turn around, and they’d be gone. I’d be going, ‘Where’d they go?’ And either Floyd Thomson or Rick Bowness would have them down already.”

Mullen finished with 72 points (40 goals, 32 assists) in 75 games and was named CHL rookie of the year. The Golden Eagles won the Adams Cup.

“We had a dinner, and the coach said, ‘Yeah, thank goodness that Linda came out,’” Mullen said with a laugh. “He said it kind of woke me up. It was kind of funny, because he kind of a stern-looking guy, and for him to crack a joke was pretty cool.”

Mullen had 117 points (59 goals, 58 assists) in 80 games in 1980-81. He was named CHL most valuable player, and the Golden Eagles won the Adams Cup again. The Salt Palace was rocking.

“Oh, it was a great building,” Mullen said. “I was surprised at the size of it for a Central League team, and the people were great. We were getting, I guess, somewhere around five, six thousand every game, and that was good at that time back then to play in front of a crowd like that. And then when the playoffs came around, I think we were packing the place in.”

In 1981-82, Mullen had 48 points (21 goals, 27 assists) in 27 games for Salt Lake and 59 points (25 goals, 34 assists) in 45 games for St. Louis. He would play 17 seasons in the NHL and win the Stanley Cup three times, with the Calgary Flames in 1989 and the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and 1992. The first American to reach 500 goals and 1,000 points, he made the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000.

Salt Lake was the springboard.

“It was just a tremendous experience for me and got me into the NHL,” Mullen said.

MacLean and Nill were linemates for the Golden Eagles in 1980-81 after a season with Canada’s national team and the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. The Blues had selected the forwards in the 1978 NHL Draft -- Nill in the sixth round (No. 89), MacLean in the seventh (No. 109).

“The city itself was beautiful with the mountains right there,” MacLean said. “You’re like, ‘Wow, is this ever a nice place,’ and the people were just fabulous as far as neighbors and getting to know people. The hockey team was a great group of guys, the veteran guys that had won the championship before. We had some real classy people. It was a great experience and a great way for me to start my professional hockey career.”

MacLean had 78 points (36 goals, 42 assists) in 80 games for Salt Lake before playing the next 10 seasons in the NHL. He would coach the Ottawa Senators from 2011-14, winning the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year in 2013, as part of a long coaching career.

“It was a very big crowd and a loud crowd, and they really appreciated the effort we put in,” MacLean said. “I think the fact that the team won the championship the year before, and we contended and won the championship the year we were there, really helped to draw the fan base in. It was a team that actually won something. The experience of the Salt Palace each and every night was a big thing. You wanted to play well at home.”

Nill had 62 points (28 goals, 34 assists) in 79 games for Salt Lake before spending the most of the next nine seasons in the NHL. He was hired as the Stars GM in 2013 and has been named the NHL GM of the Year the past two seasons.

Salt Lake City was a key part of his career.

“It was probably the most fun I had in pro hockey,” Nill said. “You’re in the minors. Everybody’s in the same position. We’re all a bunch of young guys with some older veterans for guidance. We won the championship, which was exciting, but just turning pro there, great city. I love Salt Lake City. It reminds me of Calgary, with the mountains closer. It’s a great city. I’ve got nothing but great memories from it.”

Many other recognizable names would play for the Golden Eagles. The list included two other eventual Jack Adams winners, Claude Julien (1981-83) and Alain Vigneault (1981-83), plus 1980 U.S. Olympic goalie Jim Craig (1983-84), Selke Trophy winner Dirk Graham (1983-84) and Hall of Fame goalie Mike Vernon (1985-86).

The Salt Lake City market also has had two versions of the Utah Grizzlies, who played at the Delta Center (1995-97) for two seasons before moving to the suburb of West Valley City, Utah. The first version played in the International Hockey League (1995-2001) and the American Hockey League (2001-05). The current one has played in the ECHL since 2005-06.

Much has changed since the early 1980s. Mullen hasn’t been back to Salt Lake City since he left. But he’s hopeful for the Utah Hockey Club.

“I would think it would be good, only because, way back then, it was pretty good,” he said. “To have an NHL team instead of a Central Hockey League team should heighten the interest in the people out there, because they look like they were taking to hockey.”

MacLean points to one thing that hasn’t changed.

“It’s a great place to live no matter where you go, with the scenery of the mountains that are so close,” he said. “It’s really going to be an endearing place, I think, for a lot of people and a lot of NHL players once they go there and visit. As a visitor, they’re going to say, ‘Well, this might not be a bad place to go play, too.’ The lifestyle and the scenery, it’s going to be a destination place for players.”

Nill raves about Utah Hockey Club owners Ryan and Ashley Smith, credits the NHL for coming to Salt Lake City, and envisions a new golden era.

“It’s going to be a great market,” he said. “I think they’ve hit a home run here.”