Trevor Lewis has taken the NHL ice for warmups 1,029 times.
Thursday night at Delta Center, though, was different.
It was the first time Lewis — the only active NHL player born in Utah — would play against his new hometown team in a regular-season game in Salt Lake City.
After 17 years in the league, Lewis finally looked across at his opponent and saw “UTAH” stitched across their jersey.
“It was kind of a shock. I didn’t think it would ever happen — especially while I was playing,” said Lewis of when he learned about the NHL coming to Utah. “It was a little bit of a shock but I knew that the city would be on board right away and obviously the fan support they’re getting has been pretty amazing.”
Lewis was in Los Angeles when the news of Smith Entertainment Group purchasing and relocating the former Arizona Coyotes dropped on April 18, 2024.
“Just kind of reading on Twitter or something and it was kind of official. So I texted some people back here and made sure it was true,” Lewis said. “It was pretty cool.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Los Angeles Kings center Trevor Lewis (61), in Hockey action between the San Jose Sharks and the Los Angeles Kings, at the Delta Center, on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023.
Lewis, who still has a house in Utah and spends the summers here, had family and friends in the crowd Thursday, a 4-2 victory for the Kings.
While Lewis grew up a Detroit Red Wings fan — it was his dad’s favorite team and they went to a game together when he was a kid — his family has shifted its allegiances to the Kings. Plus, they have a local team to root for now too when Los Angeles is not in town.
Randy, Lewis’ father, attended Thursday’s game in a white Kings jersey with the family name on the back. It was a special moment for the man who introduced Trevor to the game.
“This is awesome. He’s been playing for 17 years and every game is just as good as game one,” Randy said. “I really didn’t know if an NHL team would work here. But apparently it has. It has taken off really well. It’s great to see.”
Going through the hockey ranks as a young player pushed Lewis to leave Utah — there simply were not enough rinks or opportunities for him to get to the next level.
“He had to leave early — at like 15 years old — to get scouted,” Randy said. “But now things have changed because there’s going to be a lot of good athletes playing here with good rinks and stuff. It’s just going to be fabulous.”
Lewis played two seasons (2002-04) for the 18U AAA Pikes Peak Miners in Colorado Springs before spending two years in the USHL and one in the OHL leading up to turning pro. Lewis was the 17th overall pick for the Kings in the 2006 NHL Draft.
“Growing up, there wasn’t too much hockey here. My dad is Canadian, so he kind of got me into it when I was young. Growing up, it was kind of hard to find ice time and there weren’t a whole lot of rinks or a whole lot of kids playing,” Lewis said.
“Now when you come back, it’s hard to find ice time here for me [because it is busy]. There’s a lot of kids coming up, getting scholarships, things like that. It’s awesome to see what the team has done for youth hockey here.”
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) SEG owner Ryan Smith speaks during a press conference announcing a new National Hockey League team owned by Smith Entertainment Group at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, April 19, 2024.
It has been an early goal of Smith Entertainment Group to support the hockey initiative beyond the NHL and focus on the grassroots effort. On Monday, Utah Hockey Club owner Ryan Smith tweeted plans to build new rinks throughout the state as the summer approaches.
“SEG will donate up to $500k per rink on up to 20 new rinks. We’ll have out-of-the-box plans for the cities that can partner with entrepreneurs to build,” Smith wrote. “Utah is the land of entrepreneurs and we’ll help line up anything else to make this happen.”
There will be more information on the tangible next steps in the coming weeks, SEG said.
Those kinds of initiatives mean a lot to people like Lewis. While he’s the only active NHL player born in Utah — and one of five ever — the hope is that the state can eventually turn into a breeding ground for the league’s next talent.
Chris Detrick | The Salt Lake Tribune Los Angeles KingsÕ Trevor Lewis poses for a picture with Brockton Bair, 9, of Syracuse, and the Stanley Cup at the Utah State Capitol Wednesday August 27, 2014. Lewis is a Salt Lake City native who played for BrightonÕs club team as a freshman in 2002. Hockey tradition dictates that each member of the winning team gets custody of the Cup for one day.
“I always thought it could be a hockey town but I never thought it would be,” Lewis said.
Utah head coach André Tourigny has seen it all season.
“The growth of the passion, the growth of the knowledge, the growth of the excitement — the people were really happy to have an NHL team when we arrived and that was stunning,” he said. “Having seen them embrace the game and embrace our team and embrace our players, it’s been magical.”
Lewis was an unrestricted free agent last summer and ultimately signed a one-year, $800,000 deal with the Kings instead of hopping over to a new team. Did he ever consider looking for a deal in Utah?
“I kind of grew up in LA and the organization has done so much for me. If they were going to offer me, I was going to go back there first,” Lewis said. “Obviously everyone wants to play in their hometown but I’ve been in LA so long it feels like home to me now.”
The center has come pretty close to playing for his state, though. During the 2012-13 NHL lockout — which resulted in the cancellation of around 60% of regular-season games — Lewis returned home and played six games with the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies. He had nine points (three goals, six assists) in the stretch from Dec. 28, 2012 to Jan. 5, 2013.
Lewis also brought the Stanley Cup back to Utah after winning it with the Kings in 2012 and 2014.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sean Durzi celebrates a goal as Utah Hockey Club hosts the Minnesota Wild, NHL hockey in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025.
Utah defenseman Sean Durzi, who started his career with the Kings from 2021-23 before getting traded to the Arizona Coyotes, did not overlap with Lewis in Los Angeles but said the two had done some training together there. Lewis was one of the people Durzi reached out to when the team got sold.
“I had a few questions for him when we were moving out here. He was pretty clear with me, how much we’re going to love it, and he was right,” Durzi said. “I was maybe going to rent his place while he was gone. It kind of works that way for guys who live in cities. But I ended up buying a home here and he steered me in the right direction.”
Lewis was open to helping in any way he could during the transition.
He, after all, had a unique knowledge of Salt Lake City for an NHL player. And now, he has been able to watch as Durzi and his teammates foster a love for the sport and community that Lewis has been part of all along.
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