Do the Utah Mammoth have a rival yet? There are candidates from Denver to Newark.

As Utah fans trickled in for a Saturday matinee last weekend, a white rally towel was waiting at each seat inside the Delta Center.

For a midseason game against Seattle — a geographic neighbor — the Mammoth wanted this game to feel big. Every opportunity to create a rivalry is important for a new franchise.

“Rivalries are built on the ice and in games. That builds up,” Mammoth head coach André Tourigny said. “But against Seattle it’s been hit and miss. Last year we didn’t really have a good game against them and then we did.”

Utah would eventually take down the Kraken, 6-3.

However, the effort to hype up the Seattle-Utah matchup highlights a key question for the NHL’s youngest fan base: Who are its rivals?

Geographically, the obvious candidates are the Colorado Avalanche, the Las Vegas Knights and the Seattle Kraken. But a map can’t create the vitriol and moments that actually fuel a rivalry — and make fans feel something.

“It has to be the games,” Tourigny said. “We’ve had teams that we compete harder against or they compete harder against us.”

So far, fans said they feel a rivalry against the St. Louis Blues. The backstory there is that Blues forward Alexey Toropchenko injured Utah star Logan Cooley on an illegal hit to the knee. When the teams played again, fights broke out.

“Right now I think it’s the Blues,” Jeff Grace, a fan who lives in Utah, said. “Ever since the Blues played and knocked out Cooley, it’s been a fight. Dropped the puck and there was a fight. … Show up and it’s war.”

But other fans think there might be something brewing with the Knights, mostly because of the environment when they come to town. Vegas is only a six-hour drive from Salt Lake and many fans make the trip.

“The Knights’ games are intense with the spectators. You don’t know if it is our team or their team with the puck because of the loudness the entire time,” said Sarah Hippo, another Mammoth fan.

Seattle can be put in that same category because of a strong visiting contingent. Before the game on Saturday, there were fans three rows deep waiting for autographs from the Kraken.

It helps the two franchises are in similar places in their development. Seattle started their team in 2021 and Utah is two years old.

“The Kraken are a rival only because it is a new team. Those games seem big. You can’t even get tickets because it’s selling so fast,” Hippo added.

But other fans are more skeptical of the Vegas or Seattle rivalries.

“I don’t feel that rivalry with Vegas,” a season ticket holder named Laura said,

It brings it back to Colorado as a natural rival. Salt Lake has often been lumped in with Denver-area teams. When the University of Utah joined the Pac-12, the conference tried to peddle a rivalry between the Utes and Colorado. It never took.

So far, that is how some fans feel about the Avalanche and the Mammoth — an empty rivalry with nothing in common other than proximity.

So in the absence of a true rival, some fans are throwing out wildcards. How about the New Jersey Devils, a team the Mammoth have never beaten?

“That’s a team I don’t like and probably fans don’t like. Teams that kind of have our number,” Utah fan Cam Rodgers said.

During the game against Seattle, some fans tried to drown out the Kraken’s cheers during goals. But that was about as contentious as it got.

As Tourigny said, the Mammoth need moments and time to really get a rival. And that could be any team from Denver to Newark.

“I think we are still learning. The fans, it’s still developing,” Hippo said.