Well, today’s the big day. Before I give my opinion, here’s a summary (from Canucks.com):
Vancouver, BC – Today the Vancouver Canucks unveiled their new home and away sweaters for the 2007-08 season in front of thousands of fans at General Motors Place. At a mid-day media conference Canucks fans saw five of their favourite players, Markus Naslund, Trevor Linden, Mattias Ohlund, Willie Mitchell and Kevin Bieksa skate onto the General Motors Place ice in their full home blue and road white uniforms for the first time. The combination of the original blue, green and white colouring, along with the Orca Whale celebrates the past and present in Canucks history.
As I watched Markus skate onto the ice at GM Place (It was PVRed.. I wasn’t actually watching it live or in person), my gut reaction was how “busy” the new jersey looks. The “Vancouver” mark is clearly a distraction, in my opinion, and completely unnecessary. And what really surprised me were the horizontal stripes on the arms and body of the jersey. I was fully expecting vertical stripes/lines to create a more modern look, instead I find the new sweater is a hybrid of the Vintage sweater and the Whale.
Enough “constructive” feedback.. there are things I like about the new look. The revisions to the logo make the ice shards look more realistic, particularly on the home jersey, like they’ve actually been fractured. And of course the color scheme cannot be beat, in my opinion, I’m really happy about that. And the Stick/Rink Logo on the shoulders is fantastic, probably the highlight for me.
On an interesting note, Dave Nonis said today that league-wide, there will be no third jerseys this year, but teams will have an option for a third jersey for the 2008-2009 season. Which leaves me wondering — will there be another jersey unveiling at this time next year? 
(Photo credits: Canucks.com)
With all of the craziness surrounding tomorrow’s launch of the new Canucks jersey and logo, it’s easy to forget that the other 29 teams in the league are also updating their look as part of the NHL’s uniform makeover this offseason.
The NHL Tournament of Logos is a great blog that tracks the status of all teams’ uni/logo launch dates, and provides a voting system to allow fans to specify their faves.
Be sure to check the Concept Gallery (@Picasa) for a comprehensive collection of rumors and concepts submitted by Fans. My personal favorite Canucks example is this hybrid of Johnny Canuck, The Stick and Rink, The Skate and the infamous Whale. Well done.
(site found via John Bolwitt).
The Canucks officially announced the “unveling” of the new Canucks jerseys (via Canucks.com):
CANUCKS TO UNVEIL NEW HOME AND AWAY SWEATERS AT GENERAL MOTORS PLACE
The Vancouver Canucks announced today that they will unveil their new home and away sweaters to their fans and media on Wednesday, August 29th at General Motors Place.
Canucks fans are encouraged to join their favourite team for a tailgate party prior to the sweater launch at 12:30 pm. The tailgate party which begins at 11:30 am on the South Plaza will include free hot dogs provided by Grimm’s and Save-On-Foods, Coca-Cola beverages and Canucks prizing courtesy of McDonald’s and The Beat 94.5 FM Street Squad.
Canucks mascot FIN will be taking part in all of the activities and will be available for photos following the Sweater Launch on the South Plaza.
Read more on Canucks.com.
As I am seeing a large number of visits from visitors looking for info regarding the forthcoming new Canucks jerseys, I am posting info I found on the Canucks’ discussion forum regarding the status:
- TEAM1040 reports that the new jerseys are IN TOWN
- The Canucks have allready had a closed door photoshoot with the new jerseys/player(s)
- Full Press Conference in “Late August” before training camp
- TEAM 1040 reports that the jerseys are expected to be “vintage colours”
- The Canucks spent over $1,000,000 on the design
- The jersey may or may not incorporate a new logo
- Canucks executives have said that the Orca logo will remain
- The new jerseys will have a tighter fit than previous versions
Update: Taking a closer look at the Orca logo on the alleged leaked version reveals some interesting changes that make it more believable.
- The Orca’s mouth/teeth are now outlined with an additional line not present in the old logo
- The orca’s nose now extends further to accomodate the extra line
- The Orca’s fin has become slightly large/changed shape
- The ice shards (especially the top one) appear to slightly different aswell
Here is an ultra-high res version of the leaked logo.
And here is an image of the jersey which has been edited so it looks complete, and the new standard NHL neckline has been added:
Leaked Jersey cellphone pic (unconfirmed):
Archive of Rumours:
- The jerseys will be blue/green/white vintage colours
- The jerseys will drop the burgundy/red colour and remain Blue, White, and Silver
- The orca logo will be slightly modified
- The orca logo will be re-coloured to fit the new colour scheme [Alleged leaked logo]
- The jerseys will have an entirely new logo
- The vintage “stick in rink” logo will be used
- The “Johnny Canuck” logo will be used
- The jerseys will say “CANUCKS” across the chest
- The jerseys will say “VANCOUVER” across the chest
- The jerseys will no longer have horizontal stripes, and instead will have vertical lines
Concept Art:
As I watched Markus skate onto the ice at GM Place (It was PVRed.. I wasn’t actually watching it live or in person), my gut reaction was how “busy” the new jersey looks. The “Vancouver” mark is clearly a distraction, in my opinion, and completely unnecessary. And what really surprised me were the horizontal stripes on the arms and body of the jersey. I was fully expecting vertical stripes/lines to create a more modern look, instead I find the new sweater is a hybrid of the Vintage sweater and the Whale.
Enough “constructive” feedback.. there are things I like about the new look. The revisions to the logo make the ice shards look more realistic, particularly on the home jersey, like they’ve actually been fractured. And of course the color scheme cannot be beat, in my opinion, I’m really happy about that. And the Stick/Rink Logo on the shoulders is fantastic, probably the highlight for me.
