Carolina Hurricanes to Celebrate 25 Years in 2022-23 With Commemorative Logo

The Carolina Hurricanes will be celebrating a quarter-century of NHL hockey in North Carolina next season, and they’ll be doing so with a commemorative 25th anniversary logo.

Carolina’s twenty-fifth anniversary logo features the number 25 in the Hurricanes colours of red, white, and black – the divide of the colours within the numbers mimic the shape of the Hurricanes’ primary logo. In between the “2” and the “5” is a cutout in the shape of the state map of North Carolina. A banner including the primary logo is unfurled below this number with “EST. 1997” in white and the team’s “storm flag” design on either end. This entire design is placed on/within a bevelled silver shield outlined in red, black, and grey.

“The 25^th Anniversary primary shield logo released today is meant to drum up excitement about the year to come in conjunction with our 2022-23 season ticket membership on sale that launched today as well,” said Mike Forman, Carolina Hurricanes Chief Marketing Officer, in an email to SportsLogos.Net. “There will be several variations of the logo as well, including a horizontal version that will be used for various applications.”

LINK: Carolina Hurricanes complete logo and uniform history

The National Hockey League came to the Tar Heel State on May 6, 1997 (one month to the day before I started this website, we’re turning 25 together!). On that day, the Hartford Whalers announced they would be relocating to Raleigh, NC (with a brief layover in Greensboro). Owner Peter Karmanos made it clear the team would be known as the Carolina Hurricanes the same day the move was announced, though he would face a brief legal challenge over that name choice.

*Front page of The News & Observer announcing the move of Whalers to Carolina (1997)*

“We’re extremely excited to be celebrating 25 years in North Carolina next season as this region truly has become a hockey market over the course of two and a half decades,” Forman said. “While we are certainly still focused on the current season with a team that resides in first place in the Metropolitan Division and will compete to win the Stanley Cup this year, we’ve been preparing assets and plans for the 2022-23 season for over a year now.”

“We will be unveiling and releasing plans for the 25^th Anniversary over the coming months leading up to the start of next season but plan to celebrate our past through a number of on-ice and off-ice activations while also celebrating our bright present and future.”

There’s no word yet on whether the Hurricanes will wear this logo as a patch on their jersey or not next season, but I’m sure we will see this throwback uniform-loving club turn back the clock at some point in 2022-23 and break out those original first-season Hurricanes uniforms (Was I the only one who loved their original home whites? They never get any love!).

In their twenty-five seasons since moving to the Carolinas, the Hurricanes have won a Stanley Cup, made two appearances in the Stanley Cup Final, and hosted an All-Star Game. Next, season will host and play an outdoor game for the first time when the 2023 Stadium Series comes to NC State in February.