The Vancouver Canucks surprised everyone by unveiling and wearing their brand new, recently leaked “Flying Skate” retro-inspired third uniform tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Let’s just go ahead and call this step one on the Canucks road back to wearing black, yellow, and red full-time.
The uniform is based heavily on what the Canucks wore for road games from 1989 through 1997. Black base, red and yellow stripes around the waist and sleeves, flying spaghetti skate logo on the chest.
SHOP: Canucks brand new “Flying Skate” alternate jersey available now!
As I got into when this jersey first leaked last week, there are some notable differences between the new 2023 version and what the club wore 30 years ago.
Thicker and separated stripes, there’s now a “V” pattern in the stripes (if you look at the photo from the team earlier in this post, you’ll notice the stripes are also in the red, which we did not see in the leaked photo above). The inside back collar has a new mountain range design, and the outside collar is now just plain black.
The crest has also seen some changes…
The white background behind the team name is now black instead of white, and the colours of the diagonal lines on the circle behind the skate have been recoloured red and yellow from the original white. There’s also one fewer diagonal line; the one at the toe of the skate in the 90s version has been removed for 2023.
As someone who grew up with the Canucks wearing these colours, it’s hard for me not to immediately call this a great look for the club (I’m biased, I suppose), but there is just one thing that really ruins the whole thing…
Except for that ugly green spot… pic.twitter.com/MPkzPpCN5F
— Yours in Sport (@jamesesiddall) January 19, 2023
Blech.
Worth noting, Vancouver also wore warmup jerseys featuring the proper 1990s jersey crest before tonight’s game. However, this was done in tribute to former player Gino Odjick who died earlier this week and wore this logo during the vast majority of his time with the Canucks.
The team insists they always intended to début their new third uniforms tonight; the Odjick tribute was just a very fitting coincidence.
Vancouver’s brand new flying-skate alternate third jerseys are already available for sale. You can purchase from here if you’re in Canada or here from the United States using our affiliate links.
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