RALEIGH — The Carolina Hurricanes and the NHL’s 30 other teams — including the incoming Vegas Golden Knights — revealed their new home uniforms Tuesday night at 10 p.m. as Adidas took the reins from Reebok as the NHL’s official outfitter.
Most notably in the new-look Hurricanes uniforms is the return of the warning flags near the bottom of the jersey, though they are featured on a secondary red “tone-on-tone pattern” that differs from the originals that were removed when the team did their last redesign in the summer of 2013.
The new sweaters — modeled by defenseman Jaccob Slavin on the team’s site — also incorporate black stripes alongside the white stripes that were added four years ago. The gloves also add black, and the socks and jersey sleeves have prominent blocks of black at the bottom of each.
Adidas has redesigned the collars of NHL sweaters, but the Hurricanes’ home sweaters will again feature white laces with a red and black collar. The shoulders of the sweaters are also dimpled.
Adidas and the NHL will reveal what each team’s road white uniforms will look like Friday, and no team will have third uniforms for the 2017-18 season. The Hurricanes’ secondary logo, the tattered storm warning flag attached to a hockey stick on a black triangle background, is again not on the team’s home sweater, and unless it makes a surprise appearance on the home sweaters will not be part of the team’s uniforms next season. It would mark the first time in team history — Carolina is celebrating its 20th season in North Carolina this coming campaign — that the secondary logo was not featured on any of its uniforms. It was featured as the main crest on the team’s black third uniforms since 2008.
Adidas’ ADIZERO uniform claims to redefine “fit, feel and lightweight contruction,” according to information on the Hurricanes’ website. The NHL says the jerseys are 19 percent lighter than last year’s Reebok sweaters, due in part to a 46 percent lighter crest and single-layer numbers that are 60 percent lighter.
Adidas also says the new sweaters are cooler and stronger. Adidas and the NHL announced their new seven-year partnership, to start with the 2017-18 season, in 2015.
The new Hurricanes jerseys will go on sale in September, costing $185 and $265 with a nameplate. The sweaters can be preordered, and season ticket holders can apply their discount. Throughout the league there were not many significant changes, but tweaks throughout. The biggest reveal was the uniforms of the incoming Vegas Golden Knights. The team’s uniform features steel gray, black, gold and red with the knight’s helmet logo — with clever negative space V — as the crest and the star and crossed swords secondary logo on the shoulders. Other sweaters that offer a noticeably different look include the Minnesota Wild (cream stripe behind the crest) and Edmonton Oilers (switching to orange home sweaters).
Vegas will make their expansion draft selections Wednesday, claiming one player from each team. The team has reportedly negotiated several deals to acquire assets — likely high draft picks or prospects — to select or bypass certain players exposed by the 30 other NHL teams.
The NHL draft will be held Friday and Saturday in Chicago, and free agency begins July 1.
