Accidental Reveal... On Purpose?

The NHL never likes giving anything away for free when they can charge an exorbitant amount of money for something. Take, for example, the jersey reveal the Boston Bruins did for this season where they charged season ticket holders an additional $200 for their jersey reveal - there's nothing like squeezing every last cent out of your fanbase. In saying that, keeping the Winter Classic looks for both the Vegas Golden Knights and the Seattle Kraken under wraps would be a great way to maximize profits on anyone who wants to see another jersey reveal, right? Apparently, the NHL is getting no help on that front, though.

I have no idea why the NHL is giving away Winter Classic jerseys to other organizations when it's mid-November, but they can do whatever they want as a billion-dollar company, I suppose. The catch, however, is that there should punitive measures taken if these other organizations don't follow instructions on when and where they can wear these jerseys. I suspect there won't be, but two separate entities revealed the NHL's Winter Classic look on two separate days, so things might get spicy in the future with jersey distributions.

On Friday, photographers caught the NBA's Utah Jazz walking into the Delta Center for their game against the Phoenix Suns while wearing the Seattle Kraken jersey seen to the right. Clearly, that's not a design that Seattle has worn in the past at any time, and it seems to be a spin on the old Seattle Metroplitans jersey worn back in the early 1900s. That's precisely the look that was forecasted for Seattle for the 2024 Winter Classic, so let's credit the Utah Jazz for the early jersey reveal when it comes to the Kraken. As for the look, I'll discuss that after the NHL make it official.

However, on Saturday, AEW Wrestling one-upped the NBA by showing off both the Kraken jersey and the Vegas Golden Knights jersey in a tweet published on their Twitter account! AEW co-host RJ City is wearing the Kraken jersey while co-host Renee Paquette is sporting the Vegas jersey as they hyped the AEW event that happened in Inglewood, California tonight. So that's an NBA team with what appeared to be an unplanned reveal, and now a professional wrestling organization does the same?

Maybe you're thinking the same thing I am: once is a coincidence, twice is a pattern, right? Two organizations wouldn't make the same mistake on back-to-back days without the NHL sending all its partners a very clear, concise notice if the Utah Jazz had mistakenly worn the jerseys on Friday, so this had to have been coordinated in some way. Perhaps the NHL wanted a soft reveal to see what the mood was like for these two looks?

Whatever the case may be, the cat may be out of the bag, so to speak, when it comes to this 2024 Winter Classic matchup. It would be pretty incredible if the NHL simply created these looks out of designs that were rejected by the teams in order to mislead people's beliefs about what the Winter Classic will look like, but I can't see them having that kind of foresight when it comes to having some fun. If these are indeed the jerseys worn for the Winter Classic, I'll give them this: they already look better than what was worn for the Heritage Classic!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!