Not Seattle, But Close

As we approach the end of February, we are nearing the reveal date that the Seattle NHL group had set for the reveal of the name, logo, and colours of the new NHL team that will play in the Emerald City. The jersey to the left? It has nothing to do with the Seattle NHL franchise. In fact, it has nothing to do with an NHL franchise at all, but the team who will wear this new jersey is only 175 miles away from the 32nd NHL city. What we have here is the newest jersey added to the wardrobe of the WHL's Portland Winterhawks as the CHL franchise will wear these jerseys as their alternate jerseys moving forward!

According to the release last Wednesday, "[t]he Portland Winterhawks announced a partnership with Adidas in the creation of a new alternate crest and third jersey" with the "alternate crest designed by the Adidas National Hockey League (NHL) Design group". Also stated in the release was the fact that "Portland is the only Western Hockey League (WHL) and Canadian Hockey League (CHL) team with jerseys and logos designed by the NHL group."

Please excuse my sarcasm when I say whoop-tee-doo.

The above jersey features the design that the Winterhawks and Adidas settled on as the new alternate uniform. Honestly, the colours are pretty obvious when you consider that Portland wears the same colours as the Chicago Blackhawks, so a black alternate jersey seems elementary in its ingenuity. While they already wear white home jerseys and red road jerseys, could we not get a little more creative on the alternate jersey colour?

The Winterhawks' alternate logo is rather cool, albeit a bit of the EA Sports' NHL "Create Your Own Franchise" options on their video games. It breaks away from Indigenous imagery used by the team on their regular uniforms and gives the "Winterhawk" a unique look that hasn't been seen in hockey. Personally, I like the alternate Winterhawk logo more than the Indigenous logo, and would implore the team to figure out a way to transition to the Winterhawk logo permanently. That's just my two cents on the matter, though.

These new jerseys will be first worn on March 7th and 8th against the Victoria Royals. We'll see how they look on the ice, but they seem to look pretty good on the table in the lede photo. What do you think of the new threads unveiled by Portland - yay or nay? Sound off in the comments below!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!