Cern

Apparently they're a safety hazard so even as a one-off the insurance logistics would likely make it all but impossible. Which is a shame since they'd really help retrofy an otherwise static jersey history to draw upon.

He's essentially on a training camp invite. At worst nothing comes of it, at best he demonstrates a retention of ability and plays some token games for Calgary's 30th season. I don't see the big deal, nor do I see the logic in ragging on him for his off-ice problems, especially what with the Wings having picked up McCarty.

Tatar seems to be having a good string of games.

That's more or less what we had the last two seasons (barring an aged Dallas Drake and a woefully ineffective Darren McCarty) and we were one goal away from getting back to back cups. Sorry, there's historical evidence proving you wrong here - whine about it all you want, we don't need tough guys (not that Bertuzzi's poor defensive play or vulnerability to taking stupid penalties should be interpreted as toughness anyway) to be a successful team. Perhaps you're best off supporting the Ducks - I'm sure their fighting majors more than makes up for that stellar postseason play the franchise is famed for

Until fights won count as goals, I'll take class any day. Unless you WANT Lidstrom and Datsyuk gone...

I agree that an effective design dosen't have to be complicated, but the stick-rink logo's simplicity dosen't automatically make it good. There's a difference between 'simple' and 'no substance'. The logo dosen't say anything about Vancouver. It dosen't say anything about the team. f***, it barely says anything about hockey beyond equipment that happens to be used to play it. There's zero identity expressed in it; it could fit a bantam team up in Iqaluit just as well as it could fit a professional team in GM Place. When you compare that to the better team logos in the league, that counts a lot against it. To me it's just soulless and cheap-looking - in spite of its simplicity, not because of it.

BOY I'M SURE GLAD WE LET TY CONKLIN GO.

Are those the Victoria sweaters? Doubtful they'd ever see the light of day since the league dosen't recognize them as part of the Wings' franchise but who knows.

ewwwwwwww

They do still own the team.

I know that for whatever reason I'm in the minority, but I really like the Canucks current logos and hate the stick-rink. Finally Vancouver has a logo that actually represents some kind of local identity and having it married with the old-school colours provides a good reference back to the team's early years (although that VANCOUVER wordmark needs to go). The rink logo looks like it should be worn by the Ft. Anywhere Peewee Generics in some bad Mighty Ducks ripoff, it's barely representative of hockey let alone the team or where they play. Gotta agree that the Whalers jerseys were freaking awesome though (cooperalls nowithstanding). You can't even get them from the ex-team vintage jersey collection though, apparently the city of Hartford still owns the logo so the league can't make merchandise of it.

Thing is, people were saying Anaheim and Calgary were going to be his 'big comeback' seasons as well, neither of those particularly panned out for him. IF IF IF he stays healthy he could make a decent impact, but I'm not sure why this would be a comeback year for him when the previous three weren't. Also, I do in fact believe that preseason games are screened, at least on team PPV channels. Whatever the case I was able to find video streams for preseason games last season.

But even that's questionable, he looked terrible against the Hawks last playoffs. Don't get me wrong, he's definately a good goalie overall, but I just don't see anything about his play that justifies the size of his contract - particularly when he claims he wants his team to remain competitive.

Where does he get that reputation, though? His stats aren't exactly jaw-dropping and he has no silverware. I seriously don't understand why there's such a circlejerk for him in Vancouver, there isn't anything about Luongo that strikes fear in my heart whenever the Wings play the Canucks, he just seems like an incredebly overrated goalie.

Why else would they do it? It's all about money regardless of whether you want to accept that or not.

I've been hearing words floating around that the league may in time require all teams to have 3rd jerseys. Personally I don't see it being much of a stretch, all teams have dabbled in extra jerseys in one form or another already anyway and it would be a fairly easy way to squeeze out a little extra revenue from merchandise. I've heard nothing concrete on the matter though, so don't take me as gospel. If it did happen I'd be more than happy if they went with their WC jerseys as a proper third. Ultimately I don't see the big deal about not having one anyway, they pretty much only exist for merchandise sales but just because you have the option of buying a third dosen't mean you have to fall for the league's trick. Plus it's not like the on-ice product is going to be irreparably because of an extra jersey being thrown into circulation.

If they were invited that implies they could refuse, which would suggest that they did indeed recognize the purely financial benefits a one-off jersey could provide. Face it, the one and only reason any kind of additional jersey exists is because they're an easy source of extra revenue - it's completely irrelevant whether a jersey has been worn X number of times, all of them fall into the exact same purpose - to get you to buy three jerseys instead of two (and with everyone sporting a huge hard-on for everything retro or vintage nowadays, it's a strategy that's worked brilliantly). To exclude Detroit's one-offs through some arbitrary means of separation is to plug your ears and sing la-la-la about the reality of why third jerseys are used. Nobody in the league's head office genuinely gives a s*** about heritage or team identity beyond what it generates in the paybooks - the NHL is not a museum, it's first and foremost a buisness. If anything, restricting the jerseys to limited runs the way Detroits' have is exploiting their potential even further than a regular third would by creating an additional sense of rarity and collectability in the product. This high-and-mighty attitude people take about the Wings being some kind of immovable rock of enlightenment because they've 'rejected' third jerseys and this argument that the heritage/WC jerseys 'don't count' because they happen to be based on old designs and the team has intentionally limited their exposure is deeply misguided, they're just as guilty of taking advantage of an easy means of further selling of their brand as every other team in the league. That's not berating the franchise, it's just simple economic truth.

http://www.hockeylegend.com/_borders/1926cougarsguide5.JPG except the Cougars didn't either. Whatever the case I doubt the Cougars had the Red Wings logo on them. Practice jerseys aren't worn during games, throwbacks are. Wearing them for limited periods is irrelevant - that's why they're third jerseys and not the standard home jerseys.

Third jerseys are all about merchandising. If the team has worn them and you can buy them, it's a third. Besides, the Wings have never worn a jersey with the WC's gothic-D, so it's not even really a throwback.

derp

That's what I've been saying for a while now, though considerable numbers of people seem intent on sticking to the story of Hudler having literally overnight turned into a finance-leeching ogre hellbent on nothing more than raping the Wings. Whatever the case, the fact that the Wings now have a bunch of one-year deals and Hudler has an out clause after this season with first dibs on a contract with the Wings should (I hope) prove beneficial for everyone involved. Hudler, Bertuzzi, Williams, and Eaves (if he's not put in the AHL) are all going to HAVE to play their asses off this season if they want to stick with the team and keep a decent player value.

Sorry to burst your bubble but the heritage/WC uniforms were for all intents and purposes 3rd jerseys - and the heritage one was even a wordmark jersey! (Shock! Horror! Fainting ladies!). Even NJ is bringing back their red and green uniforms out for a game this season, meaning every team in the league has now adopted a 3rd jersey.

Personally I think they look great. Yeah it's a wordmark jersey but you seriously can't put it in the same league as Dallas' no-effort uniforms. If you're going to go with a wordmark the classic varsity-styled approach is definately the way to go, it looks to me like they actually put some thought into how it would look before slapping it onto the final product. Plus they don't appear to follow that retarded numbers-on-the-front-of-the-jersey trend that's been creeping in, and that can only be a good thing.

Knocking on death's door after a car crash? Yeah, I hope not either :X

It's the league's fault for choosing Vs. in the first place :X