Canucks to bring back old-school Flying Skate jersey in 2019-20

In honor of their 50th season in 2019-20, the Vancouver Canucks have already announced the return of an old jersey as an alternate.

NHL fans of a certain age remember something about the 1994 Stanley Cup Final, and it’s probably that the New York Rangers ended a lengthy championship drought with Mark Messier leading the way.

But the Western Conference champion Vancouver Canucks took the Rangers all the way to seven games in that series, led by Pavel “The Russian Rocket” Bure, Trevor Linden and Kirk McLean.

The Canucks once had a distinctive and memorable black-and-gold color scheme (for worse, then better) including during that run to the Stanley Cup Final. The “Flying Skate” logo they eventually had was awesome, behind the Canucks in the center of the sweater. They wore those sweaters from 1985-1997, but the franchise then moved back toward their earlier blue coloring before eventually landing on their original blue and green look in 2007-08.

Wisely, the Canucks took up a fan vote for what their retro jersey should be for their 50th NHL season in 2019-20. The “Flying Skate” won in a landslide, garnering 70 percent of the vote, and it was officially announced it as their third jersey for that season on Monday.

The Canucks should really just start moving back toward the Flying Skate jersey as their primary sweater and color scheme. The Hartford Whalers-esque blue and green as the primary look is not distinctive (or especially memorable), and the “C” logo with the orca whale at the top looks lame more than cool.

The Canucks will have a different third jersey in 2018-19, which will apparently be unveiled sometime soon. Unique alternate jerseys are a nice marketing scheme for the NHL, often as glimpses of nostalgia, but seeing the Flying Skate jersey again stands to inspire plenty of sales in and outside of Vancouver.