Why the Anaheim Ducks should introduce the orange third jersey as its primary
By Kyle McKenna
It’s time for the Anaheim Ducks to introduce their orange alternate jersey as their primary home sweaters.
While the Anaheim Ducks are one of the NHL’s youngest franchises since first lacing up the skates in 1993-94, the squad is one of the most popular teams amongst the fans.
The iconic Mighty Ducks logo grasped die-hard and non-hockey fans by storm during the early 1990s and is still appreciated by those who can’t even identify who Paul Kariya was.
Why change a good thing, and for some reason, the Ducks rebranded prior to the 2006-07 campaign. It’s never too late to go back now, and it’s time for the Ducks to introduce the current alternate jersey as its primary home sweater.
After abandoning the Ducks’ original logo in favor of the webbed “D” in 2006-07, Anaheim finally reintroduced a modern version of the ducked-masked bill for the 2015-16 campaign. The logo entailed some minor modifications with a gold background for the jersey’s crest and orange incorporated as the sweater’s primary color.
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with the Ducks’ webbed “D” sweaters, it just feels like the Mighty Ducks logo on the orange sweater is a better representation for the team’s overall brand and is more appealing to fans.
When you consider that all three of California’s NHL teams utilize black as a primary color — there’s no diversity or distinction between the Ducks, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks.
Similar to how the Sharks embrace their teal color scheme, orange suits the Ducks best for refreshing its brand.
Anaheim decided on an orange sweater to represent Orange County so why not go all-in with that concept and introduce the alternate as the primary home while unveiling a white version for road games. It’s a decision that would really separate Anaheim from its California-based rivals and other NHL cities.
The overall design of the orange alternate jersey in addition to the primary crest is also commendable. The stripes and piping on the socks and base of the sweater’s sleeve stay consistent with the team’s rebranding from 2006, while also paying homage to the Ducks’ original roots.
It’s not necessary to revert back to the eggplant uniforms designs at the moment, but fans of all sports would gladly welcome back a legendary logo with a unique sweater design in Southern California.
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