NHL team unveiling special jersey (UPD: Canes to Wear Whalers Throwbacks on 12/23/18)

[Nordiques1979]

That the Canes and Whalers are the same franchise, and that the Nordiques left Quebec due to financial troubles.

It was the same for Winnipeg, and now... dont think Winnipeg will pay tribute to Atlanta...

 

[tarheelhockey]

The Whalers are not your history. The Coyotes understood it, same for the Avs, for the Jets...

The last people who need a lecture about this are fans from North Carolina.

We lost our NBA team and got to watch them play in a different city with the same name, same colors, statistical history, everything. Even after we got an expansion team, we got to watch that same out-of-town team continue to use our identity while we slogged through a decade of Bobcats garbage. Finally the league did the right thing and sorted out the brand identities and histories, but not after a lot of damage to the local fanbase. Meanwhile our hockey team is chirped constantly about being the Whalers, until we actually have a Whalers tribute, now we're being chirped for not being the Whalers.

Believe me, we've dealt with this issue even more intensely than Hartford or QC. It's an every day conversation for us.

The moment Hartford gets an NHL franchise again, I'll be first in line to say they should have sole rights to the name, logo, record book, all of it. That would have been the right thing to do with the Hornets, and it would be the right thing to do with the Whalers.

But until that happens, if the Hurricanes don't keep that stuff alive, nobody else will. The NHL owns the name and logo rights, and you can be damned sure they won't let a minor league franchise profit from it. If the Hurricanes cut off their record book at 1997, then the Whalers statistically become a team like the Brooklyn Americans or Montreal Maroons, which are in the dustbin of history because there's no organization to carry their legacy forward. We keep Gordie Howe's #9 out of circulation out of respect, but we don't presume to retire Whaler numbers and their banners still hang in the Civic Center where they belong. We still blow the Whalers' goal horn, which will surely be returned if Hartford ever gets a new team, we kept Chuck Kaiton on the payroll past the point where it made any financial sense, and we've kept John Forslund on TV past the point where he should have been scooped up by NBC. Until this past year, the most powerful man in the organization was Ron ****ing Francis.

I don't really know what else you're expecting from an organization that has a responsibility to maintain the franchise's legacy but also to respect the boundaries that go along with a relocation. Nobody is ****ing on the Whalers here. They're going to wear the jersey for a game against Boston because 99% of hockey fans think that's a fun idea and can relive their childhood for a couple of hours. After that they'll probably auction off the jerseys for charity and go right back to being the same team they've been for the past 20 years.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Ignoring the hate that this is generating from fans legitimately and reasonably upset that their market no longer has a team, this is just such a no-brainer from the Canes' perspective that I'm honestly shocked that they didn't do it years ago. Heck, they should've been selling Whaler gear in arena all along. They had the rights to one of the most popular logos in the sport and weren't even selling Whaler t-shirts at PNC Arena (at least in any of the three games I attended from 2013-2016ish)? That's just leaving money on the table.

 

[Wayland]

When the Canes won the Cup in 2006, the Capitals routinely had home games that looked like maybe 8k people where there, tops. I know this because I was living in Virginia at the time, and that was the only team I could watch. As you said, winning changes everything.

I don't blame the fans for the current attendance woes and I hope the change in ownership breathes life into the franchise. I hope that Svechnikov is more than advertised and that the Hurricanes scouting department figures out how to scout and actually develop prospect goalies!

 

[BruinsFan37]

It's dumb. If the Avs brought back the Nords jersey, or the Yotes brought back the old Jets jersey you'd get a much different reaction here. Hell they outta do that, and play in the "winter classic" with those jerseys -- would be worth it to see the reaction here to a "Nords" vs "Jets" Winter Classic.

Also the numbers retired by the Whalers were not honored by the Canes when they relocated -- they divorced themselves from the "history" -- as evident in the name change. The franchise had no intent of "honoring" or "carrying on" the legacy of the Whalers -- they were looking to turn the page -- Damnatio Memoriae.

So to come back now, with a Whalers jersey comes across as more than a little crass. But it was/is one one of the most popular jerseys in the recent jersey poll on NHL.com and one of the better selling jerseys in the NHL shop (Though how many of the people who've bought/voted for that jersey were actual Whalers fans when they were around? Not many I'd guess).

It's marketing, and it will sell jerseys -- so whatever I guess...

Still dumb though.

 

[Svechhammer]

It was the same for Winnipeg, and now... dont think Winnipeg will pay tribute to Atlanta...

If, 20 years down the line there becomes a huge retro movement that finds the styles of the old Atlanta Thrashers 'cool', they'll totally not take advantage of it. As we all know, successful billionaires go out of their way to not financially capitalize on national and international trends.

 

[93LEAFS]

The only positive to this is that people can buy retro Whalers jerseys outside of from Fanatics, now that CCM doesn't have the license to make them. I personally think this is in bad taste, unless they plan on actually playing a game in Hartford. This isn't their history.

 

[Svechhammer]

Ignoring the hate that this is generating from fans legitimately and reasonably upset that their market no longer has a team, this is just such a no-brainer from the Canes' perspective that I'm honestly shocked that they didn't do it years ago. Heck, they should've been selling Whaler gear in arena all along. They had the rights to one of the most popular logos in the sport and weren't even selling Whaler t-shirts at PNC Arena (at least in any of the three games I attended from 2013-2016ish)? That's just leaving money on the table.

The Canes actually didn't hold the rights when the franchise moved, it stayed with the city of Hartford until the early to mid-2000s, when the Trademark came back up for sale (because the City did absolutely nothing with it and allowed it to go into disuse) at which point the NHL bought it back, and gave it back to the Canes. At least that's how I understand it.

 

[Nordiques1979]

You put a bad product on the ice for a decade and not make the playoffs and attendance will suffer. Pittsburgh in 2003-2004 had a lower attendance then Carolina did last year. Amazing how a winning team changes things.

you are very right, only time will tell, actually the Canes look very solid this year.

 

[DowntownBooster]

they can do this but the Jets can't bring back their originals and instead have that garbage 3rd

The Jets did bring back their originals for the Heritage Classic in 2016. They also wore them 3 other times during the 2016-17 season. Mark Chipman has stated the Jets will wear them once every season going forward.

 

[WhiteTrashAmerican]

Dope, and I will buy one

lmao at some of the people in here trying to make some kind of big deal about this. #notyourhistory

Smart financial move for the new owner as well

 

[Nordiques1979]

It's dumb. If the Avs brought back the Nords jersey, or the Yotes brought back the old Jets jersey you'd get a much different reaction here. Hell they outta do that, and play in the "winter classic" with those jerseys -- would be worth it to see the reaction here to a "Nords" vs "Jets" Winter Classic.

Also the numbers retired by the Whalers were not honored by the Canes when they relocated -- they divorced themselves from the "history" -- as evident in the name change. The franchise had no intent of "honoring" or "carrying on" the legacy of the Whalers -- they were looking to turn the page -- Damnatio Memoriae.

So to come back now, with a Whalers jersey comes across as more than a little crass. But it was/is one one of the most popular jerseys in the recent jersey poll on NHL.com and one of the better selling jerseys in the NHL shop (Though how many of the people who've bought/voted for that jersey were actual Whalers fans when they were around? Not many I'd guess).

It's marketing, and it will sell jerseys -- so whatever I guess...

Still dumb though.

nailed it. Thank you.

 

[Butch 19]

that is ugly as sin, just because it's old does not make it great

this one is much better

the blue is good, but the green is that much better.

BOTH are awesome, however...

 

[No Fun Shogun]

The Canes actually didn't hold the rights when the franchise moved, it stayed with the city of Hartford until the early to mid-2000s, when the Trademark came back up for sale (because the City did absolutely nothing with it and allowed it to go into disuse) at which point the NHL bought it back, and gave it back to the Canes. At least that's how I understand it.

Good to know, still means a move they should've made about a decade ago then.

The way I see it is this, there are probably two types of people that would hate or at least dislike the Canes selling Whaler gear:

1) Whaler fans
2) Canes fans that don't want to associate with their pre-NC years for whatever reason.

For group #1, they weren't buying their merchandise or attending their games, so nothing lost angering them from the Canes' perspective.

For group #2, if they exist, it'd at most be a mild annoyance and just not be something they'd buy.

So, you're effectively losing nothing and then getting money from your fans that would like to buy Whaler stuff and from visiting fans that'd be infinitely more interested in buying Whaler stuff compared to Hurricane stuff.

This is really a no risk/high reward move. The worst thing that could happen is that they wouldn't make as much money selling jerseys and hats and shirts as they would've wanted.

 

[Svechhammer]

The only positive to this is that people can buy retro Whalers jerseys outside of from Fanatics, now that CCM doesn't have the license to make them. I personally think this is in bad taste, unless they plan on actually playing a game in Hartford. This isn't their history.

As tarheel said above... Its amazing how for the first 20 years of the franchise being in NC, we've been degraded because "you're really the Whalers, and the Canes are an aberration to the sport". Now that the Canes actually make good on all that talking down upon from the hockey community, now its "you shouldn't do that, you're not the Whalers".

Nah, sorry. I love this. I love this even more that it makes people upset. Even if not intentional, I love the fact this franchise is trolling that same hockey fan who has spent 20 years talking down to us by appropriating and using the one thing you thought would insult us most.

 

[Svechhammer]

Good to know, still means a move they should've made about a decade ago then.

The way I see it is this, there are probably two types of people that would hate or at least dislike the Canes selling Whaler gear:

1) Whaler fans
2) Canes fans that don't want to associate with their pre-NC years for whatever reason.

For group #1, they weren't buying their merchandise or attending their games, so nothing lost angering them from the Canes' perspective.

For group #2, if they exist, it'd at most be a mild annoyance and just not be something they'd buy.

So, you're effectively losing nothing and then getting money from your fans that would like to buy Whaler stuff and from visiting fans that'd be infinitely more interested in buying Whaler stuff compared to Hurricane stuff.

This is really a no risk/high reward move. The worst thing that could happen is that they wouldn't make as much money selling jerseys and hats and shirts as they would've wanted.

And this is where we remind you that we were owned by Peter Karmanos, one of the worst owners in sports who couldn't give a damn about this franchise more than how much he could use it to leverage his personal life in terms of covering his many lawsuits against. He won the Cup 12 years ago and packed it in thinking his job was complete.

Dundon comes in, and he's trying everything he can to make money and make the team relevant not just locally, but nationally. And hey, this is getting people to talk more about this team than anyone has since.... ummm.... 2006?

 

[Nordiques1979]

Honestly didn't see this backlash coming.

How much does it bother some of you that the franchise has now officially been in Raleigh longer than in Hartford?

no problem with the existence of the Canes, just see it as a lack of respect, and just a way to make money on one of the best selling brand in merchandising.

 

[COHawk]

It was the same for Winnipeg, and now... dont think Winnipeg will pay tribute to Atlanta...

Atlanta and Hartford's jerseys are not even close to being comparable.

 

[Giuseppe Franco]

Gorgeous jerseys, but I can't imagine too may ex-Whaler fans would be happy with this. I know I wouldn't be.

 

[Nordiques1979]

Atlanta and Hartford's jerseys are not even close to being comparable.

So you're saying its just a matter of $

 

[MAHJ71]

Love it... and even as a non-Canes fan I feel obligated to get this jersey - its that damn good.

Or, and stay with me here, the new owner recognized the fact that the Whalers are part of the organization's history, and after putting out some feelers to the fanbase, realized it's not as taboo a subject as it's generally made out to be.

Canes fans realize we got a team as a result of Hartford losing theirs. That sucks, it really does. And we're right there with those fans in cursing Karmanos' name (though for different reasons).

But the team has been in Carolina for over 20 years now. It's long overdue to recognize and honor the history of the team, rather than treat it as something to avoid discussing.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Are they also bringing back the Brass Bonanza for that game!!!!

They played it a number of times last year. Not every game, but sporadically.

 

[COHawk]

So you're saying its just a matter of $

Most definitely. Sarcastic or not, it is true. The Canes are bringing back jerseys people loved and will definitely want to buy. Hell I have a Whalers hat just cause I really love the logo. How many people would buy a Trashers throwback in Winnipeg? Probably not many...

 

[tarheelhockey]

just a way to make money on one of the best selling brand in merchandising.

youdontsay.gif

 

[Nordiques1979]

Most definitely. Sarcastic or not, it is true. The Canes are bringing back jerseys people loved and will definitely want to buy. Hell I have a Whalers hat just cause I really love the logo. How many people would buy a Trashers throwback in Winnipeg? Probably not many...

you're right, that's why I don't buy the whole "pay tribute blablabla", they just found a way to make money, and that's why I have a problem with this jersey brought back to live.