The Seattle Kraken sweater for the 2024 Discover Winter Classic *apparently* got revealed Friday, in very confusing fashion. Players from the Utah Jazz walked into their game against the Phoenix Suns wearing what appeared to be Seattle’s jerseys for the NHL’s annual tentpole event, coming to T-Mobile Park on New Year’s Day.
Of course, having a completely unaffiliated basketball team unveil a hockey team’s sweaters for a major event is confusing for everyone involved, but the point of this story is to talk about the jerseys themselves, which—for the record—we absolutely love.
What the Kraken, the NHL, and Adidas came up with is an obvious ode to the Seattle Metropolitans, a team that played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association from 1915 to 1924 and won the Stanley Cup in 1917. But they managed to make it uniquely “Kraken,” with different colors and even a crest that says, This is a Metropolitans-esque jersey, but it’s not a Metropolitans jersey.
The original Metropolitans uniforms were Christmas colored, with red, white, and green horizontal stripes running through the bodies of the shirts. These special Winter Classic sweaters are deep sea blue, ice blue, and a new cream color we don’t believe the franchise has officially used before. The crest is Seattle’s “red alert” color, which has been used in the trim of the team’s regular home and road uniforms for the past three seasons and also makes up the eye of the usual Kraken crest.
The word “Kraken” meandering through the middle of the logo is, in our opinion, what makes this look so special. The offset letters, the big block font, and again, the nod to the Metropolitans without just pasting a Metropolitans logo on there is so, so cool.
Now, why did the jerseys get revealed by the Utah Jazz? Our short answer is that we don’t know. Our longer answer is that we asked around, and we believe this rollout was led by the NHL and Adidas, because they have led past rollouts of Winter Classic and Heritage Classic uniforms.
Why they chose to roll the jerseys out that way remains a mystery, for now.
Love the logo and colors. Was hoping it would have the laces on it, but overall I really like it.
The owner of the Utah Jazz has been doing everything but standing on his head trying to get Gary to give him a franchise. If I were the Coyotes, I would be VERY nervous about this reveal…
@anjelabug… exactly what I was wondering.
Any idea on what the lettering or numbers will look like for the back of the jersey? Red to make the logo?
Looks like my Rugby Jersey from back in the day without the S and no collar unless that is a hoodie type jersey then it is cool in an odd sort of way
Is there any way to find the uniform numbers of the 1916-17 Metropolitans? I’ve done a bunch of web searches but come up empty.
This is the best I have found:
https://www.nhl.com/player
They have number for most the roster, but it is not clear if it was the number worn while in Seattle.
Frank Foyson – 10
Hap Holmes – 1
Bernie Morris – 5