Report: Canucks ditching vertical stripes on blue pants with 2022–23 season

The Vancouver Canucks may not be returning to the “flying skate” uniforms on a full-time basis — yet — but it appears they’ll be making a small aesthetic change for the 2022–23 season.

Ever since the Canucks entered the National Hockey League back in 1970, they’ve typically paired their blue, green, and white uniforms with blue pants featuring vertical stripes running up the outward-facing sides.

The ‘Nucks originally wore those three colours from 1970 to 1978 before reviving them with an alternate uniform in 2006. Those pant stripes have been featured on almost all of the Canucks’ blue and green uniforms … until now.

Daily Hive writer Rob Williams reported Thursday the Canucks have elected to remove the stripes from their blue pants this season. Take a look at the pants in these two photos and see if you can spot the difference:

The Canucks appear to be using the pants typically associated with their most recent blue alternate uniform, featuring the primarily white “stick-in-rink” logo as the crest on the jersey. Prior to this subtle change, that uniform was the only instance of the Canucks wearing blue and green without any stripes on the pants.

It’s possible we could see the Canucks use as many as five different jerseys during games next season. It’s unclear at this point whether one, both, or neither of the stick-in-rink and flying skate uniforms will return, but the Canucks’ “Reverse Retro 2022” jersey has already been leaked — and it’ll feature the iconic “Johnny Canuck” logo as a crest.