June 27, 2011 :: 12:22am ET Worth the wait?
Jets fans will have to wait until late-summer to see what their logo
and jerseys will look like
TORONTO, ON -- The Winnipeg Jets didn't
officially re-become the "Jets" until True North chairman Mark Chipman
made the announcement so casually during this weekend's NHL Entry
Draft.
Sly, Mr. Chipman. Well played, sir.
As fans across Winnipeg, Canada and parts
of the U.S. roared and cheered at the news, the Jets selected Mark
Scheifele seventh-overall.
The mood was electric. Everyone was jacked that the Jets were back
(yes, diehards, the original Jets are still in Phoenix, let it go).
But after everyone's heartbeats stopped thumping out of their chests,
many wondered when Scheifele would get the opportunity to swap his
NHL-crested jersey for the Jets' newest sweater.
With a logo still to be finalized, True North wasn't able to unveil
its new colors on Friday.
"We've begun to do that work, it will be a very different look than
what we had when the team left back in 1996," Chipman told reporters
on Friday. "It won't be (ready) for some time here. We would have
loved to have a prototype out there (Friday) but there's some concern
it would be knocked off quickly and sold in an inappropriate way."
Reports immediately crept up that an announcement would be made this
coming week, or on Canada Day, and the introduction of Winnipeg's logo
and jerseys would be released.
Unfortunately, as much as fans are itching to see what the new Jets
will look like now, you're going to have to wait even longer.
"There will be no announcement on the logo or jersey for quite some
time," Scott Brown, True North's Director of Corporate Communications
& Hockey Operation, told me via email.
"I would anticipate (waiting) most of the summer."
There are several fan interpretations of what the club's new logo
should look like, but a source close to the situation informed
me that the Jets are working with the NHL to create its own brand.
Reebok, the marketing and branding partner for the NHL, is also
involved and will be designing Winnipeg's jerseys.
It took the fans of Winnipeg 15-years of waiting, so what's a few more
weeks?
And as the corporate heads work on that
element of the business, GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and the Jets' hockey
operations' staff will work towards reshaping the club's roster.
Captain Andrew Ladd is in line for a big contract, which the Jets are
prepared to give, while forwards Blake Wheeler, Ben Maxwell and
Anthony Stewart, and defensemen Brett Festerling and Zach Bogosian are
also waiting on new deals.
David Pagnotta is the Editor-in-Chief of The Fourth Period Magazine.
His columns appear every regularly on TFP.
