There is nothing wrong with the third jersey the Vancouver Canucks unveiled on November 13. It’s the one the hockey club will wear for the first time Saturday afternoon against Toronto and 14 more times through the NHL season. It’s just that there isn’t much to get excited about either.

Hockey fans here have seen all of the component parts in some form or other before. The green and blue colour scheme is virtually identical to the one already being worn by the team on a regular basis. The old stick-in-rink logo, beautiful for its simplicity, returns with a very subtle modernization. The shoulder patch features a rugged-looking Johnny Canuck and the ”˜V’ pays tribute to Vancouver Millionaires who won this city’s only Stanley Cup way back in 1915.

This latest alternate jersey was leaked on-line weeks ago so there really wasn’t much to the great unveiling. Personally, I’m not much of a jersey guy. I would much rather see the Canucks wear pink pajamas and win the Stanley Cup rather than lead the league in jersey changes and remain a middle of the pack hockey club.

The timing of this launch—six weeks ahead of Christmas—isn’t lost on anyone and I’m sure the Canucks will sell their share of this latest version. But I can’t help but wonder how many more jerseys they might have sold had they actually put a little more thought and creativity into the whole process. From this vantage point, this new jersey just looks like more of the same.