Your New Canuck

The Vancouver Canucks made an attempt to upgrade their center depth today, acquiring Brandon Sutter and a conditional third round pick in 2016 from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Nick Bonino, Adam Clendenig, and a second round pick in 2016.

What does Sutter bring to the Canucks?  Despite having fewer points than Bonino, Sutter did much of his work behind Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin as a third-line center, meaning that he wouldn't necessarily get the better wingers to play with, plus he's a more responsible player in his own end.  Consistency is also a strength of his, something that wasn't evident with Bonino, who started out hot, but tailed off badly as the season went on.  The Canucks also lose defensive depth with Clendening, who was acquired last season in exchange for another prospect in Gustav Forsling.  This is where the worries for Canucks fans should begin, as ultimately, the Canucks gave away a potential top offensive defenseman for nothing.  As for draft picks, it appears to be the pick they acquired in the Kevin Bieksa deal earlier this month.

Get On Board for the New Admirals

Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Admirals' Facebook page

With all of the talk about AHL teams relocating and changing affiliations with their NHL parents, here is some rather "rare" uniform news.  The Milwaukee Admirals will be going from black as a primary color to return to their navy roots while going from the cartoonish "Deadmiral" to a more menacing version of the "Deadmiral."  As you can see, though, the cartoonish version will remain on some level, as their third jerseys from last year will still be intact, thus giving the team their usual white, new navy, and light blue jerseys to choose from this season.  Black is all but gone from the color scheme, which is a great thing for a team that is one of the few AHL teams to maintain their own identity as opposed to looking more like their NHL parent.  Also, as you can see, the shoulder yokes on the new jerseys are done to subtly make an "M," which is one of the more clever things a team can do.  As for the negatives, the lack of a waist stripe does knock the look down a notch, as does the new shoulder patch:

Here, it seems that the Admirals were trying to do a little too much here, as the previous shoulder patch, an anchor, worked just fine.  Beyond those nitpicks, the Admirals did a great job with their re-brand.  While they maintained a piece of their previous look in their third jersey, it works well in that role.  As for the primary looks, it does manage to tie in all of the looks the Admirals have had over the years on some level.

A New Howl

The Coyotes franchise has undergone some major changes in recent years, first changing their name from the Phoenix Coyotes to the Arizona Coyotes.  Ownership finally stabilized, but now, there is an ongoing battle with the city of Glendale.  That last part overshadowed the team's change in uniforms, which were unveiled on Draft Day.

One of the most obvious changes to the uniforms is the addition of black, which at the very least, adds to what was a fairly ordinary look.  The waist stripes aren't obvious, as they only appear at the very bottom of the jerseys.  The arms of the jerseys are where the biggest changes occur, as the striping is noticeable while the number and letter fonts are changed.  Shoulder patches differ on both the home and away jerseys, as the home will feature a paw print with the letter A embedded within it while the away jerseys will still feature the Arizona state outline with the state flag on top and the AZ on the bottom, meaning it will remain the same as it has been on their previous jerseys.  The southwestern style design is featured inside the collar, something that has been a trend for a while for teams to feature something on the inside of the collar.

While the Coyotes didn't hit it out of the park with the new designs, it is at least a new look that will identify the team better while giving them something that may last a while.