May 24th, 2023
Alex Rickman
There has been a lot of debate in recent years about what the Canucks uniforms should look like on a nightly basis. The Canucks have gone through more looks than just about any team in the NHL over their 53-year history, and with the amount of looks the team has had fans are bound to have a variety of opinions on what our best look is. In a conversation with a friend recently, I mentioned that I believe that the skate is the Canucks best look and should be our home jersey and that I believe a significant chunk of Canucks fans believe the same. However, my friend disagreed and said while he too loves the skate, he believes that its best use would be as an alternate jersey and that he thinks the majority of fans would believe the same. Some don’t share the love of the skate jersey that this friend and I have and believe that it should be permanently shelved. So, to find out once and for all what Canucks fans truly want the future of the franchise's uniforms to be, I decided to create a survey asking fans what they thought. Today, we’ll go over the results of this survey, and see what it says about what the will of Canucks fans is.
Before reviewing the results, I think it’s important to go over what was asked on the survey and who participated. The poll consisted of a total of 5 questions, asking participants their age, their opinion on the skate in general, whether or not they would support the team making the skate their primary jersey, what they believe the primary should be if not the skate, and if they have any additional comments they wanted to make. The survey was then posted on our Instagram story and Twitter, as well as the Canucks subreddit, to make sure as many people saw it as possible. In the end, we had a total of 307 participants in the survey, spanning a fairly broad age range and having been exposed to the survey through a variety of channels. Thank you to everyone who participated in the end, and apologies to anybody who wanted to participate but didn’t see it in time. With that being said, let’s get into the results.
The first question simply asked participants to state their age from one of our broad age groups. The aim of this question was simply to see how diverse of a sample size we had answering questions to see if our data was primarily based on the opinion of one age group or if it could be interpreted as the views of the Canucks fanbase as a whole. In the end, while one age group did make up a substantial majority of the voters, a few other age groups made significant dents, which leads me to believe that the goal of getting a diverse sample of people taking the survey was accomplished. Per the survey results, just over 70% of those answering were between the ages of 20 and 39, while people aged 13-19 and 40-59 made up just under 15% each. People under 12 or 60 and up each comprised less than 1% of the final results. While one age group does dominate the discussion, there are still a good few people who fit into different age ranges, which tells me that we should expect this survey to indicate the true opinion of Canucks fans fairly well.
The second question simply asked respondents what they think of the skate jersey. It may seem like a foregone conclusion that the majority of Canucks fans would say that they hold some kind of a positive opinion towards the skate, but is this truly the case, or are fans of the skate just a loud minority? Based on our sample size, it’s clear to say that the love the skate gets online isn’t just a loud minority, as nearly 70% of respondents said that they love the skate, with an additional 22.5% saying that they like them. Of the not quite 10% of people who didn’t say that they like or love the skate, about half of the respondents said that they were indifferent to the skate, leaving only about 5% of people saying that they hold some kind of negative opinion on the jersey. It’s safe to say that, according to these results, the skate is still a big hit among Canucks fans.
So, having established that the love the skate gets only is truly indicative of the thoughts of the fanbase, we reach the question that started this whole debate; do the fans support the idea of the skate becoming the Canucks primary jersey? While the most popular answer to this question was yes, the results of this question are more complicated than simply looking at what the most popular choice was. Only 41% of respondents said that they supported the skate becoming the primary home jersey, while 33% said that they like the skate but only wanted it as an alternate, while an additional 12% said that they simply did not support it. Combining those who said they wanted the skate only as an alternate and those who said they flat out don’t support it, we have 45% of our respondents saying they don’t want the skate as the primary home jersey. That would give a majority, albeit a small one, to those who don’t want the skate as the Canucks main look over those who want it as an everyday jersey. This, I must admit, did come as a surprise, as I assumed with the number of people who said that they loved or liked the jersey that more would want to see it worn more often. Additionally, about 13% of people said that they were indifferent toward making the skate a primary home jersey, while just under 2% chose other options.
Question four asked the participants what they would want the Canucks primary jersey to be if not the skate. The two most popular picks in this category came as no surprise to me, but when we get deeper into the selections things get more interesting. With just under 50% of the vote, the current orca jerseys, or the 2010s/20s orca as it was listed in the question, was far and away the most popular choice. The blue and green orca has become a hit among fans, many of whom, myself included, associate with the highs of the 2011 run and the great players and teams of that era. Additionally, the 1970s stick-in-rink look came in second with about 15% of the vote, showing the popularity of the blue and green colour scheme. The third-place finisher, however, did come as something of a surprise to me. With just shy of 14% of the vote, the 2000s navy blue and red orca was our third-place finisher, beating out the 6% won by the 1980s Flying V, the 5% who voted for the Vancouver Millionaires look, and the many people who added their own unique choices with our other choice. Around 10% of the voters chose to make their unique pick via this option, meaning it beat out both the Flying V and the Millionaires vote. While some of these selections were joke picks submitted by some of the internet’s great self-proclaimed comedians, there were also a notable amount of people in this group who were asking for Johnny Canuck to become the Canucks primary jersey, as well as a few who said they wanted a fresh look for the team. The Johnny Canuck Reverse Retro the team wore for a handful of games this past season did prove to be a hit among the fans, so maybe it could return in some capacity shortly.
The additional comments section has also proved to be a useful addition to the survey, allowing participants to explain the thought process behind their choices. One such reply from a participant who is in favour of keeping the skate in its current role as an alternate said that “I like the skate but I think it’s best as an alternate. The blue and green go well with a city built on the ocean and forests, and the orca is more representative of Vancouver as a whole.” This sentiment was shared by a few others, with several commenters discussing their love of the skate but a belief that the blue and green colour scheme fits Vancouver better. Another commenter said that the skate is the current “flavour of the month”, and went on to say that they believe that if the Canucks switched back to the skate that they believe fans would be calling for a change within 10 years. One commenter who opposed the skate being used in any form said that “Honestly, I cannot believe we brought the skate back. It is the biggest identity crisis our team has ever had, the colours have nothing to do with the city, and it was designed by a Californian who had never seen a hockey game”, and went on to state that they wish for the team to “Keep the orca, bring back the stick, but for god’s sake not the skate and not that crackhead lumberjack either.” However, there were still comments from people who support the idea of a change to the skate, with one such comment simply reading “Don’t just bring the skate back, keep it here forever”. I also want to acknowledge the insightful comment left by my younger brother, which simply read “mayonnaise”. Thank you, buddy, your insights are deeply appreciated.
So from the results of the poll, it’s clear that while Canucks fans may be divided on whether or not the skate should be the team's main jersey, it’s clear as day that the vast majority of the fanbase wants to see it continually used by the team in some capacity. For some, the skate symbolizes a great time in the team's history, when players like Trevor Linden and Kirk McLean were leading us to the 1994 Stanley Cup Final. For others, like myself, it’s simply a beautiful jersey with an excellent colour scheme that we wish to see on the ice more often. A full-time switch to the skate may not be the universally popular decision I thought it may be before seeing the results of this survey, but at least having it as an alternate and giving it some use in the jersey rotation is great to see after having it absent from the Canucks jersey rotation for years. Not everyone will is as thrilled as the majority to see it back in the rotation, as shown by roughly 5% of those taking the survey stating that they have some kind of negative opinion towards the jersey, but no decision involving a team's uniform will leave everyone happy. For now, the best thing the Canucks can do to keep the most fans happy is to continue using the skate as an alternate, and maybe at some point down the road, the fans may change their minds and fully support it becoming the team's main look.