The Vancouver Canucks announced the return of their much-beloved black skate jerseys on Wednesday and told fans when they can expect to see the jerseys back on the ice.
The black skate jersey will make its return in the Canucks' next game on October 26 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, which will also be the night they celebrate Tyler Myers playing his 1000th career game on their road trip. In fact, the Canucks will wear the black skate for all three games on their home stand leading up to Halloween — an appropriate time to be wearing black, yellow, and orange.
In total, the Canucks are scheduled to wear the black skate for 18 games in the 2024-25 season — a little less than half of their remaining home games.
Here's the complete schedule of black skate games:
- October 26, 7:00 p.m. vs Pittsburgh Penguins
- October 28, 7:00 p.m. vs Carolina Hurricanes
- October 30, 7:30 p.m. vs New Jersey Devils
- November 9, 7:00 p.m. vs Edmonton Oilers
- December 6, 7:00 p.m. vs Columbus Blue Jackets
- December 8, 1:00 p.m. vs Tampa Bay Lightning
- December 10, 7:00 p.m. vs St. Louis Blues
- December 21, 7:00 p.m. vs Ottawa Senators
- December 23, 6:00 p.m. vs San Jose Sharks
- December 28, 1:00 p.m. vs Seattle Kraken
- January 18, 7:00 p.m. vs Edmonton Oilers
- January 21, 7:00 p.m. vs Buffalo Sabres
- January 25, 7:00 p.m. vs Washington Capitals
- March 5, 7:30 p.m. vs Anaheim Ducks
- March 7, 7:00 p.m. vs Minnesota Wild
- March 9, 6:00 p.m. vs Dallas Stars
- April 5, 1:00 p.m. vs Anaheim Ducks
- April 6, 7:00 p.m. vs Vegas Golden Knights
It's possible that the Canucks could add to this schedule. Last season, the Canucks initially announced that they would wear the black skate jerseys for 15 home games but added two more games in early December, wearing the jerseys a total of 17 times.
There were even some who called for the Canucks to wear the black skate jerseys in the playoffs, not just because they liked the jerseys but because the Canucks performed so well in them. The truth is, the Canucks essentially performed the same at home no matter which jerseys they wore.
The Canucks won 12 of their 17 games in the black skate jerseys, with a 12-4-1 record — a points percentage of .735. They out-scored their opponents 62-to-43 in the black skate jersey, a goals-for percentage of 59.0%.
Without the black skate, the Canucks were 15-5-4 on home ice — ever-so-slightly worse at a points percentage of .708 but barely a difference. Despite losing a few more games, the Canucks' goal differential in their regular home jerseys was slightly better: 82-to-56, a goals-for percentage of 59.4%.
There's also the claim that teams wearing black jerseys get penalized more. That was the case for the Canucks last season but only just barely. At home, the Canucks averaged 9.53 penalty minutes per game in the black skate and 9.21 penalty minutes per game in the blue orca. Looking just at power plays for their opponents, the Canucks gave their opponents 3.41 power plays per game in the black skate jersey and 3.08 power plays per game in the blue orca.
The simple fact is that the Canucks were one of the best teams in the NHL on home ice last season, no matter what jersey they wore. But perhaps after losing their first two home games this season in the orca, switching to the black skate for their next three home games will be a welcome change.
The players, at least, have always said they love them, even if it makes no difference in terms of performance.
"I said before the game, actually, to Millsy standing right in front of me, I said these should be our jerseys all the time," said Garland after one game in the black skate jerseys. "These are beautiful...The gloves look nice, the helmet — I love a black helmet too."
