The Carolina Hurricanes are throwing it back a few decades this season for Whalers Night: In White!. The team will don the Hartford Whalers’ classic, white home uniforms on February 10, 2024 against the New Jersey Devils. The Hurricanes, who relocated from Hartford for the 1997-98 NHL season, have in recent years celebrated their Whalers past more.
These Whalers uniforms will be the third set that Carolina has worn. They first wore Hartford’s green jerseys back in December of 2018 and then wore grey/silver versions as their 2021 Reverse Retro sweater.
These specific white, home Hartford jerseys were worn by the Whalers from 1979 through 1985. After that 1984-85 season, the solid green bars along the bottom of the sweaters were changed to white.
Carolina also announced that they’ll be wearing Cooperall pants for warmups before the game. During the 1982-83 season, select Whalers players wore the waist-to-ankle hockey pants before the NHL outlawed them the next year.
Tell a friend, Cooperalls are back 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/952qXVnJXV
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) November 13, 2023
The Philadelphia Flyers brought their own Cooperall pants back last season for warmups during their Reverse Retro games. Hurricanes chief marketing officer Mike Forman said in the team’s press release that the Canes will be getting their pants from the same source.
“Credit to the Flyers on this one, as they re-introduced the Cooperalls last year in conjunction with their Reverse Retro uniform scheme,” Forman said. “The Flyers and Whalers were exclusively the two NHL clubs who wore Cooperalls for a year or two in the 80s and it’s a way for us to have fun and feed into the retro vibes for warmups only that night. We’ve worked with the same manufacturer as the Flyers did last season to make these come to life. They will be worn over the top of the normal green pants that will be worn for the game itself.”
In the past for their special Whalers nights, the Hurricanes have also had special tracksuits for their coaching staff during the day’s morning skate, 80’s headbands for players during warmups, custom pads for their goaltenders, and brought back Hartford’s mascot, Pucky The Whale.
Pucky is in the building 🐳 pic.twitter.com/Ihee3JFjCM
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) January 29, 2022
Fans interested in purchasing Whalers merch, including jerseys and a corduroy hat, can currently find it on the Hurricanes’ Pro Shop.
According to Canes Uniform Tracker on X, the Hurricanes are actually undefeated in regulation (4-0-3) when wearing Whalers-themed uniforms.
Headline photo via @Canes/X
