The National Hockey League has now shown its hand on how it feels about the Chicago Blackhawks’ logo.
In the reveal of the 31 teams’ new reverse retro looks, the league sent out a slideshow of one photo for all the teams. Every team showcased the front of its uniform, with logos colour-adjusted or throwbacks to past logos. Well, all of them showed off their logo except for one.
The NHL used the back of the Chicago jersey. So all you saw was the number 20 with “Blackhawks” for the name plate.
That’s curious. Why was there just one team with the back of the jersey showing? Clearly, the league balked at showing the logo from the ’40s and ’50s that team is using, with a less-detailed side profile of a Native American.
It was a gutless move to try to avoid criticism. The team has stood by a logo whose roots and history are quite genuine in honouring a military regiment that was named for the native warrior, Black Hawk.
It’s a symbol of honour and the only thing embarrassing about it was the NHL choosing not to showcase it with the other 30 teams on Monday.