"There's not much more of an explanation other than we wanted to try it and we liked how it stood out from the rest of the league's clubs," Canes Chief Marketing Officer Mike Forman shared. "Like our jerseys, we gave the players the decision for what color helmets they wanted to wear on the road for the playoffs last season, and they elected to go with red."
While the Canes had to get approval from the league to wear their red helmets with their road sweaters, following Toronto's wardrobe decision this weekend, news was shared that the NHL has given the okay for all teams to do so moving forward.
The only exception to the rule is that the team cannot wear the same colored helmets as the home team. So, for example, Carolina cannot wear red buckets when playing in Calgary and Detroit.
Including those two games, the tentative plan is for the group to wear white helmets with white jerseys on the following dates:
- December 4 at Winnipeg
- December 6 at Edmonton
- December 7 at Calgary
- December 9 at Vancouver
- December 12 at Ottawa
- December 14 at Detroit
- February 25 at Buffalo
- February 27 at Minnesota
- February 29 at Columbus
- March 9 at New Jersey
The team will also take their black uniforms and black helmets on the road again this season for three games. This is because Toronto will be wearing their annual St. Patrick's Day "St. Pats" jerseys for the matchup, and it is most team-friendly to take one set of jerseys for an entire trip.
- March 16 at Toronto
- March 17 at Ottawa
- March 19 at New York Islanders
To view a complete listing of the team's uniform schedule for the season, click here.
