Ducks tap Orange County roots for new logo and uniform

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Ducks unveiled a revised team logo and uniform design Wednesday morning, further illustrating the team's intentional change to a more competitive posture.

The rebrand is the first salvo in a critically important week for the club, which continues Friday and Saturday with the NHL Draft in Las Vegas and culminates Monday with the start of NHL free agency.

“As our organization enters a new chapter of Anaheim Ducks hockey, we are proud to reveal our new, refreshed logo and uniform kit that identifies with the Orange County community,” said Anaheim Ducks owners Susan and Henry Samueli in a statement. "The Ducks are a symbol of Orange County, and our pivot to orange with an updated, iconic logo encompasses our past, present and future.”

With heavy emphasis on the color orange and gold accents designed to mimic the miles of Orange County beaches, the Ducks' approach to repositioning the team stands in direct contrast to the strategy employed across Katella Avenue by Arte Moreno in 2005. That's when Moreno added "Los Angeles" to the Angels' name in hopes of a wider audience to generate more revenue.

The Ducks went in the opposite direction Wednesday, trademarking and employing the term "Orange Country" to include specifically the Orange and Riverside County fans that comprise the team's core fanbase.

"We are distinctly not L.A.," Ducks vice president of marketing Merit Tully told Daily Faceoff. "We're moving in a bold direction and there a reason for it — we want to represent the people who are underrepresented.

"We believe Orange County is underserved as a pro sports market."

Since word of a logo redesign surfaced, a steady groundswell of Ducks fans has clamored for the team to return to the eggplant and jade colors with which the Mighty Ducks began play in 1993. But a series of recent marketing videos made showed the team is more interested in looking forward, not back.

The Ducks' new logo eliminates some of the design cues still remaining from the original logo, which was illustrated by Disney.

What remains now is for the Ducks' on-ice product to be altered, and that alteration continues in earnest this weekend at the draft. Anaheim currently holds two first-round picks, Nos. 3 and 31.

Anaheim also has two second-round picks and three third-round picks with which to fortify a team picking in the top three for the third time in four years.

The Ducks finished 27-50-5 last season, third-worst in the NHL. General Manager Pat Verbeek has said he expects the team to compete for a playoff spot next season, a vision made more realistic by the healthy return of Trevor Zegras from a broken ankle, a full season for rookie forward Cutter Gauthier and perhaps the inclusion of another elite young player Friday night,