Good morning! We interrupt this site’s string of MLB scoops for some hockey news, namely that the Canucks wore new chrome blue headwear for yesterday’s practice session.
Here are some additional photos:
My first instinct upon seeing these photos was that I liked the chrome lid. Then I went and found some video:
https://www.tiktok.com/@spittinchiclets/video/7327434725713251615
Now I really like them — I think they look great!
According to this article, helmets are wrapped, not painted. No word yet when they’ll be worn, but the Canucks host the Blues tonight, and they were breaking in the helmets, complete with all the decals, at yesterday’s practice, so you can probably do the math.
Up until now, only two NHL teams have worn chrome helmets — the Kings (who debuted them in 2021) and Golden Knights (2022):
Based on the early returns, I think I like Vancouver’s version best of all! Definitely looking forward to seeing it on the ice tonight (or whenever they choose to debut it).
Meanwhile: I expect to have more MLB news items today, so stay tuned.
Update: The Canucks will indeed debut the blue helmets tonight. They’ll also wear them for a second date that they haven’t yet announced.
Too Good for the Ticker
After Ravens coach John Harbaugh did a hilarious victory dance following last weekend’s playoff victory, Baltimore salt box queen Juliet Ames quickly created a Harbaugh-themed box. Very cool!
(My thanks to Baltimore’s own Andrew Cosentino for this one.)
A Sad Update
Back in early November, I wrote a post about a brilliantly obsessive website devoted to tennis ball cans. At the time, I mentioned that I had attempted to contact the site’s editor, Brad McCall, but never heard back from him. Now I know why, thanks to an email I received yesterday from a guy named Mark Chandler:
I am a collector of tennis ball cans and came across your article about the website
vintagetennisballs.com. You mentioned that you tried to email Brad McCall and did not receive a response. Unfortunately, Brad passed away about a year and a half or two years ago. Not 100% sure, but I think it was due to Covid. I had been in contact with him a few times before he passed and provided a few tennis can photos to add to his site. He was very nice and always responsive to inquiries regarding his website. In speaking with a couple of collectors I know, I think there is some talk of his son eventually keeping the site going, but that has not happened yet.
That’s a shame. The site is a treasure, so I hope McCall’s son (or someone) keeps the site active.
Meanwhile, if you’re into this topic, here’s a link to Chandler’s tennis ball can collection.
Can of the Day
“Prevent Dust and Contagion — Sweep the Sanitary Way”!
I didn’t think I would like those chrome lids for the Canucks, but the video really showed something! I’m excited to see them on the ice with their game jerseys.
Great job on the saltbox Juliet Ames!
It is interesting to me the NHL is going through a helmet finish renaissance similar to what the MLB went through almost a decade ago
I like the lids of the Canucks but the can is the winner of today: much to digest but that Paxson logo with the axe and radiance is so good. Sad to hear about the tennis ball can collector. His collection is very nice.
Not sure why, but I’ve never liked the chrome look for any sport. Maybe just too shiny for me? Has any MLB team ever gone with a chrome batting helmet? That would be the worst offender, IMHO. Baseball just doesn’t feel like a flashy chrome sport to me.
To my knowledge, no MLB team has done that. I don’t think it would ever happen, because you don’t want to risk anything that could interfere with the pitcher’s vision, even if only for a moment.
The Mariners and Royals wore silver and gold helmets, respectively, for their 1998 TATC game, but they weren’t really chrome finishes — more like gold/silver spray paint. link
Baseball went the direction of shiny/polished helmets to matte colors. Hopefully they go back to shiny helmets again.
Chrome batting helmets on a bright, sunny day sounds like an accident waiting to happen.
I love so many cans of the day, and for so many reasons.
This one is so beautiful at the quotation marks on the capital A.
The chrome and transparent parts make them look like the old Micronauts figures.
I don’t think I will ever like a chrome helmet.
Blue chrome COULD be good, but terrible with the ad. Put the team logo on there instead.
Outstanding “sweeping compound” can!
Apparently in the 1940s or so, women got all dressed up to get out the old push broom and clean house, including wearing high heels. I love it.
In a world of polar opposites (including the recent icy whites vs blackout matchups), we now have the duo of matte helmets and chrome. Not a huge fan of either. Just give me regular old glossy lids.
Hmmm, might a certain soon-to-be-retired blogger want to take over the tennis ball can site?
Canucks have just announced the shiny buckets debut tonight. They will wear them 2 times this season.
Thank you for giving the salt box its own “Too Good for the Ticker” section! I think it’s incredible work by Juliet Ames.
As the photos of the Golden Knights and Kings both show, light colored metallic helmets — being so highly reflective — pick up the “dark” color of the arena roof, and appear two-tone, at least in still shots. College football teams who have chrome domes also suffer from this, even outdoors (though the effect is less pronounced in day games).
Night: link
vs.
Day: link
IMO, light colored chrome helmets do NOT work as well in practice as they do in theory.
Now, these blue metallic helmets — I think we’re onto something here. Because they’re darker in shade than either the gold or silver, will not look nearly as “two tone” as do the lighter ones, and I think will look reeeeeeaaaaally good on ice.
Looking forward to seeing game action video and stills from this one.
Chrome helmets have taken the lacrosse world by storm lately – going all the way down to the youth leagues. The problem is, the chrome domes are typically more expensive and the finish doesn’t last as long in a rough game – but apparently also just in equipment bags. We were at a tournament the other weekend where a team all had their helmets in pillowcases carried separately from the rest of their equipment bag. In the youth area you are used to getting multiple years of use out of a lacrosse helmet – and asking people to pay $350+ for a helmet that looks like trash after a season if it’s not babied is a hard swallow. Our team actually just went matte.
I thought I’d like them but then I didn’t. They look like a Mylar balloon one could buy at the dollar store. Vegas gets a pass because, well, Vegas. I’m still on the fence about the Kings though. Looks very Terminator-y to me.
Those chrome helmets are an embarrassment to the league. What kind of clown show are you trying to promote. Our game is being Americanized; taken over and ruined. They look stupid and are distracting. I won’t watch the games when teams are wearing them. What’s next; uniforms that light up. Thanks for screwing up the game with your dumb ideas.