new socks, new jerseys.....

when darryl sutter signed my boy freddie sjöström a few weeks back on "free agent frenzy" day, i was simultaneously listening to the fan960 and perusing the comment thread over at matchsticks&gasoline. it went a little something like this:

Freddy Sjostrom!

by Colin S on Jul 1, 2009 5:50 PM PDT

Get ready to hear WI SQUEE!!
by Kent W. on Jul 1, 2009 5:50 PM PDT

this is totally me listening to the fan 960 and going “wait a sec…. uh……. i love sjöstrom !!!” uh, whoah….. um. i’m stunned….. uh……

if i squee'd, i would do it now.

instead, i’m gonna have to try to figure out how the hell long it’s gonna take for the flames to release the third jersey, cause i’m earmarking a #11 (?).

by walkinvisible on Jul 1, 2009 5:54 PM PDT

[and, later, the following realization, on my part:]

is it embarassing that i thought his jersey number was actually the slot he was drafted ? it’s not embarassing, right ? it just makes me a total loser, right ?

by walkinvisible on Jul 1, 2009 11:55 PM PDT

something i noticed a few days ago and have been meaning to discuss is the fact that, for some absolutely impossibly random reason, freddie sjöström WILL be donning the #11 next season. how the hell i came up with that for a guy who has historically worn #20 (NHL) and #21 (WHL) is kindof funny to me.... obviously those two numbers were unavailable on july 1st when sjöström signed (glencross/jokinen), but i still find it strange that in the first moments i found out he was a flame, i accurately announced his jersey number....

i AM looking forward to the third jersey, even if i have a feeling it's gonna kinda suck. a very knowledgeable insider has told me that it's crimson in colour, so i presume that to be true. if the organization wants to market the C of red (as they have been doing the past six-or-so months) and release a jersey that's any colour outside the red family (and let's be honest: we're talking orange or crimson here), they're out of their minds.

most of the other info (read: hearsay) around on the 3rd jersey is that there will be a wordmark on the front ("flames" i'm guessing) and it will probably be remarkably unremarkable because of it.... ;) let's hope it's as lucky as the gio jersey was last season.....

another uniform-related item that was brought to my attention today from my longlost blues fan buddy jason is that the horrific/godawful swoosh socks appear to be changing this season to the far more industry-standard horizontal band in tricolour. where am i getting this info from ? well from and interesting article over at icethetics, of course, based on recently released stills from nhl10 and nhl2k10.... hm. thanks for doing the hard detective work, icethetics guy.... gimme more info on the flames' 3rd jersey !!!!!!

and, finally ---for those of you unaware, the other newly allotted jersey numbers are :
#15: nigel dawes
#10: brian mcgrattan
#33: brandon prust (i honestly can't remember what he used to wear)
#4: jay bouwmeester (obviously)
#8: staffan kronwall
and, interestingly:
#7: adam pardy

while not an official announcement, i would definitely say that pardy taking the #7 jersey acknowledges that bertuzzi's time with the calgary flames is over for (at least) the forseeable future....

happy day.