At long last, the “Weagle” is ready for its close-up. The Washington Capitals’ secondary logo — a bald eagle with its wings spread in the shape of a “W” and featuring a negative-space silhouette of the Capitol dome — will appear on the front of the specially designed jerseys they will wear for their outdoor Stadium Series game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Feb. 18 in Raleigh, N.C.
The Weagle was introduced as a shoulder patch when the Capitals underwent a redesign and returned to the franchise’s original red, white and blue color scheme before the 2007-08 season. The team’s Stadium Series uniform, which was unveiled Thursday, feature an oversized navy blue version of the Weagle on a white sweater, with a red band near the hem. The Weagle’s wings stretch from seam to seam, blending into a blue band that forms the backdrop for white player numbers on each arm. The sweaters will be paired with navy blue helmets; navy blue pants with three white stars on the outside of each leg; and red, white and blue socks.
“We like to have a good pulse on our fan base,” Hunter Lochmann, Monumental Sports and Entertainment’s chief marketing officer, said in a telephone interview. “We know that they’ve been clamoring for this Weagle. We knew it was time. … The way it came out in this large format, we were thrilled.”
After the Capitals-Hurricanes clash at North Carolina State’s 57,000-seat Carter-Finley Stadium was announced in March, Adidas collaborated with both teams to create special uniforms for the occasion. The Capitals’ design was partly inspired by similarly bold looks worn by the Nashville Predators and Colorado Avalanche in recent outdoor games. The team announced that the Weagle would make its debut as a primary logo back in December.
According to Adidas, the Weagle design on the front of the sweater features a “combination of sublimation and classic twill embroidery,” producing a bevel effect. The red, white and blue bands on the sleeve are a nod to the tri-color hem of the Capitals’ original sweater design, while the two horizontal laces beneath the color represent the two red bands of the D.C. flag.
Washington is 3-0 in outdoor games. The Capitals wore blue jerseys with a red “caps” wordmark for their most recent outdoor contest, a 2018 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis. The Capitals’ helmets for next month’s showdown in Raleigh feature the same “caps’ wordmark from that game on one side and oversized white numbers on the other.
The Capitals wore red jerseys with a block blue "W" beneath three white stars for their win over the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2015 Winter Classic at Nationals Park. Four years earlier, the Capitals debuted a white throwback sweater in their Winter Classic win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Heinz Field.
Carolina’s Stadium Series uniform is primarily black with a red and black version of the Hurricanes’ primary logo. Carolina’s jersey numbers are italicized, as are player names, “to signify the resistance of the force of a hurricane,” according to Adidas. The shoulders feature a tonal North Carolina flag.
The Capitals will wear their Stadium Series uniform at home against the Detroit Red Wings on Feb. 21, their first game after their showdown with the Hurricanes.