The Anaheim Ducks' old logo may be making a comeback this year. (USATSI)
The Anaheim Ducks' old logo may be making a comeback this year. (USATSI)

The Anaheim Ducks’ history is well known. They were the hockey team that was inspired by a children’s movie. Disney got into the hockey business after their overwhelmingly popular movie “The Mighty Ducks” hit theaters and awed the masses with Gordon Bombay and Charlie Conway.

The “Mighty Ducks of Anaheim” were born in 1993. Disney later sold the team and in 2006 the “Mighty” was dropped in favor of the less cartoonish, more boring “Ducks.” Along with that name change, the Ducks dropped their original logo featuring an old-school goalie mask shaped with a duckbill and crossed hockey sticks. They replaced it with a wordmark featuring a webbed “D.” Last season, the Ducks dropped the wordmark jerseys for simply the webbed “D” as their crest.

The only time the “Mighty” jerseys were seen again was for the Ducks’ 20th anniversary game in 2013 (as seen above) and during warmups on Teemu Selanne’s jersey retirement night last season. Both Ducks goaltenders Frederik Andersen and John Gibson have often included the old logo, however. 

For anyone that grew up a hockey fan in the 1990s, the mighty jerseys have been missed. It appears that the team has been listening to those nostalgic cries, too.

Monday, the Ducks announced that they are unveiling a new third jersey in mid-October of next season. They subtly hinted that it could end up being a nod to the movies that gave them their name.

Icethetics, which has become the authority on NHL jerseys, reports that that the Ducks will be combining new and old for their third jerseys. So for select game next season, the Ducks will essentially be “Mighty” again. The cartoon duck goalie mask is back, only this time it’s backed by an orange jersey.

Here's Icethetics' rendering of what the new threads are expected to look like (at the bottom).

It might not be the eggplant and emerald of old, but at least it’s something.

And on that note, the NHL is trying to get everyone to dust off their old DVDs and VHS versions of D2: The Mighty Ducks to have one giant watch party.

Everyone misses the 90s, apparently.