With the new season fast approaching, the Leafs decided to make some interesting changes to their branding.
um hey @MapleLeafs what’s happening here bestie!?!? #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/GkCFKplWUd
— aisha 💫 (@evanslarsons) September 12, 2024
Across all their social media pages and in front of Scotiabank Arena as seen above, the Leafs dropped some new branding that has their logo surrounded by the word forever repeated twice. The strange thing about this is that the ‘O’s are missing and not only that, but the letter is nowhere to be seen on their advertisements for the home opener on October 12th against the Penguins.
It left many Leafs fans puzzled as to what the removal of the ‘O’s could mean and what could be coming. Speculation of what that would be was all over the place, ranging from a new jersey design being dropped to teasing an extension to Mitch Marner.
If I were to make an educated guess on why they were going for this, it could have something to do with the recent news of Auston Matthews being named the 26th captain of the Leafs. During the press release and subsequent press conference, they treated it as the start of a new era for the franchise as they pivot away from John Tavares wearing the ‘C’ to Matthews. Perhaps this branding of removing the ‘o’s could be symbolic of this season being the start of his reign as captain.
Also worth noting is that t the spacing of the words forever is shaped like a clock. The ‘O’s are placed where the numbers 8 and 10 would be, which could perhaps be reading of something happening on October 8th. It would have made more sense to tease the start of the season had the Leafs been scheduled to play that night, but they don’t kick off until the next day in Montreal.
Whatever is the reason for this unusual change to their branding, we likely won’t know for some time. Either way, the Leafs have once again given their fans something to talk about and it didn’t have to do with a trade or signing.
What do you think this branding could mean? Let us know in the comments below!
