All in the Logo : There’s No Coach Yet, but the Ducks’ Design Is Ready for Sale

The uniform design for the Mighty Ducks, which is being unveiled today, snubs Donald in favor of a goaltender’s mask embellished with a flared duck bill.

“It’s a hockey mask in the shape of a duck face,” said Jason Park, a manager at the Kings’ Slap Shop in Santa Ana who was shown the design by someone in the sportswear industry.

Others who have seen the jerseys say the mask design is enhanced by a puck crossed by two yellow hockey sticks, creating an image that one person described as reminiscent of a skull-and-crossbones. The logo is on a triangular background.

The team’s colors are predominantly teal-green and dark purple, with the uniforms enhanced by silver striping. The lettering on the jerseys is expected to say, “Mighty Ducks,” not simply “Ducks,” as did the uniforms in the Disney kids’ movie.

The logo, which was selected and refined from submissions from the Walt Disney Co.’s artists, was to be unveiled by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on NBC’s “Today” show this morning, along with the design for the Florida Panthers.

Retail sales of licensed products for another recent expansion team, the San Jose Sharks, reached $150 million in 1992 as even non-hockey fans grabbed up T-shirts bearing the striking, angular logo of a shark biting through a hockey stick.

Disney is unabashed about wanting to emulate the Sharks, and by Sunday afternoon, merchandise with the new logo was already waiting in storerooms at many area Disney Stores as well as at Disneyland.