Hurricanes Primary Logo

The Carolina Hurricanes are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The franchise was established as the Hartford Whalers in 1979 and moved to North Carolina before the 1997-1998 NHL season. Since then, they have become one of the most successful teams in their division and have won two Stanley Cup championships since 2006. Along with their success on the ice have come numerous changes to their primary logo throughout history.

The original Hartford Whalers logo featured a simple green W inside an oval shape surrounded by stars representing each state from New England where they were initially located; Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Vermont. This design lasted until 1997, when it changed into what is now known as “the whale tail” logo for its resemblance to a humpback whale's tail fluke, which had been used by other sports teams from Connecticut, including minor league baseball team Norwich Navigators, who also adopted this same style after moving away from Hartford. In 2003, this iconic symbol underwent minor modifications, such as changing colors. Still, it kept its original look for another 13 years before being replaced with something new at the start of the 2016-2017 NHL season.

This latest iteration features more vibrant colors than previous designs while incorporating elements like hurricane flags (which give reference back to the name "Carolina Hurricanes") along with states that make up a region where the team plays -North & South Carolinas - all within circular border containing wordmark "CAROLINA HURRICANES" written across center bottom portion just above starburst pattern at the top right corner made out three different shades blue color palette chosen represent the Atlantic Ocean nearby area surrounding Raleigh NC home base club calls itself ." Despite many changes, one thing remains constant: passion fans show towards their beloved hockey squad no matter what form it takes."