The Pittsburgh Penguins logo is built around a skating penguin holding a hockey stick, set against a downward-pointing golden triangle. The team’s official uniform history describes the original 1967 mark as featuring a hockey-playing penguin in a scarf over an inverted triangle, symbolizing the golden triangle of downtown Pittsburgh, with the penguin and triangle set inside a circle bearing the team name. [1]
The Penguins entered the NHL as part of the 1967-68 expansion, wearing dark blue, light blue and white uniforms that carried only diagonal “PITTSBURGH” lettering. The logo existed but did not appear on the game sweaters until the following season. [1]
Design and History
In 1968-69, the logo was added to the uniforms, with the penguin no longer wearing the scarf. The white home sweaters had wide dark blue bands on the sleeves and bottom, while the light blue away sweaters used white bands trimmed in dark blue. [1]
For the 1972-73 season, the circle around the logo was removed, leaving only the penguin and triangle. [1]
On January 30, 1980, the Penguins wore black and gold for the first time. With the Steelers winning the Super Bowl and the Pirates capturing the World Series in the same year, the Penguins sought fan support by aligning their colors with the other teams in the “City of Champions.” Boston protested the change to the NHL, but the Penguins prevailed by citing the precedent of the Pittsburgh Pirates hockey club of the late 1920s, which had sported black and gold. [1] The team’s official site confirms the Penguins first wore black and gold on that date. [2]
The black and gold uniforms remained unchanged until 1992-93, when the triangle and penguin logo was modernized. The white home sweaters featured the new logo on the front with gold shoulder inserts, while the black away sweaters carried the city’s name diagonally down the front with the new logo on each shoulder. [1] The team’s official history later described this as the “Streamlined Penguin,” noting that the prominent penguin and triangle were retained out of respect to the original jersey logo. [1]
During the 1999-2000 season, the Penguins introduced a third jersey featuring the popular “skating penguin” logo from the 1991 and 1992 Stanley Cup championship seasons, paired with a new color addition called Las Vegas Gold. That sweater and its white counterpart became the team’s official home and road uniforms in 2002. [1]
In 2014-15, the Penguins unveiled “Pittsburgh Gold” third jerseys reminiscent of the sweaters worn during the back-to-back Stanley Cup championship seasons of 1991 and 1992. At the outset of the team’s 50th season in 2016-17, the Penguins announced they would return full-time to the Pittsburgh Gold color scheme, eliminating Vegas gold. The third jersey from 2014-15 and 2015-16 became the full-time home jersey, with an accompanying white version added for road contests. [1] The NHL confirmed the change, noting the Penguins officially changed their uniform colors to black and Pittsburgh gold, the same ones worn when they won the Stanley Cup in 1991 and 1992. [3]
Meaning and Symbolism
The inverted golden triangle in the logo symbolizes the golden triangle of downtown Pittsburgh, as documented by the team’s official uniform history. [1] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s interactive history of Penguins sweaters likewise identifies the triangle as a symbol for Downtown’s Golden Triangle. [4]
The black and gold color scheme aligns the Penguins with Pittsburgh’s other professional sports teams. The team’s official history explains that the Penguins hoped to gain fan support by aligning their colors with the Steelers and Pirates, both champions in 1979-80. [1] The Penguins’ official site also notes that the 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates hockey club set the precedent that allowed the Penguins to use black and gold. [2]
For the 2023 Winter Classic, the Penguins unveiled a special logo inspired by Pittsburgh’s original NHL franchise, the 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates. The team’s official announcement stated that the “P” stands equally for Pittsburgh and Penguins and is inspired by the city’s rich professional sports history. [5]
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