Red Wings announce new helmet sponsor: Meijer

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings have a new helmet sponsor and it’s a familiar Michigan name: Meijer.

Meijer will have its brand slapped across the Red Wings’ home, away and practice helmets beginning with this week’s NHL Prospects Tournament in Traverse City, Ilitch Companies announced Wednesday.

“We’re thankful to our friends at Meijer for their recently expanded partnership, and for a company with such deep-rooted Michigan ties to be featured on the classic Red Wings helmets,” said Peter Kent, senior vice president of corporate partnerships. “We look forward to furthering our community-based partnership with Meijer for many years to come.”

The first 10,000 fans to enter Little Caesars Arena for the Saturday, Dec. 18 game against the New Jersey Devils will receive a holiday ornament that is a replica of the Red Wings helmet with the Meijer logo featured.

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The NHL began allowing such helmet sponsors ahead of the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season. Detroit’s helmets were branded with United Wholesale Mortgage’s “UWM” logo this past season. The UWM letters replaced the “Detroit Red Wings” woodmark that had been on the helmets for decades.

These helmet sponsorships had been resisted by the league for years, but the pandemic fast-tracked the change that many saw as an inevitability.

Starting next season (2022-23), the NHL is adding advertisements to its jerseys. We’ll be waiting patiently to find out which brand, if any, the Red Wings agree to add to their historic jerseys.

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