- Photos of the Bell Centre’s fresh sheet show a reworked centre ice logo for 2026-27
- The solid red faceoff circle from last season is gone, swapped for white and navy
- Read below for what changed and why the red was there in the first place
The red is gone at centre ice in Montreal.
Photos of the Bell Centre’s freshly painted sheet spread around Tuesday, and the circle the Canadiens installed only a year ago has already been reworked for 2026-27. The solid red faceoff dot is out. What sits there now is mostly white.
That close-up catches the ice crew still spraying the surface. “CentreBell” arcs across the top and bottom of the ring, with “Canadiens de Montréal” wrapped around it in navy and the founding year split into 19 on one side and 09 on the other. The CH shield in the middle is the only piece of that circle carrying real colour now.
A wider frame from up in the stands shows how much lighter the whole thing reads:
Last season’s version was impossible to miss. Montreal filled the entire faceoff circle in solid red when it unveiled that design in September 2025, the first change to centre ice since 2018. The team kept 1909 for the founding year and cut 24 grooves along the edge, one for each Stanley Cup, styled after an overhead look at the trophy.
Red was a directive, not a preference. Canadiens art director Antonin Brault Guilleaume pushed for more blue in that first design, but owner Geoff Molson was firm about the circle staying red, The Hockey News reported last fall, citing the Gazette’s Stu Cowan.
Blue finally got its turn a year later.
Montreal isn’t the only club redoing the middle of its rink this summer. Vegas painted its centre ice to look like a roulette wheel for Season X, which we covered earlier this month. Take a look at what the Golden Knights came up with:
Habs training camp opens in the coming weeks, and that is when fans get their first live look at the new circle.
