You can call them the 'new-look' Red Deer Rebels once again.

Last season the tag was appropriate because the Western Hockey League squad was top heavy with rookies.

One year later, the Rebels are pulling on new jerseys.

The colours haven't changed and neither has the logo, but the jersey has a distinct design with three thin stripes around the bottom and no shoulder patches.

"It's similar to the Edmonton Oilers jersey in terms of the striping. It's more of a traditional jersey, one that's going to look good now and 10 years from now," Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter said Wednesday.

The new look, complete with the Nike swoosh on the left shoulder, officially kicks off the Sutter era, which actually began last year when he purchased the club.

"I had it in mind last October that we’d be doing this, but you have to give the league a year's notice for any changes," said Sutter.

The numbers on the new jerseys are also different, as are the name tags.

"The old name tags on the away jerseys were red on grey. The new ones are red on black," said Sutter.

"The shoulder markings, that was a hot look for a couple of years," said Rebels director of marketing Greg McConkey.

"Rather than being trendy, this is a stylish uniform that won't change in probably 20 years. It's a classic look."

The bottom line, according to Sutter, "is that I wanted a jersey we don’t have to change every three or four years.

"The NHL teams that fool around with their jerseys . . . they always seem to go back to the original look."

Sutter and McConkey admitted that the Rebels may unveil a third jersey down the road. One example might be the club's 10th anniversary.

"But this new look is what the Red Deer Rebels will be recognized as," said Sutter.

The Rebels also appointed Jim Vandermeer as captain for the second year in a row. Justin Mapletoft will again serve as an alternate captain, joining Doug Lynch and Kyle Wanvig.

The Rebels open their WHL regular-season schedule Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Centrium against the Calgary Hitmen.

The defending champion Kootenay Ice will pay a visit Sunday at 6 p.m.

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|| The Carolina Hurricanes have assigned former Red Deer forward Brent McDonald to Cincinnati of the IHL.