The past 30 years have seen a wide range of uniform designs across the NHL, ranging from quirky to classic. Here’s a look at some uniforms that should be revived.
When it comes to North American professional sports, it’s hard to get more formulaic with uniforms than what the National Hockey League had practiced for generations – including a simple home and away uniform for each team.
Teams alternated between a white and colored jersey with virtually no interruption for decades, even differing from a brief era in Major League Baseball when many visiting teams wore powder blue for away games during the 1970’s.
This finally began to change in the wake of the 1994-95 NHL lockout that cost the league a good portion of that season, with teams only playing 48 regular season games as opposed to the normal 82 contests.
Returning to action for another full season in 1995-96, several teams across the league introduced alternate jerseys for the first time, kickstarting an era where teams exercised a lot more creativity when it came to the colors and designs that would accompany a club logo on a jersey.
It’s this era where many of the most and least popular jerseys in NHL history were worn, including the infamous “Burger King” Los Angeles Kings jerseys and the fisherman New York Islanders kits – the latter of which actually took over as the franchise’s primary uniforms for two seasons.
At the same time, other teams were able to answer fan’s wishes with more simple designs that incorporated new colors, such as the black Chicago Blackhawks alternate of the late 1990’s and the Statue of Liberty New York Rangers uniforms – both of which remained in both teams’ wardrobes through the mid 2000’s.
While many of these uniforms are hit-or-miss, I singled out four different jerseys that were worn across my early years of being a hockey fan that I’d love to see brought back – some as a permanent addition with others serving as alternates or jerseys for special games.
Here’s a look at the uniforms I’d love to see in NHL action once again:
*All uniform pictures and information is courtesy of nhluniforms.com
1. Los Angeles Kings black/purple crown jerseys, 2002-2011
While the Kings currently don a primarily silver-and-black color scheme that itself succeeded a purple-and-gold look that mirrored their roommate Los Angeles Lakers, the franchise found a sweetspot in the early 21st century.
From 2002-03 through the 2010-11 season, the team’s primary colored jersey was black and purple with silver trim and a more modernized crown to serve as the club’s logo.
The Kings had one of the more unique color schemes in all of sports during this time, with their corresponding white jersey doing plenty of the work as well, with purple playing a more visible role on the away uniform.
Although I don’t hate the current Kings uniforms by any means, I would certainly welcome a permanent change back to the purple-and-black days – where the franchise can occupy a distinct lane when it comes to uniform design in the NHL.
2. Tampa Bay Lightning late 1990’s alternates
Although the Lightning maintained their primary home-and-away design for several years, the polarizing and eye-popping alternate jersey worn during the late 1990’s was unlike anything else seen in pro sports at the time.
Worn for three seasons from 1996-97 through 1998-99, the Lightning donned an alternate jersey that was primarily blue and black, featuring waves and rain drops on the front and back of the uniform while including lightning bolts on the lower outer sleeve.
One of the more stimulating and busy uniforms ever worn in North American professional sports, this jersey was seen as a gimmick by many – but I actually love the adventurous and unapologetic nature of the uniform, which certainly reflects the aesthetic creativity that took hold near the turn of the century.
While a primarily white adaptation of this uniform was brought back by the Lightning as a “Reverse Retro” jersey in 2022-23, I’m one to believe the unique approach works best with dark colors.
3. Pittsburgh Penguins white and Vegas gold jerseys
It’s impossible to find another city in North American professional sports that is as lockstep about team colors as Pittsburgh is – with Black and Yellow dominating the color schemes for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pirates in addition to the Penguins.
While the Penguins currently match the Steelers and Pirates and did for much of their team history, the franchise experimented with a different brand of yellow for much of the 2000’s and early 2010’s – swapping out the brighter yellow for a Vegas gold, creating a look that defined the Penguins during the early Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin years.
I’m certainly not opposed to the classic, yellow-heavy color scheme the Penguins sport today, but I do think reviving the Vegas gold color scheme – particularly on the white jerseys – could serve as a fitting throwback option, especially with the careers of Crosby, Malkin and Kris Letang likely winding down.
4. San Jose Sharks 2021 Reverse Retro
Though only worn for one season in 2021 during the NHL’s leaguewide “reverse retro” jersey program, this Sharks jersey always looked to me like the perfect manifestation of a reimagined throwback.
While teal and black are the team’s two most recognizable colors today, the early years of the franchise saw silver incorporated as an important accent color, most prominently taking up much of the sleeves on the team’s colored jerseys from the early 2000’s.
Although the Sharks had phased out silver as part of their uniforms by the time Reebok took over jersey design for the 2007-08 season, the old designs remained popular with fans – with the old jerseys brought back as anniversary throwbacks this past season.
The reverse retro iteration from 2021 finds the perfect balance of old and new, letting silver take front stage on the jersey with tasteful black, white and teal trims throughout – creating a sleek uniform that looks both nostalgic and futuristic. Though it’s hard to see how this uniform could be implemented permanently, it would make an excellent alternate jersey for the Sharks.
Leave a Reply