While I previously looked at older jerseys I’d love to see teams revive, here’s a dive into some uniforms that are best kept in the past.
For casual and diehard fans alike of just about any team sport, a team’s uniforms are often viewed as a source of pride and history within a given fanbase.
In addition to being a harmony between a logo and its accompanying colors, many uniforms, especially in the modern era, look to tell more of a story, implementing elements from past uniforms and/or their home city to add a refreshing twist to what is often a classic look.
I’ve always been extremely fascinated with uniforms, and I understand that it may have something to do with being a child of the early 2000’s, an era where uniform creativity was reaching an unprecedented high as teams across all major professional sports leagues began adding alternate jerseys to their rotations.
The turn of the century was a time of rapid change for uniforms across all of sports, as home and away tradition was getting set aside in favor of alternate jerseys, new colors and creative designs – many of which would not at all stand the test of time (I’m looking at you, Turn Ahead the Clock jerseys).
For the NHL, this era began in the 1995-96 season, with the league fresh off of a lockout the preceding year that shortened the regular season. Five different teams introduced third jerseys for the first time during the season, with several other clubs following suit in the ensuing years.
While some of these jerseys, such as the Blackhawks’ black uniforms and the Bruins’ yellow uniforms would stick around for a while, others were quickly discarded – including the infamous “Burger King” jerseys from the Los Angeles Kings.
Ignoring the low-hanging fruit that is that atrocity, here’s a look at four other uniforms from the ’90s that we don’t ever need to see in the NHL again:
*all photos are courtesy of nhluniforms.com
1. Calgary Flames primary home/away (1995-2000)
Introduced in 1995, these bizarre jerseys featured a set of diagonal stripes towards the bottom of the jersey that lead from one corner to the logo at the center of the uniform.
I couldn’t come across a specific reason for this design, and the Flames stood alone as the only team in the NHL employing such a look throughout the jerseys’ lifespan. Already having an incredibly clean color combination and an excellent logo, these uniforms butcher a design that should be impossible to screw up.
Fortunately for the Flames, this look didn’t last all that long – with the bizarre stripe design being replaced by a reverse chevron at the bottom of the uniforms beginning in the 2000-01 season.
That year also saw the Flames adopt their black uniforms as their primary road jerseys, with that changing in 2003-04 amid a small redesign as the NHL adopted colored jerseys for home games.
2. New York Rangers Statue of Liberty Alt. (1996-2007)
These grotesque jerseys made their debut for the 1996-97 season, providing a radical change of pace from the largely unaltered primary Rangers jerseys that have been in use for the vast majority of franchise history.
These uniforms take on a darker shade of blue, utilizing the Rangers’ scoreboard acronym beneath a Statue of Liberty logo with the team’s primary logo found on the shoulder patches.
As ugly as this seems now, this feels like a design that was with the times in the mid-’90s as the world was getting acquainted with computers and funky colors/designs were seen as contemporary.
Still, this feels like a haphazard, sloppy way to pay homage to the Rangers’ hometown of New York City, and the white version of these jerseys used for only the 1998-99 season were arguably even worse. I’ve never been a fan of the Rangers’ primary jerseys, but I’ll gladly take them every day over these monstrosities.
3. Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Alt. (1995-96)
It’s no secret that anything resembling a jade green/turquoise/teal was very popular during the 1990’s, and it’s a big part of my personal nostalgia for the era – so much so that I reach for an Arctic Blitz whenever I’m in the mood for a Gatorade.
Yet even with a longtime favorite color headlining the show, it’s impossible to get past these bizarre childhood birthday party-looking jerseys, which feature an emerging mascot armed with a hockey stick over the primarily jade green background.
To fully emphasize the eccentricity of this jersey, the uniforms contain a goofy font that was probably tough to make out from long distances on the back, while including the primary logo on the shoulder patches – something that was common practice on alternate jerseys throughout the late ’90s and 2000’s.
Though I’d hope it goes without saying, these uniforms were far too gimmicky to fall into any kind of normal use – along with being an epic squandering of an amazing alternate color scheme. The Mighty Ducks would eventually debut a different jade green alternate in 1997, although these jerseys featured a bizarre gold trim and had a few other differences when compared to their primary uniforms.
This jersey was briefly brought back to life in the 2020-21 season as part of the Reverse Retro campaign, although this time the emerging mascot was placed over a white background – as seen below:
4. New York Islanders fisherman (1995-97)
Certainly one of the more infamous uniforms in league history, these jerseys stuck around for just two seasons before the team shifted back to their primary logo fans still see today and have known for decades – but they still live rent-free in the minds of every older hockey fan.
Fully emerged in the outdated theming of the time, these jerseys included tri-color ocean-wave like design at the top and bottom of the jerseys, with a new primary logo featuring a fisherman over bold, all-caps ISLANDERS text serving as the headliner.
As if that wasn’t enough, the names and numbers on the back of the jersey follow the ocean wave patterns that run across the top and bottom of the uniforms, creating a distorted looking nameplate that only added to the goofy appearance of these jerseys.
While the fisherman logo would be retired after the 1996-97 season, the ocean wave design would stick around for one more season before the franchise would revert to a classic design in time for the 1998-99 campaign.
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