Hockey Trade Rumors

First off, let me come right out and say that I am 100% heterosexual, happily married and do not wear loafers (let alone light ones). All joking aside, by special request (you can all thank bcuffari for this) this is a guide through the good and bad uniforms in the league.

I graded each jersey in 4 categories: the basic design layout (not including colors), the cresting (both front and shoulders), the clarity and style of the lettering and numbering and finally the actual colour scheme. Some teams have more than two jerseys so I averaged out a score for each team, however I will single out individual jerseys for praise or otherwise too. All scores are out of 10.

Anaheim: 6.6 The home jersey looks much better than the road shirt, but both are hampered by a bad crest. The shoulder logo of the snearing duck mask is better. Green and purple not great together, especially on the away jersey.

Atlanta: 6.8 Although the away uniform has one of the worst crests in the league, the clarity and uniqueness of the lettering/numbering are great. The bright gold trim is sharp too.

Boston: 7.4 The team’s average was brought down by the winnie-the-pooh third jersey. While the alternate is pretty ugly, the other two Bruins shirts are pretty cool. Black and Yellow is a good color combo, and the “B” logo is classic.

Buffalo: 6.6 Buffalo’s score would have been higher if they were still wearing the blue and gold unis from 5 years ago. Going to black and red was pretty unoriginal, especially on the new alternates. The alternate logo is brutally bland. The “B” with the sword poking through it would have been a better choice.

Calgary: 7.8 Adding the black trim to the original red/gold and white was a good move. The new road jersey is a marked improvement too. The horse crest would look better if the flames were on the horse’s mane (like the Denver Broncos) instead of out it’s nose. The road jersey is one of the best in the league while the home has a classy look to it.

Carolina: 5.5 This jersey sucks. Nothing about it is good. The crest is terrible, the shoulder patch… what is it, a flag of some kind? The red squares along the bottom, yeeesh! And, again, another unoriginal team goes for the red and black. New jerseys needed!

Chicago: 7.1 The team that started the red and black… lost points for going to an all black thrid jersey. Home jersey is the best of the three, it’s a classic look for hockey and they haven’t changed it much in a long time. Is that crest racist though? Somebody tell me cause I don’t know.

Colorado: 6.5 They tried to be different and they are, but not in a good way. The colours aren’t bad and the crest is pretty good but what’s with the bigfoot footprint? And the numbering is bad. First time I saw it I thought Sakic had switched to #79 because of that goofy flare out of the 1 in 19.

Columbus: 6.5 That’s just a bad crest. The bug head on the shoulder isn’t much better, although for marketing to kids I suppose it’s no worse than the Mighty Duck head.

Dallas: 8.3 I can’t say enough good things about this jersey. The star pattern is excellent. It is unique and doesn’t hurt the eyes, nor is it hard to read the names and numbers of the players. Dallas’s crest isn’t great but it’s certainly better than Carolina’s or Columbus’.

Detroit: 7.6 The white and red home jersey’s are as attractive as they are legendary. The winged wheel crest is representative of the city and it’s industry. The road reds aren’t as nice looking. The lettering is unique and yet still clearly readable. I’d like to see Detroit bring out a third jersey with some silver/grey highlights in it.

Edmonton: 7.8 The Oilers changed their colours from royal blue and orange to “midnite blue” and copper with red trim. It makes the jerseys look classy. The road blues are great, the home whites are sharp. The oilrig worker on the shoulder is a tribute to the region, it would make a good third jersey crest. A big improvement from the 80’s.

Florida: 6.3 This jersey is “too busy”. The dark blue, bright yellow and red are too much on one shirt. The pouncing panther doesn’t work anymore. The third jersey is the same as the other two, just blue. Nothing special here.

Los Angeles: 7.2 Slightly above average, but the front crest is too much. The crown on the shoulder is better. I liked the black and silver look myself but the return of the purple isn’t horrible by any means.

Minnesota: 7.4 Some people hate these jerseys, I don’t. The crest is very creative, lots of thought went into it. The lettering is unique and yet easy to read. The road green is a bit dark but at least they didn’t go black and red.

Montreal: 7.5 Simple yet classic. The look hasn’t changed for years, and doesn’t need to. No patches or extras of any kind, just a legendary crest.

Nashville: 7.8 A completely original pattern, an attractive marketable crest, a locally meaningful shoulder patch, and a unique colour scheme. I instantly started seeing local minor teams adapting the Preds look as their own.

New Jersey: 6.5 They used to be unique, then they went to red and black. The team crest is simple and good. The jerseys are simple yet bland. Should have stayed with the red and green, at least they stood apart then.

NY Islanders: 7.2 I was the one guy who didn’t hate the fisherman logo because I thought it fit the area. Pardon my ignorance but didn’t Billy Joel sing a song about the fishermen of Long Island? The change back to the original colours is better though. One question, what is the significance of the stripes on the one shoulder?

NY Rangers: 7.3 Perhaps the only team that most improved their look with the 3rd jersey. The R-A-N-G-E-R-S across the chest is lame, although classic, it’s still boring. The statue of liberty is better. The silver trim was a nice touch too.

Ottawa: 7.4 Really good and really bad mixed together. The third jersey (the black one with the gold bars) is a much better looking shirt than the regular road one with the white swirl. That one is bad, it makes reading the back harder and it just looks poor. Ottawa’s score would have been higher if not for the swirl shirt.

Philadelphia: 7.1 I’m not a fan of the black jersey becoming the regular road shirt. When I was very young, I became a fan of the Flyers, in large part because they had different uniforms from all the other teams. I still think the home white/orange/black is one of the sharpest looking jerseys in the league. But the black ones are just like Chicago’s.

Phoenix: 5.9 Talk about too much happening on one one shirt! And the thrid jersey is horrible too. I can understand that the art style of the coyote is a regional thing, but the rest of this shirt is just ugly.

Pittsburgh: 7.2 I like the home shirts, I find the faint stripe on the road jerseys annoying, and the cuffs on the third jersey distracting. The black and yellow works for the Pens, like it does for Boston but not as well. I also like the old logo better, the penguin skating with the stick logo. I am probably in the minority on that one though.

St. Louis: 7.9 A very striking look. The royal blue and black contrasted by the bright yellow piping is very classy looking. Much, much better than the previous look which incorporated a lot of red.

San Jose: 8.1 Totally original pattern with the shoulders and the arching streaks. The colours are much better on this jersey than on the teal dominated original version. The lettering is crisp and clear too.

Tampa Bay: 5.6 Talk about a hard shirt to read. The numbers on these uniforms are just annoying. The front logo needs to be redone and the pattern of the shirt could be given an updating too.

Toronto: 7.6 The home whites are better than the road blues but both are very traditional and classy. The maple leaf logo is simple but effective, and besides it’s the symbol on my flag how could I knock it? I always thought that the Leafs should be red and white and the Canadiens should be blue and white (Quebec colours). Now though, that just wouldn’t look right.

Vancouver: 7.2 The crest bothers some people but, just like Phoenix’s, the artwork is done in a locally inspired fashion. The killer whale is significant too. The colours of the Canucks have changed a few times in the past twenty years, this is not my favourite look but it has been worse. These colours look dreary though.

Washington: 7.9 I thought the red/white and blue, stars and stripes look was well suited to the Caps, being that they are in the US capital. But the current uniforms are just too sharp to hate. The swooping eagle might be the coolest logo in the league, and the third jersey capital building crest is right up there too. The Black, gold and blue really go well together.

So, the top ten, best dressed teams are: 10) Montreal 7.5, 9)Detroit 7.6, 8) Toronto 7.6, 7) Calgary 7.8, 6) Nashville 7.8, 5) Edmonton 7.8, 4) St. Louis 7.9, 3) Washington 7.9, 2) San Jose 8.1 and on top… Dallas 8.3

The top individual jerseys include (in no particular order): San Jose (home and road), Dallas (road), Washington (home and 3rd), Ottawa (3rd), St. Louis (road), NYR (3rd), Detroit (home), Calgary (road) and Boston (road).

The worst include: both jerseys for Carolina, Buffalo (3rd), Florida (road), Phoenix (3rd), Tampa (road).

The best crests in the league go to:Washington (Eagle & Capital), Ottawa (3rd), Detroit, Toronto, St.Louis, Vancouver, Edmonton (Oil drop and rig worker), NYR (statue of liberty), Montreal and Boston.

The worst crests belong to: Boston (winnie the pooh), Atlanta (lame blue/red bird shape), Carolina (spooky circles), Buffalo (crossed swords, 3rd jersey only) and Columbus.

I expect plenty of people will disagree as I understand that these are just my opinions. Just because I like St. Louis’ colour scheme and Dallas’ “star” pattern doesn’t mean that everyone will. Hey, I was asked to do this so here you go.

I would be interested to know if there are any changes coming this year that I haven’t heard of yet. (Philly’s going with the black ones for the road, and Edmonton will have a third out sometime this season).

Puckboy – fashion consultant to HTR (LOL!)

puckboy@hockeytraderumors.com