2021-2022 NHL Jersey Changes

[DTConcepts]

I guess I'm in the minority, but I really like the Lightning sweater. It's new and futuristic without being unbearably gaudy. I'm not a fan of the BOLTS script, but I do like the striping a lot.

 

Stadium Series are meant to push the envelope of jersey design. The Lightning do it fantastically. The Preds? Not so much.

[Ridleylash]

The thing with the Lightning is "Bolts" is A.) common lexicon for describing the team on the ice (ex: "The Bolts get one back!") and B.) jerseys with it are popular with fans, so it makes sense why Tampa would keep iterating on that idea for alternates. Lots of people like the "Bolts" jerseys compared to the infamous "Sens" jerseys that were from that same era.

 

"Smashville" is a marketing term, it's never really been used to describe the players of the Predators by fans; that term's "Preds". Sticking it on a jersey just feels weird in comparison. They had an easy slam dunk with navy and absolutely duffed it at the final hurdle.

[IceCap]

Devils: We have the worst alternates in hockey. 

 

Perds: YOLO! 

 

 

[Crabcake]

That Preds jersey is laughably bad

[AFirestormToPurify]

17 minutes ago, DTConcepts said:

I guess I'm in the minority, but I really like the Lightning sweater. It's new and futuristic without being unbearably gaudy. I'm not a fan of the BOLTS script, but I do like the striping a lot.

 

Stadium Series are meant to push the envelope of jersey design. The Lightning do it fantastically. The Preds? Not so much.

I usually keep it polite, as unbiased as possible and try to avoid sounding like an arrogant douche who thinks his opinions are facts (granted, I often still sound like an arrogant douche lol) and just say "well, personally I don't like it" or something along those lines, but that Lightning uniform is pure dog. Literally not a single redeeming thing about it except maybe the silver trim. The stripes suck, the font sucks, the Bolts script sucks, the huge logo on the pants sucks, it's just a terrible jersey. Legit in the top 10 worst jerseys of all time. An objectively bad jersey, if you will.

[Fitzy0220]

3 hours ago, pepis21 said:

They're not Penguins, they're Chickens for cowardly refuse to use RoboPen.

Anyway Gin & Juice is always a great shirt.

HA HA HA HA HA! Nobody wants that garbage Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium pigeon / robo logo back except the youngins who have no idea why most Pittsburghers don't like it, the fact that King Penguin himself Mario Lemieux doesn't like it should say something! I'm sorry I cannot UNSEE nor UNLEARN what that howard baldwin pos pigeon / robo Represents.  Ya know that bull**** that Lemieux had to go through (fighting with the Commonwealth of PA, Allegheny County and City of Pittsburgh) to get the Pens a New Arena, yeah baldwin Created that Problem by NOT jumping on the Plan B proposal with the Pirates and Steelers to get New Ball Park, Stadium and Arena had baldwin jumped on it

Pittsburgh Post Gazette article written by Ron Cook (interviewing howard baldwin) 
- Baldwin cared deeply about the Penguins and their fans and, for a time in the 1990s, was the city's most beloved sports owner. But no one knew at the time he was keeping a winning team together by giving huge contracts to Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and so many others that he didn't have the money to do the deals. It wasn't until the franchise filed for bankruptcy in October, 1998, that we realized just how reckless and foolish many of his decisions were with the players, with Spectacor Management Group, with Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh and with city and county officials.
- Although the contract with SMG, which managed Mellon Arena, was cited as the overriding cause of the bankruptcy, it was Baldwin's deal with the city and county that still could force the Penguins out of town. In '97, he accepted a $12.9 million Band-Aid for club seats and other improvements at the arena instead of jumping on the Plan B bandwagon with the Pirates and Steelers, who built terrific new facilities.
- "There was talk of new stadiums then, but no guarantees," Baldwin said. "I thought it was important to add the club seats without adding to our debt service. Those club seats are good seats. The arena isn't the problem there."

Told that team officials say the Penguins' only chance of staying in Pittsburgh is a new building, Baldwin said, "You're not talking to them now. You're talking to me. I've never believed a new arena will solve all of the problems. Look at Kevin McClatchy. How much did the Pirates' attendance drop off from year one to year two at their new ballpark?

- "I just hope that everyone back there -- the mayor and the politicians -- gets behind Mario. The hockey fans there deserve it. They probably don't think much of me, but they're great fans."

It's no wonder Baldwin is rooting so hard for the Penguins.

If they don't make it, his fingerprints will be all over the corpse.

Again, I'm sorry I cannot UNSEE nor UNLEARN that! 

 

 

[Morgan33]

15 minutes ago, WSU151 said:

Nothing about the Lightning jersey is good.

 

Nothing about the Preds jersey is good.

 

People wonder why dweebs clamor for 90s and this is why. 

 

One good thing about the Lightning jersey is the return of Silver to their colour palette...  Besides that, everything you said in this post is on point. 

Alternate/Special Event jerseys suck in 2021.

[IceCap]

3 minutes ago, AFirestormToPurify said:

I usually keep it polite, as unbiased as possible and try to avoid sounding like an arrogant douche who thinks his opinions are facts (granted, I often still sound like an arrogant douche lol) and just say "well, personally I don't like it" or something along those lines, but that Lightning uniform is pure dog. Literally not a single redeeming thing about it except maybe the silver trim. The stripes suck, the font sucks, the Bolts script sucks, the huge logo on the pants sucks, it's just a terrible jersey. Legit in the top 10 worst jerseys of all time. An objectively bad jersey, if you will.

You're not wrong. 

But it just got released alongside the single worst sweater in NHL history. So it looks passable by comparison. 

[Ridleylash]

Eh, I find the Bolts' jersey fine for a Stadium jersey. Those always have different expectations, and at least it's not as disappointing as Nashville's limp-dick effort.

 

I don't find it offensively ugly, just kinda meh. Wish they'd incorporated some black into the design, but it at least doesn't look like a beer league design.

[IceCap]

I get an ever so faint feeling of tenseness and itching in my teeth whenever I look at the front of that Perds sweater. It's the only "big four"  uniform that's so bad it's caused me any degree of physical discomfort.

 

What a joke. 

[DTConcepts]

Just now, IceCap said:

You're not wrong. 

But it just got released alongside the single worst sweater in NHL history. So it looks passable by comparison. 

 

That's probably clouding my judgement a bit, to be sure.

 

But I also tend to like the more out there and experimental jerseys. The Avs 'Bib' Stadium Series jerseys, the Space Coyote alt, the Isles' fishsticks jerseys, and the Red Wings' Stadium Series jerseys are all designs I genuinely enjoy.

[CreamSoda]

The Lightning sweater is actually pretty solid.  Love the blue bolt for the striping.  Nice!!

[AFirestormToPurify]

1 minute ago, IceCap said:

You're not wrong. 

But it just got released alongside the single worst sweater in NHL history. So it looks passable by comparison. 

Which one, Jersey or Smashville? lmao. Either way, not exactly a good year for new jerseys. Other than the Blues and Coyotes maybe? Definitely more bad than good, just as I thought the league as a whole hadn't looked that good in decades, the crappy new jerseys keep on coming and coming and coming

[CS85]

I mean this Predators affair is genuinely worrisome.  This passed muster.  Someone, or more likely someones, all with working eyes, signed off on this. 

[daniel75]

The Lightning’s aren’t half bad, for a one off I kinda like it. The Preds on the other hand are just awful, the crest looks like a giant billboard ad.

[DTConcepts]

1 minute ago, AFirestormToPurify said:

Which one, Jersey or Smashville? lmao. Either way, not exactly a good year for new jerseys. Other than the Blues and Coyotes maybe? Definitely more bad than good, just as I thought the league as a whole hadn't looked that good in decades, the crappy new jerseys keep on coming and coming and coming

 

Neither the Blues or Coyotes jerseys are really new, so

[AFirestormToPurify]

Just now, DTConcepts said:

 

Neither the Blues or Coyotes jerseys are really new, so

Fair enough, that's a very good point lol. So yeah, terrible year for new-new jerseys

[pepis21]

2022 Stadium Series probably have the best logo in Stadium Series history and probably the worst jerseys in same history. Oh my...

[IceCap]

Just now, DTConcepts said:

 

That's probably clouding my judgement a bit, to be sure.

 

But I also tend to like the more out there and experimental jerseys. The Avs 'Bib' Stadium Series jerseys, the Space Coyote alt, the Isles' fishsticks jerseys, and the Red Wings' Stadium Series jerseys are all designs I genuinely enjoy.

To me "experiment" implies the possibility of failure. The Lightning adopting the reverse retro- based on the design they won their first Cup in- isn't an experiment. It's a design fans like. Can't go wrong. 

 

What the Lightning did with the Stadium Series sweater is out there but again- experiment implies the potential for failure. An experimental design isn't worth it to me, just because it's experimental. It has to pull off whatever crazy thing it's trying to be worthwhile. 

 

For me...the idea of a Rangers-like wordmark that follow the diagonal pattern of a lightning bolt is an experimental idea. That they went with "BOLTS" ruins it for me. It should have been "LIGHTNING" in my opinion. 

 

3 minutes ago, AFirestormToPurify said:

Which one, Jersey or Smashville?

The SMASHVILLE sweater. It's my easy choice for worst NHL sweater of all time. 

[Ridleylash]

Eh, Minnesota's jersey is pretty solid as a fauxback design, too. It's supposed to look out of a certain era and nails that aesthetic, so it at least accomplishes what it's going for, unlike the JERSEY jersey and the Preds' Stadium Series abomination.

 

4 minutes ago, IceCap said:

For me...the idea of a Rangers-like wordmark that follow the diagonal pattern of a lightning bolt is an experimental idea. That they went with "BOLTS" ruins it for me. It should have been "LIGHTNING" in my opinion. 

I can see why they did it; "Lightning" is a pretty long name to do in diagonal font and, perhaps more importantly, "Bolts" jerseys are already popular with Lightning fans; so combining an experimental design with a bit of something your fans have already proven they'll buy on jerseys is smart business on their end to maximize potential sales.