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NHL Reverse Retro Redo -- Choosing a different jersey from each team's history (new jerseys for TBL, CBJ, ARI, plus minor revisions)


WLD42

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Minnesota Wild

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The Minnesota Wild have had far more jerseys than their expansion-mates, the Blue Jackets, and the designs I felt were best for the purposes of a Reverse Retro were their inaugural jerseys and the 2009-'17 third jerseys. It was a tough call, because I like them both, but ultimately the recentness of the Minnesota script jersey's retirement tilted the scales in favor of the team's first jersey. Especially for the '90s and 2000 expansion teams, the inaugural jersey designs seem to be the right distance away from the present to be in the nostalgia sweet spot.

 

My early drafts used the white jersey as the starting point, to try and keep the contrasting sleeves, but ultimately nothing I tried worked as well as I would have wanted, so I ended up using the green jersey, and did a straight swap of red and green, pants and gloves included, creating something of a Reverse Retro/Color Rush hybrid. I did my best to recreate the tapering curve of the arm stripes where they meet the collar, but it's much subtler on the Adizero template than it was on the original 2000 jersey.

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  • WLD42 changed the title to NHL Reverse Retro Redo -- Choosing a different jersey from each team's history (30/32, MIN added)
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We're at the final two teams, and I'm getting started on a few of the revisions and brand-new ideas for alternate takes today, too. I'm not quite ready to let this thread be over just yet!

 

Nashville Predators

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I really liked the Predators' real Reverse Retro, it was one of my favorites league-wide, but I always appreciate an alternate jersey that uses a different color than the team's primary home jersey, so even though Nashville is all-in on being "the yellow gold team," I do miss seeing them wear navy blue from time to time, just to shake things up. Following the same thought process as the Panthers, I took the team's worst third jersey, the 2001-'07 Mustard Tiger, and put it in a much more pleasing color palette; plus, this jersey has the benefit of being infamous, rather than simply forgotten and obscure like Florida's. The yellow gold is updated from mustard to the club's current shade, and then gets a simple swap with the navy, leaving the silver and white accents in place. Other than that, there are only a couple of small modernization changes necessitated by transition to an Adizero jersey.

 

The "pit stains," which have mercifully become a thing of the past in hockey design, are much smaller, but I didn't eliminate them entirely, since, in keeping with the rules of Reverse Retro, I wasn't setting out to fix the jersey with a redesign, just the palette change. And they do provide a good pop of color and help out with the uniform's color balance. They're "constructed" out of the same side panels on the Ottawa Senators' just-retired jerseys, and even though Adidas couldn't figure out running a stripe through the underarm mesh on Dallas's Reverse Retro, I figured a simple half-and-half two-color look could be realistic.

 

And the original jerseys had a "NASHVILLE" patch right under the collar, back in the days before the NHL logo took up residence there. I tried putting it off to one side a bit, but it looked too cramped as it got closer to the shoulder patch, so I figured nobody would really miss it. After all, the 3D-style logo was always the star of this jersey anyways.

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  • WLD42 changed the title to NHL Reverse Retro Redo -- Choosing a different jersey from each team's history (31/32, NSH added)

As it turns out, I started this series with the newest Canadian team, and wrap it up with the oldest.

 

Montreal Canadiens

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The Canadiens covered their jersey history pretty well for their 100th anniversary, but there was one particular omission that I thought was perfect for a Reverse Retro: the team's first ever white jersey, introduced in 1935-'36 to be worn as a clash jersey against the Red Wings. It's such an unusual jersey design, especially by modern standards; the stripe seems like a forerunner of the shoulder yoke stripes worn by the Rangers, Blues, etc., but it runs uninterrupted across the collarbone and shoulder blades, rather than being on the actual shoulder yoke and getting broken up by the collar on the front. It does introduce some early versions of the elements that now make up the Canadiens' long-standing white jersey, with the shoulder stripes being an inverted version of the current waist stripes, and with the use of color at the ends of the sleeves in lieu of arm stripes, albeit in blue rather than red and with a little extra striping.

 

The Reverse Retrofication sees a three-way rotation of white becoming blue, blue becoming red, and red becoming white. There were of course tan pants and no helmets at the time, but I decided on red equipment in the spirit of Reverse Retro, reversing the blue of the Canadiens' modern-day equipment; if they wear blue equipment with their red sweater, it stands to reason that they could wear red with a blue sweater (even if they did keep their regular blue equipment with the IRL blue Reverse Retro, but this is my fantasy and I say that Montreal can splurge on extra equipment). The player name was another modern-day element to make a decision about, and I figured going with no nameplate and letters directly onto the jersey would be the best way to showcase the stripe (especially with longer names), given that that's the unique highlight of the jersey's design. I used Montreal's usual font, but with an added outline; it ultimately may not be the most legible from a distance, but it's not a mess either, and Habs fans would know their players by their numbers anyways. And finally, the crest is the era-appropriate version of the classic CH logo, which is a bit roomier than the current version. I tried it "filled" with white, since the original white '35 jersey had blue inside the C, but decided at almost the last minute that this looked better.

 

 

So there you have it, a second Reverse Retro for all 32 teams! Revised versions and alternate takes are in the works, but probably at somewhat of a slow pace, or at least an irregular pace. Thanks for looking!

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  • WLD42 changed the title to NHL Reverse Retro Redo -- Choosing a different jersey from each team's history (32/32, MTL added)

Alright, I've finished the first revised versions, which in this case are one heavy revision and one brand-new design, both for the...

 

Pittsburgh Penguins

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@johne9109 was accurate in saying that my original yellow version of the Pens' 1968 jersey was veering pretty close to the Bruins' 1958-'59 jersey, so I abandoned the idea of mixing a double-blue jersey with the black-and-yellow palette, and just did a one-for-one reverse of the powder blue and the dark blue. I always liked when Pittsburgh had one of their double-blue Winter Classic jerseys in regular rotation as an alternate, so this new take on that 1968 jersey does have the benefit of bringing the throwback color scheme back into use. The roundel going from dark blue to powder blue is a bit of an unusual look, but at the same time it's fitting for a Reverse Retro.

 

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And along the same lines, I took 1980, when the Penguins switched from double-blue to black-and-yellow mid-season, and double-blue-ified the black-and-yellow jersey from the second half of that season. The jerseys didn't change much when they switched color schemes, but there were some minor design changes, notably the addition of a third arm stripe and a slight modification to the waist striping, especially on the black jersey, which is the one I used.

 

Since the jerseys at the start of the 1979-'80 season were dark blue, I made this Reverse Retro powder blue for a more original look, rather than just going back to dark blue, which would have been more of a subtle change that only us jersey geeks would really appreciate. (There were powder blue jerseys with angled arm stripes from 1974-1977, but they were a different enough design to not really be confused with this Reverse Retro of the 1980 jersey, in my opinion.) In addition to swapping black for powder blue, the yellow becomes dark blue (including the socks, which were indeed originally yellow), with white staying white.

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  • WLD42 changed the title to NHL Reverse Retro Redo -- Choosing a different jersey from each team's history (all 32 ; new PIT versions added)

Nobody asked for it, per se, but a while back I finally realized that I'd misinterpreted @B-mer's comment on the very first concept, for the Jets:

On 6/14/2021 at 9:44 AM, B-mer said:

pretty good choice,  I wonder if this were a real consideration if they'd have kept the blue navy to slide into the current branding a little more, or if they'd do something like they actually did with the gray.  Probably some fun you could have with the colors.  looking forward to the rest!

 

I'd initially read it as suggesting a navy jersey, but eventually realized they'd meant just updating my original design's bright blue to the Jets 2.0's navy blue, since that's what they did IRL for their Heritage Classic/throwback uniforms. So here's the result:

 

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It turns out both the red and the blue are different shades in the contemporary color palette, so it's a bit of a more muted jersey than I was expecting. I don't hate it, though, and the duskier red certainly stands out in comparison to the league's other red-white-and-blue teams. B-mer's right that this is probably how it'd go in real life, since this is the precedent that the team has set with their other throwbacks to the Jets 1.0, but no matter what, I like the idea of giving them a red jersey (whatever the shade), since it's exactly the sort of thing that the Reverse Retro program was meant to do.

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  • WLD42 changed the title to NHL Reverse Retro Redo -- Choosing a different jersey from each team's history (all 32 ; WPG revision added)
  • 2 months later...

One final post to dump all the updates I've been chipping away at. Obviously it's been a while, but I never totally forgot about this and the feedback and suggestions that were made, just had to focus on some other life things for a bit.

 

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First up is the most obviously exciting, a Reverse Retro of the Lightning's 1996-'99 sublimated "storm" jersey as suggested by @AFirestormToPurify. I did end up going with a "true Reverse Retro," though, rather than the all-black "stealth-style" design as you had originally said. The color-swap itself is pretty straightforward, with just a one-for-one reversal of black and blue, which, in my opinion, makes it more of a "realistic" storm scene, with a black sky and blue waves. (Though I understand the reasoning for the original being a blue third jersey, to contrast the team's black primary jersey at the time.) I also swapped the white and yellow in the lightning bolts on the arms, to make things a little more colorful.

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Next, after having given the Lightning a new Reverse Retro design that was no longer just a different coloring of their real Reverse Retro, I figured I ought to do the same for only other team I'd "recycled," the Blue Jackets. So I used the only other available jersey design from the team's history, the 2003-'07 third jersey that marked the beginning of the switch from their original CBJ logo to their current Ohio-flag logo.

 

I rather like it as a jersey design, but the use of black was just downright bizarre, and looks terrible with the blue. So I eliminated black and replaced it with the gray/silver from their logo. (For a minute I thought about making that the jersey's main color, but then I realized that for a team named after the Union Army in the Civil War... gray would be even worse than red! 😬) In addition to replacing black with gray, I also flipped the red and white in the striping, and of course the stars, which were originally white, had to change color on a gray background, and blue just seemed like the best color for that, though it's not really a reversal with anywhere else on the jersey. The pants got swapped to to blue just because I didn't like the look of their usual red pants with this jersey. (I'd like to think that the red/gray/white striping might appeal to all the Ohio State fans in Columbus, too, but that's more of an Easter egg than anything purposeful!)

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And the final brand-new concept is for the Arizona Coyotes. I still really like the red kachina jersey I originally gave them, but now that the kachinas are officially the main brand again, I felt it didn't really fit as a Reverse Retro anymore. So I took their underrated leaping coyote third jersey from 2008-'14 and reversed the black and sand; the red stays put for color balance, and the 'Yotes would finally have a sand-base light jersey, even though IRL they seem to pretend not to hear everyone clamoring for one. Even though it's a light jersey, I did go with a red helmet, since the Red Wings' Reverse Retro showed that that's "allowed," and I thought it looked better than a sand helmet. Would the side panels actually work with the Adizero underarm mesh? I honestly don't know, because they clearly weren't able to do the Dallas Stars star-shaped striping, but they can do chest stripes, so I figured that even though I always strive for realism, I'd still make the concept and just tell myself that it's doable, because I want it to be.

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Next up are a few smaller revisions, starting with my gold Dallas Stars concept. @johne9109 had suggested swapping the green and white in the logo and striping (and I extended that to the name and number for consistency), so I gave it a shot. I think it still looks good, but if I had to pick between the two I think I'd still go with my first version. Even though there are two thin stripes and only one thick stripe, the thick middle stripe still feels like the secondary color and the thin stripes the tertiary, and it just doesn't look right to me to demote green all the way to third for the Stars; I also prefer the logo with green fill and a white outline rather than the reverse as seen here. But they both work in their own way, and it was certainly worth suggesting and trying!

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For the Vancouver Canucks, I went for full throwback-authenticity and made a blue/green/white version of the spaghetti skate logo on the arms, instead of copping out and using the current orca logo like I originally did.

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Edit: Realized that with how minor the change was, I may as well post a full-size image of the recolored skate logo!

Spoiler

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And for the Seattle Kraken, I got around to shrinking the diagonal wordmark to a more realistic size, as I'd mentioned in my original posting of it. A super minor change, but one that I couldn't let myself get away with not doing. (Plus, I got to give the jersey a real player's name and number!)

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  • WLD42 changed the title to NHL Reverse Retro Redo -- Choosing a different jersey from each team's history (new jerseys for TBL, CBJ, ARI, plus minor revisions)
19 hours ago, AFirestormToPurify said:

I love the Lightning RR! It does look a bit more realistic now. I'd still like to see a stealth version lol. Or maybe just the arms and socks in black? Either way, good work with the other concepts as well. I particularly like the CBJ and Canucks

Just for you, then! Tracing it out the first time was the really time-consuming part, so recoloring it now is pretty straightforward. But it actually proved to be more of a fun challenge than I expected! In addition to making the arms and socks black, I figured I ought to remove white completely, so I replaced all of the light gray with the dark gray from their real-life "stealth" third jersey, and replaced all the white with the aforementioned light gray, including in the logo. I still considered a contrasting shoulder yoke to be essential to the design, since the lightning bolts need something to emerge from (a cloud in the sky, if you will), but the new dark gray seemed sufficiently stealthy, and then making the lightning bolts light gray with a dark gray border felt like the best way to stealthify them, since yellow and white was obviously a non-starter.

 

While the first one may have been more true to the original (which is always where I prefer to start, at least, and then continue from there with additional changes), I do really like how this one came out, certainly as far as fitting the Lightning's current branding, so thanks very much for the idea!

 

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5 hours ago, WLD42 said:

Just for you, then! Tracing it out the first time was the really time-consuming part, so recoloring it now is pretty straightforward. But it actually proved to be more of a fun challenge than I expected! In addition to making the arms and socks black, I figured I ought to remove white completely, so I replaced all of the light gray with the dark gray from their real-life "stealth" third jersey, and replaced all the white with the aforementioned light gray, including in the logo. I still considered a contrasting shoulder yoke to be essential to the design, since the lightning bolts need something to emerge from (a cloud in the sky, if you will), but the new dark gray seemed sufficiently stealthy, and then making the lightning bolts light gray with a dark gray border felt like the best way to stealthify them, since yellow and white was obviously a non-starter.

 

While the first one may have been more true to the original (which is always where I prefer to start, at least, and then continue from there with additional changes), I do really like how this one came out, certainly as far as fitting the Lightning's current branding, so thanks very much for the idea!

 

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My pleasure and wow, that looks incredible! I HATE, no wait that's not a strong enough word, I LOATHE the Lightning and usually strongly dislike stealth jersey but I'd buy that jersey in a heartbeat if it actually existed.

Good job, you actually made me want to own a Lightning jersey thanks lol

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