2022-2023 NHL Jersey Changes

[Ridleylash]

If the Wild do move to North Stars-style branding full-time, they need to use the 80's-90's version with the added black. You'll get more sales with new designs than just promoting the RRs to full-time status, since most people with those won't double-dip on identical jerseys where the only real difference is the inside of the collar;

[spartacat_12]

22 minutes ago, Ridleylash said:

If the Wild do move to North Stars-style branding full-time, they need to use the 80's-90's version with the added black. You'll get more sales with new designs than just promoting the RRs to full-time status, since most people with those won't double-dip on identical jerseys where the only real difference is the inside of the collar;

 

The North Stars, just like the Flames, Mets, Knicks, NY Jets, and Detroit Lions, never needed to add black. I don't know how you can look at those pictures next to the ones the Wild based their RR on and say they're an improvement.

 

I'm sure there are plenty of fans in Minnesota who haven't bought a RR yet, but would if they're wearing it for the next couple years.

[BuckDancer]

I hope this isn't true, their current color scheme works a lot better with their identity. Darker green and red over the brighter green and yellow in my opinion fits far better for a team who's identity is about the wilderness. Plus the darker forrest green helps distinguish them from the dallas stars' bright green. The wild just need to make a matching home jersey and keep the north stars jersey as a third.   

[GFB]

Maybe this should be it's own topic, but has anyone ever drawn a line connecting the Minnesota Wild and the Houston Texans? Because at the end of the day it's almost the exact same conversation and talking points on both sides:

 

1) Beloved team with unique local identity packs up and leaves town in the 90s.

2) Franchise keeps old identity around in bastardized form before eventually making changes.

3) New franchise returns to city with a silly name, but nice logo and colors.

4) Extended lack of success by the new franchise doesn't aid the efforts to cement new identity to fans.

5) Team starts to flirt with original franchise's colors to satiate local fans. 

 

I'd be curious if the relation of fans who want the Wild to return to the North Stars' green/gold and the Texans to bring back Luv Ya Blue is 1:1

[The_Admiral]

Yep. It's exactly the same, plus 6) league should have pulled out all the stops to keep the original team there in the first place and render the whole discussion moot.

[VampyrRabbit]

And 7) New franchise has zero chance of getting back original franchise name and logo.

[Chromatic]

6 hours ago, Ridleylash said:

If the Wild do move to North Stars-style branding full-time, they need to use the 80's-90's version with the added black. You'll get more sales with new designs than just promoting the RRs to full-time status, since most people with those won't double-dip on identical jerseys where the only real difference is the inside of the collar;

This is one of those teams like the 49ers that always seems to be exempt from the BFBS criticism and I'll never understand why, they look so much better without it.

[infernoqueso]

I understand the love for the old North Stars look, but I would be disappointed if the Wild just took colors very similar to the Stars, when they have such a unique look they have carved for themselves.  Green and gold should stay an alternate at best.  

[The_Admiral]

The North Stars have been criticized for adding extra black a bunch of times. They had to be talked out of a black road uniform at one point, and then you had the ST^RS uniforms that were priming the pump for leaving town. As for the current Minnesota team committing to kelly green and gold full time, well, I would have rather seen the North Stars adopt forest green and vintage white than see the Wild adopt kelly and gold.

 

They get off the hook for the same reason people let the Flames off the hook, which is that if you can keep yellow and white from touching with a little bit of black, it's tolerable. The same goes for the Blues adding red or navy. I've felt the Sabres should use single-layer yellow numbers on blue, too.

[maz]

The North Stars and Flames both benefit from the black because it adds contrast to uniforms that otherwise feel too bright. For them, unlike other teams, it isn't for black's sake, but functional, IMO.  Helps keep them both from looking painfully generic, also (I mean damn do the Flames look boring nowadays).

 

I'm in the same boat as all the others who say the Wild logo and colors are too good and unique to throw away for North Stars nostalgia.

 

EDIT: Don't get me wrong with Calgary. Sometimes less is more, and their look works. But at the same time any beer league team could slap their logo on it and nobody would know it's a Calgary jersey.

 

[MinnyHockey]

I wouldn't be opposed to a North Stars rebrand or at the very least the RR entering the alternate rotation which it sounds like it will. Most Wild fans are split: Some strongly support and other strongly oppose and want to move on.  I would love to see the North Star colors gain a larger role for the Wild. There are those who argue that only "boomers" want the North Star colors but that is simply not true. Everywhere you go in MN you see people of all ages sporting the retro colors. I wasn't born to see the North Stars but I adore the look and its time for our state to reclaim the colors that are a fabric to our hockey history.

[SailorOfSilence102]

To be honest, the black on the white jerseys I always felt were fine, and fairly tasteful. It's when the shorts became black and when they added it to the green jerseys that I think it got really ugly. I'm sorry but having Kelly green being so prominent on a jersey and then having a fair amount of black on it just kinda throws it off for me, it looks gross.

 

Though I imagine the reason why people defend it more is because of the finals team, but I wasn't alive then so...

[adsarebad]

Why bother discussing NHL unis when they now ruin them right away.

 

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look at this detail, look at that

 

 sure, look at that green :censored:ing ad patch!

 

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[spartacat_12]

14 hours ago, maz said:

The North Stars and Flames both benefit from the black because it adds contrast to uniforms that otherwise feel too bright. For them, unlike other teams, it isn't for black's sake, but functional, IMO.  Helps keep them both from looking painfully generic, also (I mean damn do the Flames look boring nowadays).

 

I'm in the same boat as all the others who say the Wild logo and colors are too good and unique to throw away for North Stars nostalgia.

 

EDIT: Don't get me wrong with Calgary. Sometimes less is more, and their look works. But at the same time any beer league team could slap their logo on it and nobody would know it's a Calgary jersey.

 

Do you think these uniforms look generic & need unnecessary black trim added?

 

 

[maz]

I did not say that every team that wears red and yellow needs to add black or looks boring. The Chiefs have one of the best looks in all of football, because it works perfectly, head to toe. It thrives in its simplicity, and that's why they haven't changed in over half a century. So no, they definitely do not need black. You don't always need black, and I didn't say you did. 

 

Kelly green and yellow just don't work together by themselves like red and yellow do, and the A's and North Stars wearing them is a product of the 60's, where such a color palette belongs.  Which was my actual point - black brought something to the table for the North Stars. So while the Flames are fine without black (which I did say), the North Stars adding it is, at worst, a lateral move. If they'd moved to a darker green like Oakland did, then I'd agree they wouldn't need black.

 

Then again, the "whatever they wore in the 60's or 70's = superior" philosophy reigns supreme on this site.

[The_Admiral]

2 hours ago, spartacat_12 said:

Do you think these uniforms look generic & need unnecessary black trim added?

No, but you can't apply the rules for one sport's uniforms to another any more than you can a sports uniform to civilian attire. I wouldn't wear a brown shirt with orange pants in public. Well, I would, but I'm an idiot.

[BuckDancer]

I wish more teams would evolve their brand similar to the St. Louis Blues. If you go to the nhl uniforms website and look at the aesthetic history of the Blues you see a nice evolution to their identity decade by decade. From light blue and gold in the 60's and 70's to the switch in the 80's and early 90's to a darker shade of blue and the addition of red, the angled red and blue mid 90's set and finally the late 90's - present dual blue and gold look. Then they kept refining that look until they got it perfect in 2014. 

 

The Blues could have easily just lazily fell back on nostalgia and went back to their current retro third jersey as the basis for the current look after botching their jerseys in 2007 (like so many others), but thankfully they decided to right the wrong and not only revert back to their 1998 pre-edge look but improved upon it and continued to move their brand forward and now they have a modern classic that need not be changed any time soon. The San Jose Sharks accomplished the same thing this year. They also could have easily just went back to their original look and called it a day, but thankfully decided to fix all the problems that have been plaguing them for a decade and went with something unique with those sublimated wave patterns, modern yet traditional and loyal to their established identity. 

 

I think way too many teams are just relying on nostalgia, pulling something old out of the closet and throwing it on instead of coming up with something modern, classy and original. Arizona,  Ottawa and Calgary come to mind as the greatest offenders. 

[spartacat_12]

2 hours ago, maz said:

I did not say that every team that wears red and yellow needs to add black or looks boring. The Chiefs have one of the best looks in all of football, because it works perfectly, head to toe. It thrives in its simplicity, and that's why they haven't changed in over half a century. So no, they definitely do not need black. You don't always need black, and I didn't say you did. 

 

Kelly green and yellow just don't work together by themselves like red and yellow do, and the A's and North Stars wearing them is a product of the 60's, where such a color palette belongs.  Which was my actual point - black brought something to the table for the North Stars. So while the Flames are fine without black (which I did say), the North Stars adding it is, at worst, a lateral move. If they'd moved to a darker green like Oakland did, then I'd agree they wouldn't need black.

 

Then again, the "whatever they wore in the 60's or 70's = superior" philosophy reigns supreme on this site.

 

So the Chiefs uniform "thrives in its simplicity", by using basic yellow & white stripes on a red jersey + block numbers, but the Flames uniform is boring & generic? I understand people here are going to have differing opinions, but it just seems like you're contradicting yourself here. 

 

Also, what exactly did black bring to the table for the North Stars? This wasn't a Los Angeles Kings situation where they rebranded around black-focused uniforms. They literally just took their home jersey and added a couple black stripes & some outlines to the logo & numbers. They didn't even bother making the green uniform match until 7 years later. That's about as BFBS as it gets.

 

Btw, when I first posted the report about the Wild I mentioned that I want them to keep their current colour scheme, so I'm not saying that everyone needs to go back to the '60s.

[B-mer]

I love the Wild’s branding. Want to make the RR an alt, that’s fine. I wouldn’t change to it full time. Although I’d prefer they bring back a red alt. 

[The_Admiral]

 

Especially at the small scale of these thumbnails I ganked from the mothership, the black outlines are useful. Of course, the North Stars rolled this change out haphazardly because North Stars management was always kind of dumb, but they had the right idea in there somewhere.