2023-24 NHL Jersey Changes

[TBGKon]

Icethetics made a vide about the leaked jersey.  If they're talking about it, it seems legit.

 

 

As for the jersey,  I do like the jersey itself, minus the use of the roundel logo.  The roundel always seemed too busy for a front crest, and worked well as a shoulder patch.  The collar with the Cup years is a nice nod, and a nice easter egg is that each year is sectioned off in the color of jersey the team clinched the Cup in (Black 04, White 20, Blue 21)

 

I was kinda surprised of such a late release, but 2024 is the 20th anniversary of the first Cup win so that checks out.  The last black Lightning jersey with the ombre sleeves was also a late release that season, I think January or February 2019.

 

[ruttep]

Roundel's still giving me late aughts vibes.

 

(This uniform was released in 2010)

 

I think the current logo in white with some blue trim might've worked better. Maybe if you really want to differentiate it from the primaries, add the "Tampa Bay" script back above the logo.

[tBBP]

20 hours ago, CaliforniaGlowin said:

Yea I just realized what I don't like about the Kraken WC jersey: they mixed bright blue and red with "vintage" cream.  If they wanted a throwback look, the light blue and red should have been muted too.  Or yea make it white!

 

The funny thing is that is that's the thing I most liked about it. It's one of those things that shouldn't work in theory, but for some reason, mixing the dark navy neutral, the bright vibrant sea blue (I forget the actual color name) with vintage white was just an interesting contrast. Topping it off with the red S and jersey numbers was (almost quite literally) the cherry on top. It was just an interesting application and I guess somewhat bending of color theory in practice, at least to me.

 

On the other hand, the vintage white did not work on the Vegas jerseys, because it and VGK's gold trend toward the same shade thus the contrast "pop" isn't really there. (I also wish they had applied the gold braiding in the back numbers to the sleeve numbers; I'm still curious as to why they left that off.)

 

17 hours ago, habsfan1 said:

New Bolts 3rd...

 

 

That is one whole heaping of "bleh".

 

I don't know, and this may just be me, but something about "lightning" and "hockey" conveys speed, power, and at any rate dynamism. This jersey is almost the exact opposite of all of that. 

 

Of course, this is all just—you knew this was coming—one man's opinion...his two rusted Lincolns.

[Morgan33]

The creativity shown on this new Lightning jersey is nothing short of mind blowing...  The way they moved a logo that barely passes for a decent shoulder patch to the front and cut out its center to lazily shoehorn black onto it is particularly imaginative.  

So is the adaptation of a striping pattern, used by two other historical teams, blown up to 'Stadium Series' dimensions.  I particularly like how the dark blue stripes are placed directly on a black base so they can't be seen at a distance of more than a few feet.  I hate it when you can actually decipher important design elements on the ice. 

And speaking of important design elements...  I particularly like how they handled the hem, resorting to the most oft-repeated crutch hockey uniform design has to offer today: "When in doubt, copy Detroit."

[ruttep]

20 minutes ago, Morgan33 said:

And speaking of important design elements...  I particularly like how they handled the hem, resorting to the most oft-repeated crutch hockey uniform design has to offer today: "When in doubt, copy Detroit."

 

I was with you until this point. "Copy Detroit?" It's lazy for sure, but the presence of a single hem stripe doesn't necessarily scream Red Wings to me. Their primaries definitely copied Detroit when they were originally designed in 2011, but not every single jersey with a single hem stripe is automatically a Detroit copycat.

[Morgan33]

On 1/4/2024 at 1:33 PM, ruttep said:

 

I was with you until this point. "Copy Detroit?" It's lazy for sure, but the presence of a single hem stripe doesn't necessarily scream Red Wings to me. Their primaries definitely copied Detroit when they were originally designed in 2011, but not every single jersey with a single hem stripe is automatically a Detroit copycat.

 

I just said the hem copies Detroit, not the entire jersey...  Obviously nobody is going to mistake them for the Red Wings when they hit the ice in these.  My point is that so many teams in the past 10 years have gone with variations of Detroit's single, raised hem-stripe.  Sure, there have been varying widths & colours but it still comes off as lazy when you see it recycled over and over again.  A team with an interesting namesake like "Lightning" could and should be more creative...  Especially for their alternate look.

 

[riccirulesall]

4 hours ago, ruttep said:

Roundel's still giving me late aughts vibes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i know they're much maligned for being generic and having no red but i still think these are kinda nice. they would probably improve by replacing the crest with the current shield and the dumb shoulder patches with the palm tree secondary. it still doesn't fit the panthers identity but in a vacuum i quite enjoy them. 

 

it's also been said to death but i will repeat that the columbus alt should be the basis for their primaries with an updated number font.

 

everything else (winter classics aside) - bleh

[wildwing64]

I like it more than either of their previous black alternates and the sleeve stripes are a neat nod to the victory stripes. It's very okay.

[mjarvie]

10 hours ago, tBBP said:

 

The funny thing is that is that's the thing I most liked about it. It's one of those things that shouldn't work in theory, but for some reason, mixing the dark navy neutral, the bright vibrant sea blue (I forget the actual color name) with vintage white was just an interesting contrast. Topping it off with the red S and jersey numbers was (almost quite literally) the cherry on top. It was just an interesting application and I guess somewhat bending of color theory in practice, at least to me.

 

On the other hand, the vintage white did not work on the Vegas jerseys, because it and VGK's gold trend toward the same shade thus the contrast "pop" isn't really there. (I also wish they had applied the gold braiding in the back numbers to the sleeve numbers; I'm still curious as to why they left that off.)

 

 

That is one whole heaping of "bleh".

 

I don't know, and this may just be me, but something about "lightning" and "hockey" conveys speed, power, and at any rate dynamism. This jersey is almost the exact opposite of all of that. 

 

Of course, this is all just—you knew this was coming—one man's opinion...his two rusted Lincolns.

I did grab the Kraken jersey, but like others have said the vintage white didn't work with Vegas. It worked with Seattle because I think they actually had a dark color to counter act the vintage white whereas Vegas was gold om vintage white. It works with some teams, but not others. It just feels like a copout because it's been used so much. If you go back through the history of the Winter Classic, the jerseys that use white and not vintage white are far superior. For refernce: https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/nhl/2019/12/31/nhl-winter-classic-jersey-ranking/4402901002/

 

[logo-maker]

18 hours ago, wildwing64 said:

I like it more than either of their previous black alternates and the sleeve stripes are a neat nod to the victory stripes. It's very okay.

 

Agreed. Although, I wish they had doubled the stripes (and potentially added silver/gray) to emulate the victory stripes more so and create a more visually interesting sleeve stripe pattern.

 

[Kramerica Industries]

I don't like the spaced out stripes, and if they were going to do something with hints towards the original black jersey design, they could've at least put a white shoulder yoke on it. 

 

Also, the front crest somehow looks comically oversized.

[Sport]

The Lightning are so frustrating. With that name they should be the Chargers of hockey, but instead they're Maple Leafs 2 with a new black alternate every few years that does nothing to move me in any direction. 

[AFirestormToPurify]

Okay so for their regular jerseys they basically took the Red Wings jerseys but in Maple Leafs blue. Then they had two different diagonal script jerseys like the Rangers. This new alternate is taking the most generic striping pattern ever made popular and still currently used by the Bruins and Blackhawks on their away jersey

...I think it's safe to safe their next jersey will prominently feature a chest stripe!

Is it too much to ask for that a Floridian team called the Lightning that was established in the early 90s shows some goddamn originality? I'm not saying they have to revive the storm jerseys and wear them full time but how about something that isn't just some O6 dress-up? Maybe something in the middle? A brighter, more electric shade of blue for starters. Take this new jersey and change nothing else but the Leafs blue to a Lions Honolulu blue and the jersey is instantly a million times better.  They could even take a page from the Kings and VGK and ask Adidas to make a sparkly blue just for them

[Sodboy13]

I feel like the numbering treatment is going to make or break the Lightning 3rd. Give me something that goes beyond the standard block they've been using for 20+ years, especially if it's a callback like the italicized, drop-shadowed modified block, or the electrified numbers most recently seen in Reverse Retro 2.0.

 

The lack of shoulder patch feels like a whiff, given how nicely their simple primary logo scales down. It also would have been a great opportunity to modernize the old Florida Bolt shoulder patch, which was so much better than their original primary crest.

[Morgan33]

5 hours ago, AFirestormToPurify said:

A brighter, more electric shade of blue for starters. Take this new jersey and change nothing else but the Leafs blue to a Lions Honolulu blue and the jersey is instantly a million times better.  They could even take a page from the Kings and VGK and ask Adidas to make a sparkly blue just for them

 

Perplexing why they ever got rid of the Hawaiian blue in the first place.  Every alteration and change since has been a downgrade aside from replacing the paintbrush font with a triple layer bloc.

[The_Admiral]

Electric/Honolulu blue sweaters and socks with black helmets and breezers is so obvious but they can't seem to do it outside of an alt or two. And any version of the Florida Bolt is better than anything they've actually used as a primary.

[Sodboy13]

 

[HereComesThax]

I haven’t posted on here in so long, but that’s my photo. Taken at a local location of a chain store.

[nash61]

25 minutes ago, HereComesThax said:

I haven’t posted on here in so long, but that’s my photo. Taken at a local location of a chain store.

Does the bottom have a single white stripe, or is it white over blue like the 04 jerseys?

[tBBP]

21 hours ago, Sodboy13 said:

I feel like the numbering treatment is going to make or break the Lightning 3rd. Give me something that goes beyond the standard block they've been using for 20+ years, especially if it's a callback like the italicized, drop-shadowed modified block, or the electrified numbers most recently seen in Reverse Retro 2.0.

 

I keep forgetting those existed! I think they only lasted one season, from '94-'95, before the Ning went all Reporter on us (pretty sure that was ahead of the '95 season...and it somehow survived Y2K).

 

Hang on, I think we may go full Boltjack up in here... (as if we're not already there)

 

On 1/5/2024 at 1:45 PM, AFirestormToPurify said:

Is it too much to ask for that a Floridian team called the Lightning that was established in the early 90s shows some *snipped* originality? I'm not saying they have to revive the storm jerseys and wear them full time but how about something that isn't just some O6 dress-up? Maybe something in the middle?

 

Originality, you say? Well, chaining this with the quoted post above, let's revisit those 1994-95 anomalies in all their beautiful quirky glory, shall we? (And pay special attention to the As and the 4s!)

 

First let's back it up to the inaugural jerseys to see how we got there:

 

 

 

Boyyy check out THAT serif treatment!

 

Now to the '94s...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those were...certainly interesting.

 

The funny thing is, quirky as that number set was, since it's in the Lightning's history, they could base a new number set off those--of course, more finely crafted--and establish their own unique look. And speaking of that, as far as colorway is concerned, I really see two ways forward for this team--neither of which is likely any time soon due to their recent Stanley Cup run (then again, after being ran out of the playoffs by the team they're cosskating as this past postseason, who knows?). Anyway, my two votes would be:

 

1.) Either keep the same colorway they came in the game with, and get back to a black, white, and [perhaps a brighter] blue with silver trim, or...

 

2.) 86 all black and silver, and use a slightly darker royal blue with storm gray, to tie them into their in-town NFL brethren Buccaneers (which I've actually been wanting them to do for the longest time).