2023-24 NHL Jersey Changes

[Morgan33]

4 hours ago, spartacat_12 said:

With the pre-Edge set, the colour balances were different between the two main jerseys. The dark jersey was burgundy/blue/black/white, while the light jersey was white/burgundy/silver/blue. It's similar to how the Golden Knights improved their road uniform by switching the black pants to grey.

Here's the thing people tend to overlook about black on sports uniforms...  Neither black nor white are technically colours.  They are neutral shades.  Putting the black equipment in the colour hierarchy of this uniform is like doing the same with the white uniform base.  The actual colour hierarchy of this perfectly balanced uniform is Burgundy > Blue > Silver*.  Just like on the home version.

*although silver could technically be classified as a shade as well,
 

And while this is significantly easier on the eyes than its garish, home counterpart, it's still not a very well balanced or thought out uniform.  All that blue on the equipment and numbers and hardly a single trace of it on the actual jersey.  Blue and Burgundy needless competing for dominance on the uniform.  Blue and Burgundy touching when the whole reason for black equipment in the first place was to avoid this visually unappealing and contrast-less pairing.

 

 

[ruttep]

6 hours ago, Morgan33 said:

All that blue on the equipment and numbers and hardly a single trace of it on the actual jersey

 

You didn't even show the worst part of the Avs road jersey:

 

What the  are these numbers??? The blue is wayy too light and contrasts with the rest of the jersey. Yes, the pants are blue but they clash horribly with the burgundy hem -- I agree with @Morgan33 that the blue and burgundy shouldn't be touching. 

 

The problem with the Avs' jerseys are that they were clearly designed for a neutral shade to act as a buffer between the blue and burgundy. The black equipment clearly established burgundy as the primary color and blue as the secondary color, as the main color of the dark jersey was burgundy and the shoulders and hem of the white jersey were also burgundy. 

 

I disagree with @Morgan33 that the current home jersey is a mess. The blue equipment actually fits because there is a significant amount of blue on the home jersey (at the shoulder and hem), which line up well with the helmet and pants. It's a lot of blue, but at least it's cohesive. But the road jersey just shows how poorly planned this equipment change was. In 2021, the first year of the change, the road numbers were still black, despite there being zero black anywhere else on the entire uniform.

 

It didn't look right and the Avs knew it, so they overcorrected to the blue numbers seen today, which fit even less. Thing is, they proceeded to lift a Cup in them, so they're probably not going anywhere for a while.

 

I think the Avs should take a page out of Columbus' book and buck the trend of both primary uniforms having the same pants and introduce some burgundy pants to wear with the road uniforms. Either that, or choose blue as the dominant color in the scheme and make the shoulders blue. Either way, make the numbers on the road jersey burgundy. But as currently designed, the only way to keep both jersey designs and match their pants/gloves would be to make them black.

 

[VampyrRabbit]

8 hours ago, Morgan33 said:

Here's the thing people tend to overlook about black on sports uniforms...  Neither black nor white are technically colours.  They are neutral shades.  Putting the black equipment in the colour hierarchy of this uniform is like doing the same with the white uniform base.  The actual colour hierarchy of this perfectly balanced uniform is Burgundy > Blue > Silver*.  Just like on the home version.

*although silver could technically be classified as a shade as well,
 

Sasquatches are great, why did the Avs get rid of that awesome shoulder patch?

[DTConcepts]

2 hours ago, VampyrRabbit said:

Sasquatches are great, why did the Avs get rid of that awesome shoulder patch?

 

Because the mascot it was designed for assaulted a woman, and the Colorado flag represents the state much better than a hairy foot.

[dont care]

5 hours ago, DTConcepts said:

 

Because the mascot it was designed for assaulted a woman, and the Colorado flag represents the state much better than a hairy foot.

You mean the guy in the suit assaulted her. I don’t think mascots are prosecuted under any form of law.

[Bayne]

12 hours ago, DTConcepts said:

 

Because the mascot it was designed for assaulted a woman, and the Colorado flag represents the state much better than a hairy foot.

The Colorado flag symbol is so boring though. The Colorado's identity is caught between trying retain some of its personality, and everything around it suffering from being blanded down and 'cleaned up'. As a result, it feels like a uniform and an identity that doesn't look like it has a very well thought-out plan. The uniforms look like a terrible compromise between old and new. 

 

They should either embrace their cool history, or start again and re-design everything to work with their black-less, flat, geometric, minimal aesthetic that they seem to want to try and go with lately.

[ruttep]

 

Anyone else feel like the theming for Kiprusoff's number retirement should've been the 2000s red/black jersey?

 

To be fair, I think the current look is far superior, but I feel like number retirement banners (and team banners in general) should fit the era that the player is most remembered for.

[Patchey13]

On 3/1/2024 at 12:53 PM, Morgan33 said:

 

How?  Blue completely overpowers their main colour at home and on the road, you have burgundy and blue touching, which as their Edge disasters proved, looks awful.  The blue numbers on the road, outlined in burgundy look terrible too.  The whole set is just a mess.  Every change they've made since 1996 has been a downgrade including darkening the burgundy.  Give me the Forsberg, Roy, Sakic look any day of the week.  There was nothing wrong with that set until Reebok destroyed it and Adidas forgot to bring back the double mountain stripes when attempting to fix it.
 

This a balanced uniform

 

This is a blue-heavy mess

 

 

They're still using all those colours anyways.  It's not as if black is completely absent from the uniform.

PREACH

[Morgan33]

59 minutes ago, ruttep said:

Anyone else feel like the theming for Kiprusoff's number retirement should've been the 2000s red/black jersey?

 

God I miss this uniform.  What an absolute travesty it is that this modern classic lasted only 3 seasons.  This should be their alternate, not Blasty.

[Kevin W.]

2 hours ago, Morgan33 said:

This should be their alternate, not Blasty.

This should be their primary.

[ruttep]

1 hour ago, Kevin W. said:

This should be their primary.

 

Uh oh, I seem to have touched off the "should the Flames have black?" debate again.

[The_Admiral]

On 3/1/2024 at 9:00 PM, Morgan33 said:

Here's the thing people tend to overlook about black on sports uniforms...  Neither black nor white are technically colours. 

 

 

[KittSmith_95]

No idea why the Avs don't just bring back the Bernie paw pad version of the foot logo for their shoulder patch if they wanted to shift away from the Yeti foot. 

[Morgan33]

6 hours ago, ruttep said:

Uh oh, I seem to have touched off the "should the Flames have black?" debate again.

 

It should be a debate.  Some colour schemes look better with black. 

[henburg]

The Flames finally have it pretty much perfect with their current set. The classics are right for the main look while the Blasty alternate is a prefect switch up that scratches any itch I have to see the black incorporated with the red and yellow again. It doesn't hurt that the Blasty alternates are some of my favorite jerseys in the NHL. 

 

13 hours ago, ruttep said:

 

 

 

Don't get me wrong, this is a really nice, well-balanced set visually, but it always irks me from a logic perspective. The "C" is obviously on fire, so it shouldn't be colored as though it is burnt charcoal or something like it is here.

 

That's me overthinking of course, but it still crosses my mind everytime I see this Flames look.

[monkeypower]

12 hours ago, ruttep said:

Anyone else feel like the theming for Kiprusoff's number retirement should've been the 2000s red/black jersey?

 

Yes, I definitely agree.

 

The Flames just haven't been super great at the retirement number banners;

 

They had Lanny McDonald's banner like this from 1990 to 2011

Spoiler

 

They then originally retired Mike Vernon's number in 2007 in the style of the red and black jerseys, (You can see the McDonald banner in the background. Because of the layout of the Saddledome, the Flames (and Hitmen) will raise banners to a more centre point of the arena for the ceremony and then move them to the permanent spot later)

 

Spoiler

 

In 2011, they moved the banners to a new spot and updated the old Lanny MacDonald banner to a white version more similar to the current banner (but with a straightened and more bubbly version of the at the time Flames NOB font and almost uncanny valley incorrect block numbers) and changed the Vernon one to match.

 

Spoiler

 

They then created the retired number second tier "Forever a Flame" (that the Flames spread to the Hitmen and Roughnecks, which as a concept is a bit more defendable with those two teams) for Al MacInnis in 2012 and Joe Nieuwendyk in 2014, which was not entirely well received in the fanbase for either.

 

Spoiler

 

They then switched the MacDonald and Vernon banners to the current red version for Iginla's ceremony in 2019, leading to where we are today with Kiprusoff's.

 

Spoiler

 

[ruttep]

1 hour ago, henburg said:

Don't get me wrong, this is a really nice, well-balanced set visually, but it always irks me from a logic perspective. The "C" is obviously on fire, so it shouldn't be colored as though it is burnt charcoal or something like it is here.

 

This is my biggest complaint with the 90s/00s/10s Flames as well. In the context of fire, black just means "burnt out." 

 

The 80s/current look is also my favorite non-Original 6 look in the league (hot take, it's better than the Wings, Leafs, and centennial Bruins as well), so I don't want to see it replaced again. There's certainly a place for the black C as an alternate, I don't necessarily hate it, and I blame the subsequent Reebok Edge disaster for why it became so hated, but I simply like it less than the 80s/current look. At the very least, it should replace the Reverse Retro Blasty jersey as alternate.

[ruttep]

53 minutes ago, monkeypower said:

They then originally retired Mike Vernon's number in 2007 in the style of the red and black jerseys, (You can see the McDonald banner in the background. Because of the layout of the Saddledome, the Flames (and Hitmen) will raise banners to a more centre point of the arena for the ceremony and then move them to the permanent spot later)

 

 

This one is even more bizarre than Kipper's banner. At least he actually wore the 80s jersey as a throwback from time to time. The black C didn't even exist when Vernon was playing.

[Morgan33]

The Flames logo is a symbol to represent the team, not a literal illustration of a C on fire.  And this comment isn't directed at people who prefer either version, just that argument itself.

"The white C represents white-hot fire"
"The Black C looks burned out like the state of the franchise, lulz"

It's a sports logo.  Either version is perfectly acceptable to represent a fire based team.

[monkeypower]

1 hour ago, Morgan33 said:

The Flames logo is a symbol to represent the team, not a literal illustration of a C on fire.  And this comment isn't directed at people who prefer either version, just that argument itself.

"The white C represents white-hot fire"
"The Black C looks burned out like the state of the franchise, lulz"

It's a sports logo.  Either version is perfectly acceptable to represent a fire based team.

 

Oil isn't  orange, lions aren't Honolulu blue, coyotes don't wear clothes and stand on two legs.

 

The only arguments of that kind that I will accept are whenever a lobster based team (of the very few that there are) uses a red lobster because that means their lobster is dead, cooked and about to be eaten and when the New England Patriots wear red.