Why no alternate breezers/shells in NHL?

[BJ Sands]

I was watching the Blue Jackets-Blackhawks game last night and it struck me how out of place the Jackets' red breezers look on the road. Same goes on the road for the Capitals and their blue, Panthers and their blue, Sharks and their black, and if I want to throw out decades history, the Habs' blue and Rangers' red.

In my opinion, the dark breezers change the look of the team. For example, the Caps' identity is that of a red team. But on the road, blue. And the Jackets are reversed, and it looks weird.

My question is why don't teams have alternate breezers/shells? I know that would create more work for equipment guys, but a second set would just go with the other road gear.

[The_Admiral]

A few teams have shells for their alternates, Columbus being one of them. The Hawks did as well when they had those illegible black/beige/ugly logo sweaters. I don't think a team has had home/road breezers since the Hockey-Rockies.

[BJ Sands]

A few teams have shells for their alternates, Columbus being one of them. The Hawks did as well when they had those illegible black/beige/ugly logo sweaters. I don't think a team has had home/road breezers since the Hockey-Rockies.

Forgot about the alts for the Jackets, Hawks, Flames and Hurricanes. But I meant shells to go with non-alt sweaters.

Road breezers would really work for some teams. If I had PhotoShop skillz I'd see how it'd look, but I don't.

[hockey week]

I don't think shells have completely dominated the NHL landscape yet. There are enough players wearing pants that it would be difficult to pack two sets, and with that already being a nightmare for equipment managers, two sets of actual pants would make it much worse.

I'm sure prior to the shells issue, it wasn't even an option because of the expense of two full sets of pants, and I'm sure most of the league thought the Rockies and Capitals were nuts for trying (even if the Caps only did it for a short time because they were already being laughed at for the white pants)

[winters in buffalo]

I was thinking similarly last week. I was watching the Caps play and thought that they should be wearing red on the road. I didn't make the connection that teams don't have different colors for home and road.

[ksupilot]

Was thinking this the last few times I have watched the Jackets when they are away. The red just looks off with the Away jersey. Navy would look much better. Their away jersey is a thing of beauty, but it is overpowered by the bright red shell.

Quick shop of what blue shells would look like:

[Sodboy13]

I'd be up for navy road shells for the Beej if they had a red stripe along the bottom, in the same style as their regular pants.

Did Minnesota wear solid green pants at home and striped ones on the road for a couple years of their convoluted uniform history?

[Sport]

I photoshopped this a while back. Now's a good excuse to post again.

I've long advocated blue pants on the road for the Blue Jackets, but I wouldn't want blue pants at home with the navy jerseys. I like how the red looks with the blue jersey.

[ElwoodCuse]

By quick count at NHL Uniforms there are actually 11 teams with two different kinds of pants

[Kevin W.]

By quick count at NHL Uniforms there are actually 11 teams with two different kinds of pants

Yeah, but those are all for alternates.

[Kramerica Industries]

The Lightning black breezers with the lightning bolt encased on the blue background should be the main (with the provision of lighter blue, but that should go without saying).

[The Giant Pacific Octopus]

The Hawks did as well when they had those illegible black/beige/ugly logo sweaters.

Those were the greatest jerseys the Hawks ever had!

[TheOldRoman]

I don't think shells have completely dominated the NHL landscape yet. There are enough players wearing pants that it would be difficult to pack two sets, and with that already being a nightmare for equipment managers, two sets of actual pants would make it much worse.

I'm sure prior to the shells issue, it wasn't even an option because of the expense of two full sets of pants, and I'm sure most of the league thought the Rockies and Capitals were nuts for trying (even if the Caps only did it for a short time because they were already being laughed at for the white pants)

This is interesting. I didn't know anything about this. What is the difference between brezeers/shells/pants/girdles?

[hockey week]

I don't think shells have completely dominated the NHL landscape yet. There are enough players wearing pants that it would be difficult to pack two sets, and with that already being a nightmare for equipment managers, two sets of actual pants would make it much worse.

I'm sure prior to the shells issue, it wasn't even an option because of the expense of two full sets of pants, and I'm sure most of the league thought the Rockies and Capitals were nuts for trying (even if the Caps only did it for a short time because they were already being laughed at for the white pants)

This is interesting. I didn't know anything about this. What is the difference between brezeers/shells/pants/girdles?

Hockey pants are a single unit, have been for nearly a century. The pads are built in, and most of it is padded.

They're one piece, which simply makes sense. You break them in, they wear nicely, but, if your team pays for your equipment, as it usually does, or the pants have a unique design like a stripe or color, you don't have many options. You wear what the team provides, whether it's your preference or not.

Hockey shells bypass those issues. They're two pieces, a girdle, which is the padding, and a shell, which is little more than a glorified pair of shorts designed to be worn over the girdle

If your team has shells, the players can wear whatever padding they want for their girdles, whatever they find most comfortable, protective, etc, and then they wear the team shells overtop. This usually spares a team expense, because girldes are bought by the players same as shoulder and elbow pads, gives them more control over the shells (equipment managers can collect them like they often do with jerseys), and makes things like a second set (or adding logos or stripes) a whole lot easier and way cheaper.

I don't know how many have switched from pants to shells, if it's happening sport-wide or if there are lots of holdouts, but the team I worked with just switched over after one player insisted on wearing them and everybody else thought it was a great idea, and it's worked out really well.