Original 6 dress up. Let's talk about it.

[Cosmic]

I find it amusing that Buffalo Sabres uniforms are never mentioned despite the fact they are a direct and intentional copy of the Toronto Maple Leafs uniform from the 1969-70 season...

1967-1970 actually, but your point stands. That was pretty blatant, but I was mostly interested in how the term was applied to modern uniforms and trends in the NHL.

Well I suspect the main reason most don't realize the connection is that the Leafs switched to a new uniform and logo the same season the Sabres entered the league, so it wasn't until recently the teams each wore the same template. Though I have no idea if the Leafs have ever worn their retro 3rds when they've played Buffalo.

Still a lot of Buffalo fans demanded the return of those original uniforms and you don't hear the complaint of original six dress up with regards to the Sabres despite being the most blatant usage. I have no problem with it myself. Don't care. But my feeling is that most of the complaints come from those that want the uniforms of their teams to look a certain way and are having a tantrum when they don't get their way, and are trying any excuse to poke holes in it. I have a three year old, so I've see it before...

But that happened over 40 years ago. I think that was at the end of the era where two New York Giants teams were OK and Green Bay could share its G logo with Georgia. You also don't hear people complaining that the New York Rangers were named based on a pun based on their owner's name... at this point, it's tradition. Yes, I'm saying that stealing is OK if you did it long enough ago.

[Morgan33]

Is the retro fad really the problem here? In 2007 the NHL was well on it's way to jersey perfection when Reebok's hideous vision for hockey aesthetics torpedoed all the advances made since the gaudiness of the 90's subsided.

2007 Penguins?

Perfect

2007 Oilers

Perfect

2007 Flames

Perfect

2007 Hurricanes

Perfect

2007 Blues

Perfect

2007 Panthers

Perfect

2007 Wild

Perfect

2007 Avalanche

Perfect

This retro fad is nothing but an understandable reaction to easily the worst jerseys to ever see NHL action. Go to NHL Uniforms.com and look at the 2007/08 season... Lowest point in NHL aesthetic history.

[Lights Out]

So the response to Reebok's colossal mistakes is to go to the opposite extreme and remove all creativity from the league's aesthetics? That's really no excuse.

[BigBubba]

Great post Cap, but I'd argue that the Blue Jackets' alternate would definitely qualify as "OSDU". Of course, this all depends on one's definition of the term - directly aping an Original Six team's look vs. a typical, generic fauxback designed to look like it was from the Original Six era. My opinion would be the latter, and the vintage white, roundel, and laces would put that jersey in that category. From there though, you could argue the same for Florida's alternate, especially given its similarity to Pittsburgh's 1970s look. While it does seem to rip off an old-school sweater and it certainly would qualify as a fauxback, Pittsburgh is not an Original Six team, which would disqualify it from OSDU under the first definition (but qualify under the second one due to its fauxback nature).

However, regardless of which definition one uses, it needs to be universally understood that nobody thinks that straight hem stripes automatically mean that a team is going wannabe retro (contrary to what *some* members may think).

[Morgan33]

So the response to Reebok's colossal mistakes is to go to the opposite extreme and remove all creativity from the league's aesthetics? That's really no excuse.

No excuse at all. It's a damn shame

There was absolutely no reason to redesign the league in 2007... The entire debacle was nothing more than a poorly thought out cash grab. The Reebok Edge "Uniform System" didn't improve performance nor aesthetics.

[Lights Out]

However, regardless of which definition one uses, it needs to be universally understood that nobody thinks that straight hem stripes automatically mean that a team is going wannabe retro (contrary to what *some* members may think).

Seriously. This has straight hem stripes and I'm pretty sure nobody in their right minds thinks it's O6DU:

[Kramerica Industries]

Well, the arm stripes are diagonal, which is a decidedly un-O6 concept anyway.

This is an excellent thread and does a fine job creating the sorely needed discrepancy that there is between using traditional elements and what constitutes legitimate O6 ripping off. As I also said before - it's not the striping pattern, it's what you do with the striping pattern that counts. Dallas uses a similar template to the New York Rangers, so what? No one will mistake RWB with kelly green and black. We've seen a lot worse Rangers ripping off in the past:

--

That history lesson (a Capper specialty, no doubt) also gets me to wondering how many, if any, hockey history books any of us own. I made a couple purchases in the recent months, including Total Hockey, Ultimate Hockey, Years of Glory, and (my favourite) the The Official National Hockey League 75th Anniversary Commemorative Book, which is in such miserable condition, but damned I'll be to not have a book like that in my collection.

This would make a great thread in the SiG forum, so I might create that over there as to not deter this thread from it's direction and intention.

[ksupilot]

Great post Cap, but I'd argue that the Blue Jackets' alternate would definitely qualify as "OSDU". Of course, this all depends on one's definition of the term - directly aping an Original Six team's look vs. a typical, generic fauxback designed to look like it was from the Original Six era. My opinion would be the latter, and the vintage white, roundel, and laces would put that jersey in that category. From there though, you could argue the same for Florida's alternate, especially given its similarity to Pittsburgh's 1970s look. While it does seem to rip off an old-school sweater and it certainly would qualify as a fauxback, Pittsburgh is not an Original Six team, which would disqualify it from OSDU under the first definition (but qualify under the second one due to its fauxback nature).

However, regardless of which definition one uses, it needs to be universally understood that nobody thinks that straight hem stripes automatically mean that a team is going wannabe retro (contrary to what *some* members may think).

I think the original post tries to say a faux back does not necessarily mean "Original 6 dress up". I don't think anyone will try to argue the CBJ alt isn't a fauxback. But it isn't OSDU like the TBL or Carolina where you can see blatant similarities to another jersey. You aren't going to mistake the CBJ alts for any of the Original 6.

I've even heard people try to argue the CBJ home and away are rip offs of the Rangers...the blues don't even match. As if the Rangers are the only team that has used Red, white, and blue.

Also, weren't the Rangers playing "dress up" when they copied the same colors as the New York Americans?

[IceCap]

Also, weren't the Rangers playing "dress up" when they copied the same colors as the New York Americans?

Nah, despite using the same colour scheme no one was going to mistake the Rangers for the Americans.

[Midway]

Nvm. Just realized everybody's already covered the differences between fauxbacks and O6DU.

[Lee.]

Well, the arm stripes are diagonal, which is a decidedly un-O6 concept anyway.

This is an excellent thread and does a fine job creating the sorely needed discrepancy that there is between using traditional elements and what constitutes legitimate O6 ripping off. As I also said before - it's not the striping pattern, it's what you do with the striping pattern that counts. Dallas uses a similar template to the New York Rangers, so what? No one will mistake RWB with kelly green and black. We've seen a lot worse Rangers ripping off in the past:

Those uniforms were also brought to Winnipeg from the Rangers by John Ferguson when he was hired as the GM.

[Kramerica Industries]

Well, yes, the story behind it is well known, and those uniforms were also completely reviled by Rangers fans when they had them. Just pointing out that a Rangers template has been aped in a significantly more obvious fashion than what the Dallas Stars are currently doing.

[Lee.]

Yup,and I'm just pointing out that they weren't ripped off so much as packed into Fergie's luggage when he made the trip west

[Kramerica Industries]

Eh, splitting hairs here. We're pretty much on the same page, just using different ways of getting there.

[hockey week]

Traditional striping is NOT Original Six Dress Up. Traditional striping is what makes a hockey jersey a hockey jersey.

Vertical stripes and random color splotches are football jerseys. That's what made the Edge switchover so painful, they gave us long sleeve football jerseys with logos. The kickback to overly traditional looks, which the league was embracing in 2004 with the Vintage Series (Look at that All Star Game for crying out loud!) only to have them ripped away, is the reaction to those football jerseys. The league wants their hockey sweaters back and that's ok. Will that make for some bland looks? Sure. But in time, things will balance out again.

Todd McFarlane, who designed the Oilers' oildrop thirds, defined what a hockey jersey IS rather well

This is the idea we all should work from: horizontal stripes on the hem and sleeves, and it goes from there.

[illwauk]

I'm just not seeing any reason to draw comparison between the Stars and the Rangers whatsoever. It's likely that in the design process the final home uniform just happened to end up having a similar striping design without deliberately aping on the Rangers. Their colour scheme and logo package should be more than enough to set them apart. None of the O6 teams wear green either, so we can't really call it O6 Dress Up unless you want to stretch as far back as the Toronto St. Pats, and even then it's a weak argument.

The Stars franchise name and history stretches back to 1967, they had a classic look back then and their new uniform is more of a modern take on that. Just because they won a Stanley Cup in a wacky, modern uniform doesn't mean they should necessarily stick to something like that. What if it were, say, the Boston Bruins who relocated, became the Tampa Bay Bruins and won a Stanley Cup in a similarly wacky modern uniform? Would the same O6 Dress Up arguments be made for them today?

I have a hard time considering the North Stars and Dallas Stars to be the same team aesthetics-wise. The switch to black as a primary color as well as the switch from athletic gold, to metallic gold were all made in anticipation for the teams' move to Dallas.

That said, I don't have a problem with the Stars going to a more traditional look, let alone think it's O6DU.

[El Scorcho]

I disagree with the premise of this thread on two points.

a) I don't think a team has to directly copy both the striping pattern AND the colours from an original 6 team to be considered O6DU. Obviously Carolina and Tampa bay did just that, but IMO Dallas took as much inspiration from the O6 teams as either of those two did, they just used green, a Dallas colour, whereas Tampa and Carolina used blue and red respectively. You can't say Dallas didn't O6DU and the other two did when all three teams changed to a striping pattern heavily reminiscent of O6 teams but kept their existing colours. They all redesigned with exactly the same look in mind.

O6DU is not neccessarily a bad thing at all. IMO Tampa Bay and Dallas are both heavily, heavily influenced by O6 teams and both updates were really nice IMO. On the other hand Carolina borrowed heavily from O6 teams and their uniforms are awful, but they are awful because they are awful, not because they are O6DU. Simplicity is almost always better, and of course teams that are changing their look now are going to go for what is fashionable. At the moment, that's the O6 look. When teams look at lists ranking the best looking hockey jerseys and the teams with simpler, O6 reminiscent designs all rank highly, of course they are going to look to emulate that when they change their own look.

[Lights Out]

I'd say Tampa Bay's update was just as awful as Carolina's. They had their own traditional look with their black/blue/grey color scheme and victory stripes, the look that saw a Stanley Cup in '04 and an unexpected deep playoff run the year before they switched - then they all of a sudden decided to drop all that brand equity in favor of their current "Maple Wings" look. Hell - what they originally unveiled was even worse, but fans actually complained that they wanted black and the victory stripes back - then they half-assed that by randomly slapping some black trim on the sweaters and not even restoring the victory stripes. They should be the shining example of how not to update your team's brand.

If they don't want to return to the Cup-era set, the Lightning should just take the useless piping off their alternate, use this logo as the crest, and make white and black versions for the road and third respectively.

[El Scorcho]

While I totally agree that they threw away a lot of brand equity (although I didn't ever particularly like any part of the lightning brand other than the colours before the current set), and they definitely further than anyone else with the O6DU. I still think that putting aside all of that and looking at them purely aesthetically, the uniforms look good.

The Hurricanes new uniforms aren't a good look at all. They are unbalanced, poorly designed and ugly. Both clubs threw away an iconic look to copy original 6 teams. One of them came away with something aesthetically pleasing and the other one didn't.

[Sport]

I also think the Lightning look good, but that's because they stole a time-tested hockey look that has looked good for a long time.

Sports don't happen in a vacuum and in a 30 team league there's no reason there shouldn't be 30 unique identities.

Imagine the outcry if instead of rebranding to the south beach taffy uniform the Miami Marlins currently wear they had went with uniforms nearly identical to the Yankees. That's what's happened here with Tampa and Carolina and they shouldn't get a pass even if it looks good (in Tampa's case yes, in Carolina's case no).

Now, the Stars? NO. They're basically just using a template and they're using a unique color scheme. To borrow another baseball analogy, the Seattle Mariners switched to a pretty traditional template when they changed to the navy and teal look in the 90's, but used modern logos and colors. Were they dressing up as an older franchise? Of course not. Nobody would make that claim.