Behold (And Bold) In Gold

I'm very hot, very tanned and/or sunburned, and not really wanting to be sitting in front of a computer when I could enjoying a pool or a fan and a cold beverage right now. But I've decided to post an article so that I can remain somewhat caught up. The Nashville Predators has their "Skate of the Union" event earlier this week, and they showed off their newest duds to their fans. We looked at the new Nashville threads near the end of June, and I gave them a solid pass for simplifying their logo and bringing in some of the civic elements of their city into the secondary logo. What we didn't get to see were some of the smaller downfalls of this jersey design.

I do want to say that I'm a fan of the Predators deciding to go very bold with their new home colours. The bright yellow is much better, in this writer's opinion, than the mustard yellow colour they used in their previous alternate uniforms.

The Predators wore the new font during their rookie camps, and it became apparent that the guitar string design across the numbers might just be an aesthetic thing when the players are standing still. The rookies in blue have the lines just barely visible from this distance, but once the players in gray start moving, the lines become invisible. While I get that this design element is something that Nashville wanted, it tends to be rather useless when the players are moving. I'm pretty sure that wasn't the intention, but the end result proves that this element may not be as good as once thought.

I'm not sure why NHL teams continue to put things inside the collar where designs are rarely ever seen on the ice, but the Predators decided to fancy up their collars with a piano key design on the inside. While this aesthetic addition might be nice for fans who buy an authentic jersey, this is something that will rarely, if ever, be seen on the ice. I'm not sure it's needed at all as part of the design.

Blake Geoffrion was one of the models used for the new uniforms on the Nashville Predators Facebook page, but the guys over on On The Forecheck have been keeping up with Geoffrion's Twitter feed. Geoffrion showed off his new uniform by holding it up for views of both the front and back. While the front is clean and looks great, what is the deal with the dark blue Reebok nameplate on the back? The Predators' old design didn't feature a billboard for the Reebok logo or wordmark, so why does this jersey have it? They traded in the apron strings for a Reebok billboard? For all the good the Predators did in getting rid of the strings, they undid it with their Reebok billboard.

Overall, though, I still like the yellow. Make no mistake about it: this is a step in the right direction away from the black and navy blue we've seen invade the NHL over the last few years. I just think that Reebok is encouraging teams to do too much with their design elements in some cases, and I really cannot stand the Reebok billboard seen on these uniforms or some others.

However, with all of the good the Predators have done in improving their look on the ice, I am still a fan of what Nashville is doing, and I am looking forward to this season where we "Behold The Gold"!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!