Recycling Is Good?

I appreciate people who recycle, re-use, and reduce their footprint on this planet. I recycle all that I can, and I have a compost receptacle that receives all of my vegetation waste from my kitchen and garden. In other words, I do my part to try to reduce my footprint on this planet. I never expected the NHL to have a team who would do the same by re-wearing jerseys, but it seems the Los Angeles Kings opened up the jersey trunk in the attic and found something they wanted to wear again. The jersey pictured above is the Stadium Series jersey that the Kings wore against the Anaheim Ducks in 2014, and their new 50th anniversary jersey that was unveiled yesterday looks similar.

The image to the right? That's what the Los Angeles Kings will wear to commemorate this historic season. There are a pile of features that the Kings have rolled into this jersey, but it looks an awful lot like the Stadium Series jersey posted at the top of this article, doesn't it? I get that the Kings want something different for this jersey than the usual black or white jerseys they wear, but they have a rich history of jerseys, colours, and designs that they could have used over this rather blasé uniform. A lot of the features on this jersey are what bother me if we're being totally honest.

According to the Los Angeles Kings, the following are features found on this 50th anniversary jersey:

• Striping along the arms represents two Stanley Cups.
• Striping along the bottom matches 1967-68, the first on-ice season in Kings history.
• Purple embellishment within the neck containing five Gold Diamonds represents the five decades and pays homage to the club's historic Purple/Gold years.
• Gold added to the Kings primary logo represents 50 years.
• Special Font with Gold for player names and numbers.
• Gray color is the same as the Dodger Stadium Series.

Wait, they admitted it - "Gray color is the same as the Dodger Stadium Series"? It seems odd to me that they would trot out a similar jersey they wore two years ago for a special game, but the Kings are doing that. Hey, at least they admitted it and didn't pass it off as some new colour. Nod to the Kings for the honesty.

However, this garbage about the striping along the arms being representative of the two Stanley Cup wins - is anyone buying that? They're hockey stripes, and they've been on hockey sweaters and jerseys for years. They're a little thicker than normal hockey stripes, but they follow the same width as the hem stripe which is exactly what the stripes should do. They should be uniform on a uniform!

While I like the idea of throwing back to the 1967-68 Los Angeles Kings, just doing the hem stripe is a huge miss when the gold jerseys worn in 1967-68 would have been nearly perfect for the team's Golden Anniversary. How could a team with gold in its colour scheme history miss out on this? If they wanted to go all out, make the jerseys out of a material that shimmers as well. I'm not suggesting that Reebok bring in a bolt of durene fabric, but they should be able to make something up that catches the light of the arena and makes the jerseys somewhat reflective like a brick of gold.

Now, some will point out that the Kings wore the gold jerseys as a throwback jersey in prior seasons. I'll grant you that, but we're already talking about recycling the Stadium Series jerseys so why not wear an appropriate jersey for your Golden Anniversary?

Hiding the purple inside the collar and inside the jersey? Utter stupidity. I hate this idea. I have hated it since it was introduced, and I still hate it today. End this "feature". It's not a feature if no one sees it.

The gold-outlined logo, name, and number are the same as what the Philadelphia Flyers did, and I'm fine with that. It might have looked much better if the gold-lined logo was on the gold jersey, but I digress. Instead, when you see the gold-infused jersey from a slight distance, everything they attempted to highlight with this gold disappears due to the white in the logo.

If the gold disappears, why bother at all? This is extremely poor execution of an idea, and I'm already disliking these jerseys. Had they lined the shoulder yoke to contrast against the black and gray, we'd be talking about a golden anniversary jersey. Instead, we barely see the gold embroidery which is an epic fail. It's your Golden Anniversary, yet there is little to no gold seen. Disappointing.

I would have rather seen the Stadium Series jerseys re-used entirely with the gold added into it. This jersey is a mess in its design, its execution, and its final product. I would rather see the Burger King jersey brought back and worn for the anniversary over this new design. It doesn't come off well as the gold is rather invisible, so congratulations on re-introducing another gray jersey, Los Angeles.

The only problem? That's not what was asked for. Complete fail. Simply awful.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!