A Rare Yellow Penguin

The penguin you see to the left is extremely rare. That is a king penguin which normally has its tuxedo-esque look with a touch of yellow colouring around its neck, but the rare king penguin you see to the left suffers from a genetic mutation known as leucism, a condition where melanin is only partially lost and some parts of the penguin's body retain color. In this case, the leucism affects the entire penguin, and it appears white and yellow to the naked eye. I mention this because the Pittsburgh Penguins aren't suffering from leucism that anyone knows about medically, but they took to the ice looking very yellow last night against the New York Islanders in a brand-new alternate jersey!

The Penguins haven't used a yellow jersey very often in their history. They first wore a yellow jersey from 1980-84, wore a yellow jersey for the 2017 Stadium Series game, and brought a yellow jersey back as an alternate jersey from 2018-21. While it makes sense to have the Penguins in black to match their black-and-white ornithological counterparts, the effort in moving away from the black alternate jersey trend is something I can wholeheartedly endorse! However, these could also be too yellow depending on the shade of yellow, so did the Penguins get this yellow alternate jersey right in its design?

Let's take a look at how they looked last night before going further.

There's a lot of yellow on that image, but it's not overwhelming in terms of the shade being too bright. The black stripes on the sleeves and hem provide good contrast to all that yellow, and I would almost have preferred the Penguins use their black helmets just to break up the yellow a little more. That's a minor quibble, but a colour like yellow needs that contrast. Overall, though, pretty solid jerseys!

What I do appreciate is that the white on the yellow really serves to pop that black off the yellow as well. There's excellent contrasting colours being used her in tandem, and they work well to elevate the logo and numbers out of the yellow background. Like the Kings' alternate jerseys, I could use a splash of colour through a shoulder yoke or that contrasting helmet as mentioned above, but the use of the black breezers keeps the Penguins from looking like glow sticks.

If you were trying to decipher what that shoulder patch is, the Penguins' release states that the "triangle shoulder patch, symbolic of Point State Park, encompasses three river waves, a black monochromatic checker pattern and an igloo to pay homage to the team's original home." On a few of the close-ups captured during the game, one could see the igloo image inside the triangle as an homage to the old Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, commonly called "the Igloo". Frankly, that's a cool nod to the Penguins' history in Pittsburgh.

Are these the best alternates that the Penguins have ever worn? They certainly are close based on the last 30 years of jerseys. The fact that they went away from a black alternate jersey when they've worn four different black alternate jerseys since 1992 is a welcome change for me. Again, I could use more colour in the overall aesthetic, but these yellow alternates work nicely as a break from black.

If you're wondering when the Penguins will be wearing these jerseys, they have eleven dates selected including last night's game against the Islanders. The other ten games include:

• Thursday, November 6 vs. Washington Capitals
• Saturday, November 22 vs. Seattle Kraken
• Thursday, December 11 vs. Montreal Canadiens
• Thursday, January 1 vs. Detroit Red Wings
• Thursday, January 8 vs. New Jersey Devils
• Thursday, January 15 vs. Philadelphia Flyers
• Thursday, January 29 vs. Chicago Blackhawks
• Thursday, February 26 vs. New Jersey Devils
• Thursday, March 5 vs. Buffalo Sabres
• Sunday, April 5 vs. Florida Panthers

Basically, if you're going to a Penguins game in Pittsburgh on a Thursday, expect to see them in yellow. Seeing them in yellow four times in Janaury, including on New Year's Day when there's supposed to be a Winter Classic Game, might be a little too often when it comes to kicking off 2026, but that's the schedule as to when the Penguins will wear their alternate jerseys. Dress accordingly!

There aren't a lot of teams that use yellow as a primary colour in the NHL, but those who have used it as an alternate jersey colour have had success. The Pittsburgh Penguins are in that group with this new alternate jersey, and it's a nice change from seeing another black jersey trotted out as an alternate jersey. Well done, Penguins!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!