New Colours For An Old Name

It's taken a long time and there has been much anticipation over what they will wear, but the day has arrived. The Winnipeg Jets finally unveiled their new uniforms to the public today at an invite-only ceremony at 17 Wing in Winnipeg. 17 Wing is the Canadian Air Force Base located in the city of Winnipeg, so the military tie-in was front and center once again for the Jets. I'm not against this idea of associating the Jets with the RCAF, but does every press conference and announcement have to be made at a military installation? Why couldn't they have made this announcement and unveiling at MTS Centre? Anyway, the Jets are wearing new uniforms, so let's check these new threads out.

The Jets had four current players from their roster at the unveiling: Mark Stuart, captain Andrew Ladd, recently-acquired Eric Fehr, and Nik Antropov. It was good to see the players in town and getting used to being in the spotlight since it will only become more intense as soon as the season gets underway. But we're here to talk about the new uniforms, so let's break these down.

The fronts of the jerseys are clean and simple. There's nothing really to freak out about here as the jerseys could be from today, ten years ago, or ten years from now. The fact that they appear to be able to stand the test of time is a positive in a big way, especially since the Jets are making ten years of donations to the Canadian Air Force. We'll talk a little about the stripes around the arms of the road jersey in a second, but I'm all for the way these uniforms look. GOOD.

The sleeves and shoulders are a little different than what I expected, but I like what the Jets have done. I am a fan of the "wings" they are wearing on the shoulders as their secondary logo. The stripes are excellent on the home jersey as they look traditional in the way that a hockey uniform should look. The stripes on the road uniform cut off the shoulder-to-wrist yoke, and that's a new twist for Reebok. As you can see on Scott Clemmensen, the stripes on the Panthers' arms stop at the yoke. Personally, I like that they have completed the stripes, and the metallic silver and navy cause the "aviator blue" to look a little darker on the white uniform. You won't hear me complain about these features. I'm all for them. GOOD.

The rear fonts are clean and easy to read - exactly what you want on a hockey jersey. There's nothing wrong with gimmicky fonts per se, but you want your first impression to be a good one. The Jets, in my view, have accomplished that with very legible numbers and names, so there should be no mistaking which player you're looking at if you can see the back of the uniform. GOOD.

I like the hem stripes that the Jets are using as they stick to a traditional design, but I think the hem stripes should have mirrored the arm stripes. It would have made the design come together a little more and would lend more weight to the arm stripes, especially on the white jersey. Again, I have no major issue with the hem stripes themselves - it's just a colour-striping thing that I think could improve the look. PUSH.

The logo itself really looks good when the light catches it. The silver jet really pops in the light, and it attracts the eye to it. The red maple leaf behind the jet really isn't all that necessary in the grand scheme of the logo, but it's certainly not as noticeable as the flags worn by another Canadian team. For all the good that the logo brings, I'm against the lace-up collar. Enough of that trend, please! The Jets aren't a "throwback" team, so let's just go with a traditional collar, ok? Ok. The extras, though, are a pretty good combination to finish off this examination. PUSH.

Overall, I like what the Jets have done. Navy blue is getting to be a little worn out, but I can get behind this navy blue because it is one of the Jets' primary colours. It's not some contrived alternate jersey in navy. Personally, these uniforms get a thumbs-up from me.

What say you, readers: did the Jets do good, or should they head back to the drawing board?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!