Everything old is new again. Well, for one season anyway. The Anaheim Ducks unveiled their alternate jerseys for this season, and they have used the opportunity to celebrate their silver anniversary as the franchise turns 25 years-old. Being that the franchise is a quarter of a century old, there's no time like the present to bring back something the current owners got rid of the moment the ink dried on the cheque written to Disney. This year, the Anaheim Ducks will turn back time on sixteen nights to become the Anaheim Mighty Ducks as a celebration of their 25th year in the league!
Let's break this down with the old Ducks jersey on the left compared to the new Ducks jersey on the right. The first thing that struck me is how off the colour is. The purple or eggplant is now black, and the jade is no longer jade. The new jersey would need to qualify that "jade" as a whole new colour when compared to the old jersey, so count that as a negative for the new uniform. If you can't replicate the colours, it's a fail, Adidas.
Seriously, what's the deal with the shoulder yoke on these jerseys? Not only is the faux-jade colour entirely distracting from the jersey and logo, but the little silver stripe that appears on either side of the collar only further serves to pull the eyes away from the logo. There is no need for a lace-up collar when the original jerseys never had them either. This entire shoulder area is just features for feature's sake when none of it was ever needed. And the addition of the current logo to the shoulder? Not needed either. I'm pretty certain no one will ever confuse the Mighty Ducks with any other franchise. This whole area is way over-the-top and unnecessary when it comes to design.
The striping on this jersey is all over the map, and I find it to be very cumbersome in the design. The angled hem stripe is in the vein of the original jersey, but the differently-sized stripes don't work when trying to create that angled look. These stripes, like the ones on the sleeves, feel forced in the size difference, and that's never a good thing. As you can see on the old jersey up above, there was a splash of with the sleeves ending in the jade colour to mimic the bottom of the old jersey. The new jerseys end in eggplant again, causing the sleeves to look awkward in their design. Some will say that the gloves will cover that up, but I'm willing to bet the gloves match the eggplant colour. Overall, I am not a fan of the striping on this jersey.
The font used by the Ducks appears to be consistent with their everyday font used on their home and road jerseys. The continuity is appreciated, and the font is easily readable on the backs of these uniforms. If there is a drawback, it feels a little crowded with the shoulder yoke pushing the name and number towards the angled hem stripes, but everything fits within the template provided. For those players with longer names - Jakob Silfverberg and Marcus Petterberg, specifically - it might be a bit of a squeeze horizontally to get those names on the jersey comfortably when looking at the twelve characters in "Mighty Ducks", but I'll let the Ducks' equipment managers worry about those details.
Overall, this jersey just has too many things happening at once for it to really make its mark. The old KISS idea - Keep It Simple, Stupid - would have worked wonders here. In any case, pre-orders for the 25th anniversary Mighty Ducks alternate jersey start Monday, July 23 at 10am at the Ducks' team store. Oh, and one more note for jersey collectors comes from Eric Stephens of
The Athletic.
It seems the Mighty Ducks will be mothballed once again next season in favour of another orange alternate jersey. Get your Mighty Ducks circa 2018-19 jerseys when you can!
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
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