A Little Deja Vu

If there's one AHL franchise whose history is filled with all sorts of weird notes, the Colorado Eagles might win that contest. From their claim of having the most consecutive sellouts in minor professional hockey to their odd move in keeping and not returning the ECHL's Kelly Cup after winning in their final year in the ECHL to teasing fans in 2019 with a new alternate jersey that looks exactly like the Colorado Avalanche's jersey, the Eagles have been going off-script for a while. In saying that, I guess I shouldn't be surprised about their new jerseys today because it seems they already had a template to follow.

Here is what the Colorado Eagles will wear in 2020-21 and beyond.

If you block out the ridiculous "Colorado Sky" marketing babble from this image, the jerseys look pretty decent at first glance. However, we shouldn't forget the template that the Eagles have adopted since joining the AHL as the Colorado Avalanche's affiliate because you might be thinking "where have I seen this before" as I was.

The white jerseys look clean and crisp, and I like the blue-and-black striping and accents that make up the colour palette. I am a little confused why there's no burgandy like the primary colour that Avalanche wear when the marketing buzz on their website said that Eagles were "guided by a desire to connect at a greater level with the Eagles NHL affiliate in the Colorado Avalanche," but who am I to question the very reason for a jersey redesign as stated by the team? That just seems silly of me to do, right? At least they don't look like their NHL affiliate by wearing identical jerseys.

Perhaps I spoke to soon, though, because I'm getting some deja vu feels here. First off, you know this blog is entirely against not wearing your primary logo on your primary jerseys. Teams pay an exorbitant amount of money in designing a logo that captures their brand, and yet the Eagles immediately remove the logo from their blue uniforms which will be seen on the road for half the AHL season. What's the point of having a logo if you're unwilling to wear it on your uniforms? "But the logo is on the left shoulder!" I hear you say and I'll agree that it does show up on the jersey, but that's not where it's meant to be on a primary jersey. Outside of that, the striping and shoulder yoke work, but the Colorado Eagles aren't the New York Rangers. Wear your damned logo on your chest.

On top of that, you likely aready saw these jerseys in action when the Colorado Avalanche wore them in the NHL from 2009 through 2015. Aside from some striping changes and a colour change from burgandy to black (again), this is an exact replica in design as the Avalanche's alternate jerseys from that 2010 era. Did the Avalanche mothball these and then donate them to the Eagles? Why would the Eagles take a design that most fans and sites were less than enthused about and bring it back? If selling jerseys is one of the reasons for a rebranding, the market for this blue jersey seems very small.

Overall, the white jersey is a plus, but the blue jersey is a big minus. Bigger than the white jerseys can overcome in this writer's view. What kills me about these uniforms is that if you pulled the logos off the jerseys, what actually would lead you to believe that the Eagles were "guided by a desire to connect at a greater level" with the Avalanche? If the answer is "wearing one of their old jersey designs", you done gone and messed up good, Eagles.

BREAKING NEWS: You done gone and messed up good, Eagles.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!