A True Throwback

If there's one thing that NHL forced the Winter Classic game to embrace, it's the history of the game and teams in all its forms. We need to start being honest with ourselves when it comes to some of these jerseys because they're not good. Not even remotely. While I appreciate the history some of these teams bring forth in their jerseys for the game, the image above means that the St. Louis Blues are going to try their hand at hockey history today so let's see what they have planned for the Winter Classic game on January 1, 2022.

The Blues are throwing back to their 1967-68 season with their Winter Classic uniforms with replicas of what the team wore that season! The powdery blue colour will really standout against the white background of the rink and ice in Minnesota, but this jersey isn't really anything new when one considers that the Blues also wore their blue throwback to this same team's era in the 2017 Winter Classic against Chicago. The Blues can now claim they are the first team to wear both jerseys from a specific era in Winter Classic games, but that honour means little when it comes to how they look on the ice and potential merchandise sales. So the question must be asked: does this one make the cut in terms of being good?

The 2017 blue throwback was simple and classy, and this one follows the same idea. However, as you can see on Wayne Gretzky in that season's Winter Classic alumni game, the jerseys worn in that game appear much better both in design and execution. The shoulder yokes look much better with their rounded ends that extend down the sleeve. The TV numbers on the sleeves appear directly above the sleeve stripes which is near to the look. The colours look really good on the ice with all the white out on the rink, but there's a major caveat here: what Gretzky is wearing is what the Blues wore from 1968-72!

As you can see on this comparison of the uniforms from NHLUniforms.com, the jersey that Ryan O'Reilly is wearing above has the squared shoulder yoke and the thick yellow stripe at the hem and on the sleeves just as the 1967 jersey had whereas Wayne Gretzky has the rounded and extended shoulder yokes and the thicker blue stripes in the middle as the Blues wore in 1968. That attention to details matters, and it shows that the Blues are very aware of their jersey history in terms of how this Blues Winter Classic is built when it comes to honouring the team's first year in the NHL.

I'e seen a few major media outlets identifying the 2022 Winter Classic jerseys as being similar or variations to the 2017 version worn in the alumni game, but it needs to be made clear that these are two distinctly separate jerseys. Don't fall into the trap of simply saying, "Haven't we seen this before?"

If we address the question of whether they are good or not, I have to say that I've never really been a fan of what the Blues have worn outside of the Gretzky-era jersey. However, objectively speaking, these new 2022 Winter Classic jerseys are an exact replica of what the Blues wore in 1967 outside of the garbage Adidas logo on the back and the NHL logo on the front. The font is the same font used in 1967, and the outlined number worn by the Blues on the sleeves and back were also worn in that era. In short, the Blues are wearing what they took the ice in for the first time in 1967.

Do I like the squared shoulder yoke? No, but I'm also not overly enthused by the Blues' uniform history in general. The catch here is that I can't fault them for being accurate because I don't find much appeal in the Blues' uniforms. The Blues deserve full marks for creating a true throwback jersey that captures all the elements of a specific era. Because they capture all the elements from 1967 without changing them in any way, this jersey falls into the "good" category despite me not really liking it.

If you're going to throw back to an era, go all the way and do a true throwback like the Blues did. You can't go wrong when you honouring your own history with a true throwback jersey.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!