As we've seen with the three divisions we're already previewed, Adidas' little statement about history never repeating is somewhat false with all the replicas of historic looks that teams are wearing. While not exact replicas, we can certainly say that Adidas isn't officially repeating history, but we might just be splitting hairs when it comes to swapping colours or digging up old designs. Some of the new creations have used old elements in new ways. Some have fallen short of their intended goal. However, with 24 NHL teams already seen, we have eight more to examine today!
The Metropolitan Division has seen a number of its teams capture Stanley Cups over their histories, but this division has a little bit of everything. There's an Original Six team who has Stanley Cups, a couple of 1967 expansion teams who have both won the Stanley Cup, a 1972 expansion team that built a Stanley Cup dynasty, a 1974 expansion team that finally added a Stanley Cup, a team that moved twice before capturing the Cup, a team that moved once before capturing the Cup, and an expansion team that joined the fun at the turn of the millennium. The previous Reverse Retro jerseys worn by these teams were all over the map from awesome to awful, so let's dive into the Metropolitan Division's new looks for this season!
We'll start with a team that moved and won a Stanley Cup as the Carolina Hurricanes are the first team in the division when organized alphabetically. We already know that the Hurricanes will wear their green Whalers jerseys, so there was only a slim chance of seeing the whale tail as the Reverse Retro jersey. They also went back to their original red jerseys as well, so that option also was taken off the table. Carolina went and turned their white 2019 jerseys red for this year's Reverse Retro experiment. There's virtually no other changes made here other than darkening the hurricane warning flag stripe on the lower hem, so the Hurricanes really did as little as possible. Frankly, I hate them wearing the name "Canes" as much as I did
in 2019 when I reviewed the white jersey, so this jersey still ranks as a
FAIL. You have a logo - use it, Carolina.
The Columbus Blue Jackets followed Carolina's efforts by reaching into their past - albeit recent past - and simply swapping colours. The Blue Jackets grabbed their 2003 alternate jersey that was blue with the black shoulder-to-wrist stripe and simply swapped the two colours. There's less red striping on this new Reverse Retro than what was worn in 2003, but the stars, the logo, the design are all the same. I get there are only 22 years of history from which the Blue Jackets can draw, but this really a larger problem in that the Blue Jackets have no great designs from which they can draw. I've seen renderings of a Blue Jackets-based
Columbus Chill jersey, and that would have been interesting. As it stands, simply swapping the colours on an alternate jersey is neither creative nor effective, so this jersey is a
FAIL.
The New Jersey Devils went digging into their franchise history, and went further back than 1982 as they pulled the colours of the Kansas City Scouts from depths of their past. For those asking, the Kansas City Scouts moved to Denver in 1976 to become the Colorado Rockies, and the Rockies left for East Rutherford, New Jersey in 1982. The red-yellow-and-blue of the Scouts was used on the 1982 design that the Devils first wore when they arrived in New Jersey, and it works pretty well in the design. It's not the colours I'd pick for a team named the "Devils", but it's an interesting twist on what the Devils would have looked like had they not gone red and green. I'll give the Devils the benefit of the doubt by letting them be creative with this, so this jersey ranks as
GOOD even though it doesn't feel right.
Before we even get into this Reverse Retro jersey from the New York Islanders, let me be very clear in telling you that am an undying Fisherman jersey fan. I own an authentic Kasparaitis Fisherman jersey, I cherish it, and I will never sell it despite it being sizes too small to fit me. It was and still is one of my favorite jerseys of all-time, so seeing this jersey was a letdown. The wave design - unique to the original Fisherman jersey - is gone, replaced by a lazy diagonal stripe. The logo has lost some depth with the elimination of colours in the logo as well, and that was one of the reasons I liked it so much. The teal colour that the 1990s thrived on was also eliminated entirely, so the fun that was once the Islanders' Fisherman jersey is no more. Because the Islanders decided to kill the fun, this jersey is a
FAIL despite my obvious bias.
In what's becoming a theme for the Metropolitan Division, the New York Rangers took a jersey from their past and simply swapped colours. The Lady Liberty jersey worked so well in 1996 because the Rangers changed the base colour away from their normal blue which allowed the silver Lady Liberty logo to pop off the navy blue jersey. Even on the white version introduced in 1998 allowed the silver to pop, but there's something missing in this jersey design because I don't get same "wow" feeling. The logo is still impressive, but it simply doesn't jump out at you. I do appreciate the modernized New York Rangers shield patches on the shoulders which was part of that 1996 era, but it's not enough to save this jersey. It just feels incomplete, so the Reverse Retro Lady Liberty is a
FAIL despite the historical jersey being so good.
If this sounds like a broken record, the Philadelphia Flyers took a jersey from their past and simply swapped colours. The 1975 Flyers jersey chosen had the black and orange colours swapped compared to this Reverse Retro jersey, so the orange-and-black of the Flyers seems more black-and-orange if one only saw this jersey. The new Reverse Retro jerseys also use a contrasting nameplate which, quite frankly, should have been retired years ago as a feature on Flyers' jerseys. Every outdoor game the Flyers have participated in has seen a contrasting nameplate, and the contrasting nameplates have been on every jersey since 2010. I don't mind this design, but it could use more orange and zero contrasting nameplates. I can't say that I like it, though, as it feels incomplete, so this jersey falls short as a
FAIL.
Stop me if you've heard this one before, but the Penguins decided to bring back their jersey from 1992 and swap colours. The white uniform worn at home had the distinctive pointed shoulder yoke along with two thick stripes at the bottom hem and the yellow forearm colour with the black stripe. As you can see, the white is now black and the black has occupied the white base colour of the Robo-Pigeon jersey. I have two of the white jerseys in my collection, and I actually don't find that this colour swap removes anything from the jersey. While there's a
perceived curse that goes along with the "pigeon" logo, the logo still pops off the chest on this jersey and the design elements work. Maybe I'm biased as a Penguins fan, but this jersey is
GOOD!
How many times can the Washington Capitals go back to the Screaming Eagle jersey? The last Reverse Retro jersey was this very jersey rendered in red, and now they've done the black treatment after the original 1995 version was done in their unique blue colour. Essentially, this jersey is just a colour swap where the blue moves moves to the black stripe while the base jersey goes from blue to black. I wasn't a fan of the red version of this jersey, and I can't say that I'm a fan of this jersey being done in black either. While they've used a black jersey in the past they seemingly refuse to bring back, this is the third time they'll wear this jersey in a third base colour which is two times more than necessary. Because of that, this jersey falls into the
FAIL category.
Top To Bottom
If you asked me to rank the Metropolitan Division's new looks from top to bottom in this division, it would look like this:
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- New Jersey Devils
- Washington Capitals
- Philadelphia Flyers
- New York Islanders
- New York Rangers
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- Carolina Hurricanes
What say you, readers - agree or disagree with the pass/fail grades? Is the overall ranking I gave anywhere close to your own feelings about the aesthetics of these jerseys? Leave your thoughts in the comments and we can discuss!
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
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