Alternates For Alternates' Sake

I honestly struggle with the fact that the NHL continues to pump out new jerseys at a pace faster than they demand arenas from cities. We've had a full chunk of the schedule devoted to the 2022 Reverse Retro jerseys already, and now we have a few teams cramming in alternate jerseys on their scheduled games as well. The cost of a jersey is already ludicrous, so I often wonder how the NHL expects to turn any sort of profit off merchandise that barely gets a shred of time as part of a team's closet, let alone trying to let jerseys stand the test of time. Two Western Conference teams had their brand-new alternate jerseys revealed today, and I'm not certain either will stand the test of time either.

We'll start in Phoenix. Wait, I mean Glendale. Or maybe Tempe. Ok, we'll start somewhere in Arizona where the Coyotes are contractually allowed to play because the Coyotes officially released their new alternate jersey to the world today, and the results seem to be mixed from early comments on social media after seeing these jerseys.

There's a lot to unpack here, but let's start with the brick red colour because that was something that faded into the past with the return of the Kachina logo and jerseys in 2021 as the team rebranded. However, Coyotes president and CEO Xavier A. Gutierrez said of the red jerseys to ESPN in September 2021, "They still resonate with fans here too. We didn't want to get rid of it completely."

It seems they didn't get rid of it completely as the red colour of this new jersey - named the "Desert Night" jersey and was created by Rhuigi Villaseñor, the founder and creative director of Los Angeles-based streetwear brand Rhude - is hard to miss. Personally, I have no issue with the brick red jersey in terms of colour, but I do struggle with the green when the Coyotes could have used the etchings in a sandstone colour like they use for the wordmark stretched across the chest. That contrasting colour would break up the monochrome feel of this jersey, and I often wonder if designers ever consult colour-blind people to get their reactions to designs since red and green look similar to those afflicted with colour blindness.

I don't understand nor endorse the wordmark either. The Coyotes have had a number of logos in their history since moving from Winnipeg, and they go with a wordmark? I guess if one plays like a college hockey team, plays its home games in a college hockey rink, and is looking to move into a college hockey town, they should probably dress like a college hockey team too, right? Wordmarks are not NHL logos, and your logo is your brand. Not having any logo anywhere on the jersey is simply ridiculous.

According to the team's release on the jerseys, the Coyotes' captain will wear the half-moon patch that looks like a "C" while the alternate captains will wear what you see to the right. At first, I hated the idea of this cartoonish alternate captaincy designation, but the release stated that the "A" is actually two cacti hugging one another as the Coyotes work more desert culture into their jerseys. I think it loses its effectiveness when viewed from farther than a foot away, but someone signed off on this to be worn on the ice. I'll give the Coyotes credit for creativity in this idea, but the execution is far different in reality. It doesn't work.

Individually, there are elements here that would be good on a jersey, but they've been combined in a way that doesn't look aesthetically good. They could do so much more with the same colours if they simply stuck to a traditional hockey look and used contrasting colours to set the jersey elements apart. You know who already wears a jersey that has those elements baked into it? The Kachina coyote!

I mocked up the Kachina logo's jersey a little with some striping and colours to reflect the new alternate jersey a little better, but that crescent moon logo works really well on the Kachina logo and the sandstone colour used on the sleeves with the smaller green stripes makes the green pop a little more. I worked in the etchings as best as I could to make it look like the sandstone was etched, but this mock-up is a jersey I'd rather be wearing over the one introduced today if I were a player on the Coyotes. Toss the Kachina face on the shoulders as patches, and you'd tie all three jerseys together quite nicely as a uniform set. It took me 20 minutes in Microsoft Paint to create that mock-up, and I already like it infinitely better.

I'm sure Rhuigi Villaseñor is a great designer when it comes to his brands, but his first NHL hockey jersey gets a FAIL from me. It simply misses the mark on a number of little elements, and a death by one thousand cuts is still a death. Even in the desert.

Unofficially, there was a second new alternate jersey seen today, but this one came from a Facebook Marketplace leak rather than coming from an NHL team. The Vancouver Canucks have been introducing and retiring jerseys and logos from their past since they put the orca on their jerseys, but it seems they'll take another swing at bringing back a look that most fans hold dearer to their hearts than the orca logo.

The Vancouver Canucks appear to be bringing back the skate logo as their alternate this season, but it's not an exact replica of what they wore from 1985-1989 nor is it a replica of the jersey they wore from 1989-97. The thin black stripe between the red and the yellow stripes on both the sleeves and hem give it away, so this alternate is more of a fauxback if we're using uniform parlance. They'll also continue to use their modern font that's been in use since 2007 which looks somewhat off for those of us who watched the Canucks skate in these uniforms in the 1990s.

I can't say if this is the real deal for the Canucks for 2023's alternate jersey, but we've seen them bring the skate jersey out for previous ceremonies and games. Logic would say that this is the next iteration of Canucks jersey we'll see, but this may be more fiction than fact until the team confirms it.

For now, I'll reserve my judgment until we see the confirmed alternate, but I can say one thing for the Canucks, assuming that the jersey above is their alternate: they'll be dressed better than the Rhuigi Villaseñor-dressed Arizona Coyotes!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!