The Devil's In The Details

You'd need a time machine to go back to the last time that the Utica Devils took the ice in red jerseys as 1993 marked the final season that Devils called Utica home. The team had moved from Portland, Maine in the summer of 1987 as the Maine Mariners became the Utica Devils after New Jersey Devils owner John McMullen had purchased the Mariners franchise from the Philadelphia Flyers, but financial losses continued to grow in Portland. After the arena lease with the Cumberland County Civic Center expired, McMullen made the decision to move the franchise half as far away to Utica where the team displaced the Mohawk Valley Stars/Comets franchise of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League. The Utica Devils were born!

For what it's worth, the Utica Devils didn't have the success in Utica that McMullen may have been seeking, missing the playoffs twice in six seasons while being ousted in the opening round in the four seasons they did qualify for the postseason. There were the makings, however, of a number of solid NHL players that would go on to help New Jersey win Stanley Cups including Martin Brodeur, Chris Terreri, Craig Billington, Bill Guerin, and Valeri Zelepukin. Even Russian defenders Vyacheslav Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov saw action as Utica Devils for a cup of coffee!

I bring this up tonight because the Utica Comets decided to bring back the Devils in full red-and-green colours for their game against the Hershey Bears, and it was a glorious sight despite there being one rather large mistake: the green is the wrong shade of green based on what the Devils wore back in the late-1980s and early-1990s. However, seeing the Utica Devils back in red-and-green and owned by the New Jersey Devils just feels right when compared to the Comets name, and the Devils and CCM deserve a little kudos for getting a number of things correct on these uniforms. The green needs to be corrected, but the lighter shade of green seen above still works well when it comes to the visual aesthetics of this uniform. That's how the Devils at both the AHL and NHL levels should always look!

I had lamented the choice the Devils made in keeping the Comets name back in August 2021, but the franchise deserves some credit for using their 1992-93 font on the back of these throwback jerseys. Note the serifs on the numbers as the players skate into the frame - that's attention to detail that should be appreciated by all!
The only complaint that I have is that they didn't wear this font with the red-and-green. It was introduced when the Devils changed the green to black on their jerseys, and the traditional block font they wore became what you see above. The font is unique to the Devils, though, so I can't fault them for using their licensed font for their own jerseys. It's easy to read, so it works well.

Again, it's hard to overlook the wrong shade of green being used on these jerseys. It was particularly noticeable on Akira Schmid as he stood in his crease, but here's a comparison of what it would look like with the darker green that Utica and New Jersey traditionally used.

I have to admit the darker green just works better when it comes to being a contrasting colour to all that red. The red and white pop a little more with the darker green, so I'm confused as to why the Devils didn't have it on this jersey. Whatever the case may be, the lighter green still works, but to a lesser effect than the darker green. When the Devils do a throwback, they should be true to it.

I'll admit that I'm a sucker for when teams bring out their history and wear it well. In my opinion which carries zero weight, the Utica Comets should have used the Devils name and look when New Jersey moved their AHL franchise to Utica for the second time in hockey's history, but it seems like the Devils have found a way to honour their humble roots. Even if it has some inconsistent elements that make it more of a fauxback than a throwback.

Overall, this look for the Utica Comets is good. It can be improved, as seen above, but they looked sharp on the ice in their 3-0 win over the Hershey Bears tonight. They executed well on the ice in terms of systems and aesthetics, and that's a solid reminder that the devil's in the details when it comes to playing and looking good.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!