Sunday, August 26, 2007

OK, now this uniform thing is getting serious

The NHL has decided, in an effort to create more buzz about its product, to revamp, replace, and refashion the uniforms of a lot of teams this year. We've seen the Islanders ape the Buffalo numbering scheme, but this is the team that had a purveyor of fish sticks grace its jersey once, so anything is an improvement.



We've had Florida with odd stripes at the elbow running perpendicular to piping that makes their panther-on-crack logo look like it's emerging from a curtain parting.



And we have Tampa Bay with their odd cuffs and an inability to decide whether they will wear their numbers on the front (the road ones will) or not (the home ones will remain numberless).







Even our Caps have joined the party, changing not only the jersey style, but the whole color scheme, returning to red-white-and-blue.





OK, that's fine...none of these clubs have a lot of noteworthy history, except for the Islanders, and that was a generation ago.

But now it's getting serious when one of the original six is rumored to be contemplating a sea change in its duds. CBC.ca reports that the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking at a major redesign that will remove the interlocking "TML" shoulder logo, reduce the amount of white in the home version, introduce more silver, and (yuck) piping.*

The Peerless thinks that with all the piping being introduced into jerseys, this might be the best training for uniform fashion design for the NHL...



Maybe next year, Sidney will design the threads.




Or better yet, maybe we can have a redesign of the Stanley Cup!


* Thanks to Novaron on The Official for pointing the way.

1 comment:

Marky Narc said...

I was originally not a fan of the new Capitals jersey, but seeing all these awful things other teams have foisted upon us, I think Washington has the best of the crop among teams that have updated their jerseys for the upcoming season.