The Orange and Blue
Saturday · Jun 27 · 2009 | 6:11 PM PDTIn case you aren't following along on Twitter, I'll summarize yesterday's draft coverage. And if you aren't, you can check out updates in the sidebar.
First, my Bolts nabbed Victor Hedman which I am thrilled about. We have Lecavalier, St. Louis and Stamkos. While it may not seem like it, we have the scoring. What we need is someone to stand in front of Mike Smith the way Dan Boyle and company stood in front of Nik Khabibulin. But I digress in only the second paragraph.
To the No. 1 overall pick, John Tavares, the New York Islanders gave the sharp new third jersey. Being out of the loop for the most part the past few months, I questioned whether this was a signal the Isles would be taking on the retro look full time.
My reliable Icethetics sources, along with several other readers, tell me that while the team would love nothing more for the fall, the total switch won't take place until 2010 or 2011. In the meantime, this season will certainly see a ramp-up in frequency of third jersey action. We're told to expect the alternates in more than a quarter of regular season play.
So while we're talking orange and blue, the Edmonton Journal tells us the Oilers will be donning the retros a whopping 27 times in the coming 2009-10 campaign. This leaves just 14 opportunities for the dark blue sweater effectively making it the alternate this year.
The road white jersey will remain the same. As the Journal writer points out, the Oil performed better in those anyway. My thanks to PuckDrawn for pointing out this info. And allow me to once again point out what a great job Johnny has done in my absence and still continues to do.
And lastly, in case it got overlooked by anyone, I have a bit of AHL news. Well, it's really more of a rumor at this point. But with the Phantoms headed to Adirondack, the Hershey Bears are now one of only two teams left in Pennsylvania. Could they be getting a new look in '09? The fans want it. Does the ownership? I'll be tracking this story for you throughout the summer.
Stay tuned for more news and keep your eye on Twitter for regular briefings.
Reader Comments (7)
So the Oliers are going to bring back the dark blue gear sweater and get rid of the edge mess? I get from this that they will have three entirely different sweaters. How come they can do this and not the isles?
No, not the McFarlane third, ridder. The home set will be the throwbacks and the third will be what has been the homes since the switch to the Edge.
The supposed final jersey for the Adirondack Phantoms is sitting quietly in the Puckdrawn forums
i'm loving all the new retro jerseys. sure beats all that boring black stuff, eh?
oh, congrats on Victor Hedman! The Islanders should have taken him number 1.
What!? No way, Isles needed a goal scorer way more than a big defenseman. Plus Tampa need a big defender, and the Avalanche need anything they can get. I'd say the top three picks worked out perfectly for each team.
I was hoping the Sabres would do that...but no!! Leave it up to Quinn to screw things up again.
If I'm not mistaken, teams are only allowed to wear the alternate jerseys a select 15 times each season. If the Oilers do wear the "alternate" jersey 27 times and the "home" jersey only 14 times (less than the 15 game limit for alternates), wouldn't it be fair to suggest that this is a switch?
However, the number 27 doesn't necessarily mean 27 HOME games. In road games against the Leafs and Stars, it could be a double-alternate jersey night.
Either way, I hope it's only a matter of time before these teams switch to the jerseys that remind us of the Islanders and Oilers dynasties of the 80's. Not only that, but the current jerseys are CRAP! The Islanders' jersey has terrible piping and striping, and the Oilers' "practice" jersey looks... like practice jerseys. These switches are ones that HAVE to be made right away.