Mining the NHL Rumor Mill
Wednesday · Jan 6 · 2010 | 8:40 AM PSTWe've done enough minor league coverage over the last week. Time to get back to our roots now. There are couple items to address, though primarily rumor.
Word on the street is the Philadelphia Flyers will be the first to break out their Winter Classic sweaters for a second game in the same season.
Claude Giroux #28According to Flyers beat writer Ryan Bright, the white sweaters worn last Friday will get another shot, this time at tonight's indoor game when the Flyers host the Maple Leafs. He said so on his Twitter account yesterday.
Just so we're clear, I haven't read anything official on this from the Flyers yet. (If you have, drop me a line.)
The rumors have been flying since before this jersey was even unveiled that it would become Philadelphia's new road sweater — being a light version of the alternate (now home) jersey launched last year. But I didn't expect to see it back so soon.
To date, only one team from each Winter Classic has gone on to use their jersey in some form on a regular basis. Since we can bet on the Flyers here, will the Bruins break the mold and carry over their awesome gold jersey as a third for 2010-11?
By the way, don't forget that jersey galleries are available on Icethetics for the last two Winter Classics. Take a look and be sure to rate them.
The rumor mill continues with the Ottawa Senators.
First, let's set it up. You'll recall in August that speculation was rampant that the Sens would be dumping their new "SENS" third jersey in favor of Jacob Barrette's Heritage sweater.
Senators Heritage jerseyWe later held a poll here at Icethetics asking readers to choose between the current alternate and the vintage design. It yielded a predictable result after more than 4,800 votes.
Now Icethetics reader Nevill is writing in with some thoughts on the future of the white road jersey.
I was at the Sens game against the Avs [last week] and noticed that their road white jerseys were discounted down in mass quantities at all the team stores and kiosks.
The retail chains around town are also selling the road whites up to 60% off, too, which leads me to believe that changes may be coming as soon as next season.
The vintage look is more apparent than ever at Scotiabank Place right now and I wouldn't be surprised to see new jerseys in the fall.
Nor would I, but considering this new uniform set debuted only in 2007, it might be a little too soon for wholesale changes. Either way, it's safe to say we're keeping the Senators on the radar for JerseyWatch 2010. Something is definitely going on in the capital city.
Reader Comments (24)
The Flyers news is officially official. The team broadcasters have been talking about it for awhile now.
The Flyers are definitely wearing the WC jersey's tonight. They've been advertising it during telecasts on Comcast SportsNet for the past week.
Road sweaters have to be white though, don't they? I wonder what they would replace it with?
I really like both those jerseys, but the problem is in the details. The name plate on the back of Philly's jerseys is absolutely ridiculous. It might have worked if it was orange, but black looks really bad. It almost, but not quite destroys the jerseys. I'm almost as annoyed by the fact that the pattern on the arms doesn't match for Ottawa. It's sad to see jerseys so close to perfection, yet they are flawed.
April 11 2009, the red wings wore their WC sweater indoors at the Joe with the blackhawks in their standard red sweaters. So the Flyers won't be the first team to wear their WC unis twice in the same season.
I stand corrected. Thanks Eric!
How can the SENS (is it still safe to call them that?) use a dark jersey in place of a white one? Doesn't seem to go with the league rules. I think it's actually in the rulebook, but why not just make that the alternate, replacing the current black?
I hope Ottawa's =O= jersey becomes a reality. Give it a tasteful bit of hem striping, match the sleeve stripes to the chest stripes, give it a lace-up collar, and presto, an iconic design.
Now these are two wonderful news! Thanks Chris!
Ya i was in a mall in Ottawa on boxing day and the Sens store had racks and racks of the white jerseys for 59 bucks (canadian $$$ obviously) and i thought that was really cheap for a sweater that they usually sell for $109... I checked back 2 days ago and they were still that price, so it might not just be a boxing day sale.
But i must say if the sens wore Barrette's black jersey i'd definatley buy one.
Any new news on the Oilers, are they adding stripes to there sleves next year?
It's strange to see them, not wearing the WC jerseys, but that the WC patch is still on them. Kinda silly.
I don't see the point, but the Flyers left the Winter Classic patch on the jersey's, too.
Toby... a team can put in a request to the league to wear the white jersey at home if the visiting team says it's cool. Kinda like when you had to ask your parents what to wear.
Also, I really hope that new vintage style Sens jersey is how they're going to do those next year. Those are some good-lookin sweaters!
I've seen the Senators road whites on discount as well, along with the Flyers current road whites..
I thought the Hawks also wore theirs for one or two games after, but a quick Google search turned up nothing.
Stanley Cup of Chowder has said that the B's will wear their Classic jersey at least 4 times this year. As much as I like the "all blacks" look, I hope the Classic uni becomes the B's full-time alternate next year.
I think some of you are confused about the news regarding the Senators. We're not saying they won't have a white jersey next year. Obviously they have to wear white on the road. What we're saying is that it seems it may be getting an overhaul. (Or it may just be that it doesn't sell as well as the red one and the hope is that lowering the price will help them fly off the shelves.)
Perhaps a White version of the =O= jersey is on it's way as well?
Don't understand why they kept the WC patch on the white for this game. It's not the WC anymore, sort of devalues the WC jersey now.
what about those red senators sweaters you had up last month? I really like that one better than the black one there...
The Senators need that Heritage rebrand badly. As for the Flyers, once they make the white jersey their new away uniform they should scrap the black nameplate (it was never used in the 70's obviously), but the white nameplate may stay for their home uniforms. Flyers fans should put the pressure on ownership to get rid of them for a cleaner look next year (perhaps by booing the nameplates all night hehe).
@Cale
Can you post a link to that story? I just checked the website and got nothing.
I have to say, I work in sports apparel in the Ottawa area and the MAIN reason the white jerseys were all on sale the past 2 months is that NO ONE IN OTTAWA WANTS A WHITE JERSEY. At our store, we haven't had to re-order whites from RBK in about 2 years. Everyone is afraid of getting stains on white jerseys. We probably sell 30 reds for every one white.