Islanders Unveil Black Third Jersey
I'm not going to say it. You know what I'm talking about.
The New York Islanders officially unveiled their new third jerseys to fans and media tonight at their team store inside the Nassau Coliseum. And as it turns out, all of the previous leaks were right on the money as the club introduces two new colors to its pallette — black and grey.
Check out the Islanders' official Flickr account for photos from the event.
The sweater will make its game debut a week from tonight when the Isles host the Philadelphia Flyers and again two days later on Black Friday. They also released a complete schedule detailing the 12 nights they'll be seen throughout the season.
- Wed., Nov. 23 – vs. Philadelphia Flyers
- Fri., Nov. 25 – vs. New Jersey Devils
- Sat., Dec. 10 – vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
- Fri., Dec. 23 – vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
- Thurs., Jan. 12 – vs. Philadelphia Flyers
- Sat., Jan. 21 – vs. Carolina Hurricanes
- Sat., Feb. 4 – vs. Buffalo Sabres
- Mon., Feb. 20 – vs. Ottawa Senators
- Sun., Mar. 4 – vs. New Jersey Devils
- Tues., Mar. 13 – vs. Washington Capitals
- Sat., Mar. 31 – vs. Boston Bruins
- Thurs., Apr. 5 – vs. Winnipeg Jets
No Western Conference teams will face the Isles in black this season.
Islanders Third Jersey Unveiling photo gallery
I stand by my earlier position on this jersey. While it may be one of the ugliest the Isles have ever worn — and that's saying something — I like that they've decided to use the third jersey for its intended purpose. It shows off an alternate look, completely different from what we're used to seeing.
Having said that, I think I know where these comments will go...
Holy crap, check out the pants!
Chris
There was another link I wanted to make sure got included in this post. After the unveiling, the Islanders posted an article about the creation of the the third jersey.
Here's an excerpt from it:
Terry Goldstein, the Islanders' Director of Retail Operations, said the Islanders started working on the Third Jersey prototype a year ago and ultimately landed on the Black Jersey after getting feedback from the Islanders organization and players.
“We view this (third jersey) as just a fun, alternative jersey,” Goldstein said. “With our white and our blue jerseys we look back at our history, and with the black jerseys, we’re looking forward.”
The Black Jersey has the team’s name across the front with the player’s number below. The numbers also appear on each sleeve as well as on the back. The top of the jersey is gray with the traditional Islanders logo on each shoulder.
The collar and edges of the sleeves are royal blue which matches the team’s royal blue helmets and gloves. The jersey has a gray, orange and blue triangle under each arm and matches the new black pants that will feature an inverted triangle directly below, creating a diamond.
The National Hockey League allows teams to introduce a new jersey idea every three years. Originally, there were nine designs for the third jersey.
The last line was an interesting tidbit for us to hang onto. Appparently third jerseys can be swapped out every three years. We already know Ottawa and Toronto have taken advantage of that rule. They each launched thirds in 2008, wore them for three seasons, and launched new ones this year.
Reader Comments (122)
Looks better than it did in the leak.
if you replaced the word mark and numbers with their logo, it would be halfway decent
Honestly, it's kind of grown on me. At first I despised it but now it just elicits a 'meh' reaction. Not the ugliest jersey, not good either though. I think it's actually better on a player than it looks in concept.
Apparently they didn't get the memo from the Mets that "black for black's sake" is on its way out.
These are ugly in a completely boring way. Whether or not you consider the fisherman jerseys uglier, they were at least a whole lot more interesting.
You guys might pan this jersey as a horrible mess, but keep in mind that this isn't the worst Islanders jersey out there.
i love it.... definite MUST-HAVE for ANY collector of hockey jerseys, like myself. Im a Devils fan, & i love this uniform
This jersey is like a mutant of various jerseys from the past 15 years. the stripping looks like the old buffalo sabers jerseys from the late 90's, the front is like the Thrashers last third, and the black background looks like its come right out of Dallas Texas. Nice job creating something unique guys! ;)
Clearly not the best out there. But as long as the silver parts really shimmer I don't mind them as much as I thought I would.
The design dept. did a decent job making them look good, especially with images like this: http://2.cdn.nhle.com/islanders/images/upload/gallery/2011/11/Moulson_H1I6492_Light_slide.jpg
It's not as terrible as when I first saw the leaks. However, the fact that there is no pics of the back of the jersey makes me wonder if the jersey will be Atlanta Thrashers level of terrible.
Yikes, these are even worse in real life than in all the leaks. The NY Islanders must really hate their fan base since they continue to trot out some of the worst 3rd jerseys ever imagined.
I'll admit that they look slightly better now that I've seen the real thing. But it's still the most horrendous jersey in Islanders history. Yes, worse than the Fisherman, by far in my opinion. I know introducing it is all about the money, but who in their right mind would pay full price for this when they could get their much better looking primaries for the same price? I feel for Islanders fans, yet another embarrassing jersey brought in.
I know we've seen and predicted this look for months, still just one word... YIKES!
Bwaaaaah! Me eyes! They're scalded they is!!
Bring back the fisherman.
Well, to me it looks simply awful. What I dislike the most is the striping on the sides (but it looks quite good on the cuffs) and, most of all, the wordmark "Islanders" with the numbers on the front which make it look like a football jersey (same "mistake" made by the Thrashers with the red alternate) rather than a hockey sweater. I'm not against the idea of a black alternate for the Isles, but, not like this one.
I can say I don't like this jersey as much as I love the standard, classic home and road set.
While you have made a decent point that teams should take risks, I don't know how anyone can possibly say that this jersey isn't the worst in the league. It's absolutely horrendous (although it is fitting for such a horrendous team, but that's not the point). You can take a risk without making such an obvious failure.
I can take or leave this - they are a little late to the "black" jersey party, it seems so 3 seasons ago - Not sure what purpose front numbers serve on a hockey sweater - so yeah. It just seems like they pulled the worst from what already has done and ran with it - in the wrong direction. If there is a positive here, I do like the socks...
By far the worst NYI jersey, although I am biased due to the fact I quite liked at least the idea of the fishsticks logo. Is it just me or does this remind other people of the MLB's New York Mets crossed with the NBA's New York Knicks... Never was a fan of the basketball/football numbers on the front. It takes away the best part of the jersey and the part that makes the NHL unique... a full sized logo on the chest.
Definite downgrade for the Islanders. Could have done much better.
Looks like something an in-house rec league team would make themselves for $20 a jersey. Amateur at best.
May the designer (and isles management) burn in hell.
They're dressing for their own funeral...
Horrible...
What an absolutely awful jersey. Embarrassing...
I am an Isles Fan and I Love this uniform it's totally different and therefore a great alternate no matter what others may think
While your stance is worthy, there is one problem that I have, and that's the very public apology that the Isles made in response to the Fisherman uniform, when it was finally put out to pasture, and that was "No more ugly jerseys".
Now, while I'll be the first to admit, beauty is entirely subjective (re: I'm about the only regular poster who LIKES the Dallas jerseys) you'd think that when 80% or more of their fan base clamors for there not to be a black jersey that they'd do something sensible, like, oh, I don't know, listen to them. I guess Charles Wang's marketing team took a page from the Buffalo Sabres playbook. [/sarcasm]
Let's be fair, I've seen a post elsewhere wondering which will happen first, the announcement that this jersey will be retired, or the announcement of the Islanders relocation. This WILL be put to pasture, it will only be a matter of when.
In closing, the only reason anyone's smiling in the pictures is because it's considered polite to do so.
These are terrible, numbers on the front are the worst idea. The striping on the sides is also ridiculous don't know why teams like Anaheim do it too. A third should have for sure been orange and a completely different design.
Rather than just say how awful I think the jersey is - even though I do - I'm instead going to offer some constructive criticism:
The jersey wouldn't be as horrific if they used white instead of grey. The grey just makes it look dingy. And, hey, if you use a modernized-version of the Islanders' primary logo on the chest (or something new), it wouldn't look half-bad...for a black jersey, that is.
Heck, if they just had "ISLANDERS" diagonally across the front it wouldn't be awful, but with the Rangers in NYC, we know that wasn't going to happen. Logos make for better crests, and this jersey is another example of why.
Seeing in the press release pic seen above, thay aren't nearly as terrible as I'd thought they'd look from the leaks and mock-ups. That being said, they're still atrocious looking uniforms... just not AS atrocious as I thought they'd be. I like the touch of silver for an Isles alternate's sake. That's the only SILVER LINING i can find in these sweaters (tee hee).
They should've gone back to the orange jerseys from the early 2000's. They weren't the greatest either but at least there was a logo and it used the team's actual colors. I don't mind black but for a team that doesn't have it in their original reptoire, it's way too much. Here's where I thought once the Thrashers left I was seeing the beginning of the end of the NBA style arched wordmark n number jerseys. This was an epic fail-they tried to be too original.
I actually like it. It's different, and that's NOT a bad thing. Could it be better executed? HELL YES. Could it be worse? HELL YES. It's not the best jersey I have ever seen, but It's not the worst. I think I'll reserve that spot for the maroon atlanta jerseys.
What I said when I saw that picture: "YUCK!" Please use a logo!
ugh… the islanders aren't going to fill any more seats with these jerseys
Should have brought back the Grotons' Fish Sticks jerseys since it's the 40th season and all.
ummm.... yuk!
Complete fail.
I have to admit that they don't look AS bad in person as they did in the mock ups... That being said, should have went with Orange as a base color and worked from there. I would have liked to see something new, but not like this. The number on the front is SO BAD. Did they not pay any attention to the outrage over the Thrashers putting a number on the front of the jerseys? I think a lighthouse patch logo, something along those lines would have been great. The black looks somewhat cool on the black background in the picture, but on the ice... these will look SO bad. I really think you should have put some ideas out to the fans and let them vote, or even write in ideas. Once again, Black is NOT an Islanders color, and it NEVER should be. This is a tradition crazed fan base, and to do this is a slap in the face. I don't see these sticking around very long, and its a shame, because they had an opportunity here to add some joy to a increasingly disappointed fan base, and they blew it... #shouldhavebeenorange
They don't look as terrible from this shot than in the leaks, but still pretty bad. Also, from looking at the flickr page, there is no 40th anniversary shoulder patch like on the regular set; there are regular islander logos for shoulder patches on each shoulder. Wonder why they did that....
Horrible. Horrid. Horendous.
As a lifelong Islander fan since 1975, I am saddened to announce that I believe this once proud franchise has now officially hit bottom!
"Worst kept secret", Chris? :P
Hahahahahahaha. That is all.
I'm an Islander season ticket holder. What I like about this jersey is the fact the Islanders can pull off a word mark in perfect fashion without going over the top. What I dislike is the black. Personally if it was blue, it would be more widely accepted because I don't see black as a color/colour that the Islanders have ever wanted to pursue. After getting the uniforms right, this works perfect as an alternate and no way will it become the home jersey. It works great as an alternate, and it even works great on "Black Friday". Now if there's a team that may look good in black that isn't wearing it now, I'd say this works perfect for the New Jersey Devils with their logos and color/colour scheme.
Those would be pretty sweet jerseys for a beer league team, but not for 4 time Stanley Cup champions. I don't think of Mike Bossy and Brian Trottier at all when I see them. The only thing the Isles have going for them is their history. Why try to distance yourselves even further from that winning tradition. I'd rather see the Cap'n Highliner jerseys come back than see them playing in these.
Wow I don't look so bad now
Dear Lord, anyone else could have come up with a better idea...
I Have too say, these are the ugliest jersey's since Dallas brought Football into the league.
It's bad, but not the worst 3rd jersey unveiled in the last few years. Ottawa's "SENS" jersey, Atlanta's old 3rd jersey, and going back a bit Nashville's mustard/custard jersey were all worse IMO.
It a futile effort. Very lazy. Looks like a practice jersey.
Horrible x10.
Bring back the fish stick jersey!