Kings Confirm Uniform Changes
Monday · Mar 21 · 2011 | 12:10 PM PDT
The best source for Los Angeles Kings jersey news continues to be blogger Rich Hammond of LA Kings Insider, who's talking of changes for 2011.
Sneak peek at Kings' prototypes?On Sunday, Hammond confirmed our suspicions regarding the uniform changes the Kings will undergo for the 2011-12 season, saying that the black alternate sweater will become the new home jersey. He also says there will be a white version for the road. This is the first we're hearing of it officially since photos leaked last year.
Regular readers will recall getting an early look at prototypes of white Kings jerseys back in October. This photo (right) was taken from outside Luc Robitaille's office window at the team's practice rink. Robitatille is the Kings' president of business operations.
Now as for the third jersey in 2011, there's a twist. Here's an excerpt from his post:
It seems that the vintage purple-and-gold jerseys will go into mothballs for a while now. This has been a very poorly kept secret, but the Kings are likely to change their primary uniforms next season.
The current third jersey — the black jersey with the “LA” logo — is scheduled to become the full-time home jersey, while a newly created white version of that jersey would become the full-time road jersey. The current home jersey, the black-and-purple jersey with the crown logo, would become the third jersey. Is that confusing enough?
The only thing that confuses me is the idea of dropping the purple-and-gold crown jersey instead of the purple-and-black one. (The throwback was used for the last time this season over the past weekend.) Perhaps they felt it too soon to drop a jersey they've only been wearing for four seasons. However, it does look like this will be the swan song for the current road sweater.
Promotional graphic / KingsCouple of things to note. Rich Hammond's blog is affiliated with the Kings' official website so as far as I'm concerned, his information is practically team confirmation.
And speaking of the team's official site, the marketing images being used to promote 2011 season tickets (right) prominently features the current third jersey — and no purple at all.
So I'm sure I already know what most of you think of the Kings' possibly dropping this year's throwback sweater, but do you think hanging onto the current home jersey is a good idea?
Related: Los Angeles Kings jersey gallery
Reader Comments (61)
I love the current Kings 3rd, so seeing them go to that full time is exciting. But not using the purple/golds is a travesty. What better way to off set white/black/silver then with a purple 3rd.
That shield thing they're using as a logo is so damn boring.
HORRIBLE IDEA. Not that I dislike the current 3rd jersey or the proposed new one. But to drop the purple and yellow for the current home jersey just plain SUCKS.
EMBRACE THE THROWBACK!!! I WANT TO SEE YELLOW WITH PURPLE FOR ROAD AND PURPLE WITH YELLOW FOR ROAD!!!
I understand using the current alternates as home and away (I like the while one better), but I just don't understand why they would get rid of the purple and gold. Those are awesome. It actually makes no sense to me. My hope is that this is a mistake and the purple and gold stay. That is just a dream. It probably won't happen.
Another ball dropped by the Kings; a chance to go back to their original colour pallate missed, and then to abandon it completely - maddening. I won't be too sad to say goodbye to the current jersey set, i've never been completely in love with them, but to say goodbye to purple for a second time in their history, when all around them are returning to their true and original identities is just mind-boggling.
Getting rid of the purple and gold is a dumb move. It's what an alternate should be a nice contrast from the home and away without steering away from the team's image. The NHL needs more color and dropping the throwback is a slap in the face to many Kings fans, and it's worst how they are making the home the alternate which is dumb because it would be a waste of money.
I personally would have like to to see a version of the vintage jerseys become the new home and road uniforms next season but yes I don't know why other then what was already said, they would would hang on to their current home jersey as the new third. The Purple in the sweater doesn't really have a place anymore with their new home and road look. My only guess is that they still wanted to be able to sell the current home jersey to their fans.
Darn, was hoping the Throwback would stick around, but it does take from their current identity a bit with no hints of it on their current uniforms. Whereas their current home (soon to be third) Jersey obviously does. As for the uniform change itself. Not too surprising in my opinion. As long as they use the uniform on the left I'm content with the change. Though, they might as well of just switched back to their Gretzky Uniforms.
Bringing back the silver and black is a good move. The King's greatest era was with Gretzky in these colors, and they were the hottest selling merchandise in the world along with the LA Raiders. I don't mind the current purple and black as the new third, and even the old purple and gold dark jerseys looked alright. As long as they don't bring back the all gold uniforms.
What.
I don't get it. The purple throwbach is far superior to the black third. Their current home and away unis are exotic and unique, but I could put up with a change to the throwback. This, however, just doesn't work. With the current third, I know they're tyring for a modern look with the Gretzky era feel. I get that. But it's too bland. If they Edgeified the stuff they acutally wore in the Gretzky era, that would be awesome. If they went full-time with the Dionne era throwback, that would be even more awesome. But what they gave us is just overly bland. And from what we're seeing, the white version is even more bland. Next year, when these things hit the ice, the Kings will easily have the second-blandest jersey set in the whole league. Blandest? Lightning... ugh.
The Kings' current alternate uniform is a huge hit by fans. Much more well-liked than the current home, so for them to make it the new home makes perfect sense, especially considering this season, the only non-Pacific team they wore the alternate against was Atlanta in the home opener... Not sure how the white versions will look. When I found out there wasn't gonna be any purple in the alternate jersey, I was reluctant, but it quickly grew on all of us Kings fans. So until I see it on the ice, I'll withhold my comments on that.
Surprised the purple jersey is being "retired" (it'll be back soon enough). It is SUPER popular amongst fans, and seeing them on Saturday was a tremendous sight. Lots of vintage uniforms in attendance, and the fans love to honor the history of the team. Maybe this is because they don't want to hear all the comments about them trying to be like the Lakers, but it could also do with the fact that Luc Robitaille is on record as saying he doesn't like the purple (don't remember when/where this was). And Luc is still a huge part of the organization, so his opinion means more than anything.
Ultimately, I suspect purple will be back in either 2012-13 or sometime soon after that. The purple-and-gold is too popular, and those jerseys have been as big a sale in the team store as anything else. The jerseys are too well-liked for it to go away for good.
I would love to see the Purple and Gold uniforms as a Third jersey. With the home black and whites, and the visitors road whites, the only color comes from infrequent visitors like the Flyers. When the Kings wear purple at home, the whole game looks livelier. Plus, as Kings fans wear the purple to match the team, there is finally a visual counter to all the road teams fans color sweaters. When the Kings played Vancouver recently, the only visible fan colors were Canucks blues, everywhere. Take back Staples!!!
Bad moves all the way around. The purple and gold throwbacks are stunning in person and in HD television, as they were the first time around when color TV was taking hold. To go to Oakland/LA/Oakland Raiders colors again is wrong. Too many teams are using black in their color scheme as it is. The purple and gold sweaters of the early Kings era, or the updated ones in the days of Dionne, Robitaille and Carson, just before Gretzky, would be the way to go.
Wait a minute, they're getting rid of the purple throwbacks? That's insane! Those are some of the nicest jerseys in the NHL, I almost wish they would make those the homes instead of the black ones. And I'm saying this as a Ducks fan. Crazy...
Agreed. I own the current home jersey and love it, the thirds are nice but purple really sets us apart from the rest of the NHL. I think that the Kings have missed an oppurtinity to sell more merchandise by going this route which makes the change even more strange.
No way. I'm all for the switch to the new jerseys, but keeping the current home would not make sense. If you are changing the main jersey, keeping the old one as a third is just strange. They have a great third with the throwback.
If you click the link, Hammond put up a poll question: Which uniform would you like to see become the new home uniform? Purple/White..Black/White..Purple/Gold. Currently 3300 votes and the Vintage jerseys lead with 46%.
This can't be a "for the money" switch, because MANY Kings fans have been trying to purchase the Vintage jerseys (including me) but the RBK version is not available. The Fans want to see it more often, and even the PLAYERS want to wear them!
It's sad that L.A. is going to rid of their beautiful throwback jerseys. They gave some Kings history and were absolutely gorgeous. All of their current jerseys are good, but the throwback is at the next level in jersey design. The Kings need to embrace their history and keep the purple and gold throwback.
I love how the LA rivalry is between two teams of all but identical colors. Really inspires a rivalry. yawn
I'm not huge on the purple throwbacks, but I do lament the loss of the current purple, silver, and black set. Even as a Sharks fan, I've come to appreciate these jerseys for being solid, unique (PURPLE!), and recognizable. But as long as the new ones are a hit with their fans... oh well. Kings vs. Stars divisional games will be a blah-st to watch aesthetically.
I agree that the decision to mothball the purple throwback is a disappointing one, especially with them going with the current home jersey as a third. This would also suggest, though, that their ugly-as-sin number font is staying put as well.
Of course, ugly pointy numbers aren't a concern on the purple-and-golds...
i wish we would get rid of the current jersey (purple and next years alternate) completely!
The Kings dropped the ball....again. This is just my opinion, but the purple and gold are one of the nicest jerseys to ever grace the league. The least they could do is keep them as an alternate. Retro is selling for teams. The Islanders went back, Vancouver went back (sort of), Philly went back, and Edmonton is going back. These jerseys are selling like crazy. I just don't know what the Kings are thinking.
Why are the Kings going back to the boring black/white/grey scheme? At least with the purple they have a unique colour not used much in hockey. This is acutally a missed chance for them to go back to some kind of retro style of purple and gold, they would be a great style. Oh well, back to dullsville.
oh dear, looks like the new white kings jersey is going to be number 1 with a bullet on my least favourite nhl jersey list!!!
Great news! I'm of the opinion that LA's 3rd is one of the nicest unis in the league. Hopefully the white version ends up being just as good.
Maybe they're only temporarily dumping the purple and gold with the intention of releasing a new alternate sweater for 2012-2013? If that's their plan, then using the current home as an alternate would make sense, since you wouldn't want to just tweak/update an alternate sweater a year after introducing it.
None of this is based on anything but my own personal thoughts. Next year, the current home is the alternate. In 2012-2013, a new, updated (read: modern) version of the purple and gold returns as the alternate. Hopefully that's the plan, and then I'm completely fine with it. As much as purple and gold is unique AND their heritage, at least silver and black is also unique (and has been used by the team in the past)...unlike all of the suddenly-blue teams in the NHL.
Relax, people. The purple and yellow vintage jerseys won't be ditched completely. They'll continue to use them on Legends Nights, like they have been doing this season.
Why they would keep what is now the home uni is strange. I like the all-black one, and the white version of it will probably be good, it'll harken back to the Gretzky days, but degrading the current home jersey to alternate status - there's no real point in that, IMO.
The purple/yellow uni would work better as a full-time alternate, rather than being used four-five times a season.
Truly sad. Makes even less sense considering their crosstown rivals, the Ducks, wear black, the Stars wear black, and both Phoenix and San Jose both have black third jerseys.
And to make matters worse, that logo is unimpressive -- they would have been better off bringing back the Gretzky-era logo with those black and whites..
I say screw the Black and Sliver and go straight to the Purple and Gold, home and away jerseys!!!
A truly disappointing decision.
It's amazing how 2 of the league's best uniforms will be mothballed next year -- Boston's yellow and chocolate WC jersey and the Kings' purple throwbacks. I could extend that and say that 3 of the league's best unis aren't going to be used -- the Pens' powder blue is finished, too. That jersey won an award on this very site for being one of the best in biz, which it is... and I hate the Pens.
Only in a league run by idiots, and teams run by people who simply don't understand what sells and what fans want, could you see that. It'd be like if the Packers and the Vikings decided to mothball their uniforms ... or if the Bulls and Celtics dumped their jerseys and switched to black-based sets.
Horrendous. Absolutely horrendous. To think that you're going to use the opportunity for your third jersey and waste it on another sweater of the same color as your primary...that's inexcusably stupid, to me.
And I'm someone who villified the Edge movement, and I don't like the jerseys that lack the waist stripes; however, Boston and LA COULD have established traditional striping on their current third jerseys but either weren't forceful enough at the outset or didn't design their jerseys to be as such. I cannot blame the crappiness of their thirds on RBK. I suppose LA's would be better / ok if it had 2 silver stripes surrounding a white one. How hard would that be ? It's obviously doable.
And I'm assuming now that the team is going to focus on the black / white / silver as their primary home, they OF COURSE are not going to take the opportunity (which they could have) to properly put the waist stripes back (especially since they're obviously harkening back to the early 90's set). So to me, all around in the case of LA, I see a team who doesn't know what sells/ works and is just acting LAZILY . (Like, you're telling me they couldn't have re-established their old LA unis with the purple bottoms and the LA in writing ? I'm sure they could have by 2011...) How much do you want to bet that they're going to keep the striping on the current thirds (not have traditional horizontal striping) but choose to place it on the new road whites? I'll bet you a chicken parm dinner, Ray Ferraro. So you're gonna bother to have a matching set...that sorta doesn't really match. It'd be like if the Devils kept their homes as-is but decided that the whites were fine with RBK piping on a white smock and no horizontal red/ black bars. Just keeping the logo the same. It's NOT.
Pure laziness and stupidity. Fail.
I hope this guy is wrong. I hope teams start waking up. I'm telling you that maybe it's not as important as the quality of the game, or the prevailing rules or the health of the players or concussions or rivalries or whatnot, but if hockey is going to get on a major network like ESPN or whatnot, they want anything possible to help sell the game. This includes recognizable and unique visuals...and uniforms play a role. To miss out on a beautiful powder blue, a gorgeous yellow and deep brown and the purple and gold is such a fail. Those things make the game just look brighter and come alive (like a previous poster said). It gets people talking about the jerseys and about the team's history. It gets kids' attention. It creates identity. I feel like we're doing better. THe throwbacks are helping. Some royal blues are starting to creep back in. Maybe Dallas will go green; I dunno. But when you're filming hockey games in barns that tend to be DARK, which mutes these colors anyway, you want bright and bold. I hope NBC or whoever gets the contract has some say and asks for certain jerseys to stay (You know they ask for certain sweaters when they film games...why would the Rangers rock their whites at home for a random Sunday game on NBC...so Philly could showcase the great oranges perhaps ???)
I like that their current thirds will become the home, and with a road jersey to match. But it's a HORRIBLE idea to not only ditch the throwbacks, but to use the home as the new third? (which is hideous in comparison) It just shows that they have no idea what they're doing.
@JERSEYGUY85 Go watch basketball, there is already a team from los angeles that does that. I dislike the purple black silver theme from their current set, but at least it was semi original. I hate when the LA teams copy other sports like when the kings looked like the lakers.. or when they looked like the raiders... I do prefer the silver and black though over the current jersey. They just need to do something about the 3rd's logo. Go back to the original silver and black logo from the 90's or if you want to keep a semi current look but new and a kind of throwback to the old use the black jersey's but use the stand alone crown as the logo. There's no need for the jersey's logo to have to have "LA" or any city name in there. Use the black and silver jersey with a recolored crown from the original jersey's and you'd have a winner.
Only thing that would look cooler is if they got rid of the arm length piping and replaced it with black yokes for the roads and white yokes for the home jersey since tampa obviously is never going back to that.
I'm a Kings fan, and this news seriously disappoints me. Black and white is so boring. Why not just go back to purple and gold? We all love the vintage colors, and given that the Kings share Staples Center with the Lakers purple and gold would make perfect sense.
I understand that they are dropping the purple and yellow because they want to go the white/black/silver route but come on... I would love to a purple and yellow sweater every night and the opposite for the away. Someone needs a yellow away jersey in this league.
Horrible Amateur Hour Sweater. Just go back to the Gretzky era. Hell bring back the Burger King jerseys over this garbage. All that being said I love their 40th anniversary throwbacks. I'd go with those as the 3rds and "Washington Captalize" the Gretzky era jerseys and been done with it.
oh and I always thought a metallic/vegas gold base and purple accents would make a cool and unique jersey.
As a Ducks fan I like the 3rd jersey for the Kings. I wouldn't go as far as to say they are the nicest jersey in the league (the Ducks 3rd jersey is the best) but its a classic jersey that has color and energy in it, which is what lacks in a lot of jerseys in the NHL.
I think, from a business standpoint, this makes a lot of sense. It doesn't mean the purple and yellow is dead, it just means not next season. This allows them to sell the hell out of the new white jersey and sell a few more of the "new" home jerseys. After kings fans have dropped a couple hundred on their favorite customized white jersey. BAM! Back with the purple and gold. No competition or decisions about whether you are going to buy the white or the purple. Ultimately, you are more likely to wind up with both in your closet.
Not saying this will happen for everyone out there looking to buy jerseys, but I think it could lead to more sales/higher revenues.
I like the idea of the Kings wearing the black and silver jerseys as a home jersey because they'll finally wear it against teams not in the division. I think games like Detroit or Calgary against that black and silver jersey would look great! However, I can't believe they're keeping the black and purple jersey as a 3rd. I don't mind it, but they have MUCH better options...even the white and purple would be better as a 3rd! Should've kept the purple ones...
Their current alts are good as a change of pace jersey.
But I think the lack of colour will make these jerseys very boring and dull after the midway point of next year.
That's why I think they need the bright purple... Personally, i Think the purple should be the home with yellow roads, but who wants colour right?
.It works for the Raiders because of the type of sport/uni, helmet, and of course the environment (fans, the sun)
But In an hockey arena these jerseys will be so BLAH for a whole year.
Any time a team removes any element of purple from its color scheme, I like it. Big positive move by the organization in returning to the "Gretzky-era" color scheme.
The black jersey isn't TOO bad as a modern take on the Gretzky days, but sticking LA and the primary crown inside a pencil shield seemed a bit lazy in my opinion. I personally think swapping the other shield - the current shoulder patch on the regular set - back to being the primary crest was all they had to do. That logo is far superior to their current crown in my opinion.
Now I'm not a Kings fan myself (Go Ducks!) and I guess if the fans of the team like the change then that's the most important thing at the end of the day. Although going by most of the above comments, this isn't a very popular move at all.
KEEP THE PURPLE AND GOLD!!
Are they crazy? Thgy're really going to drop the purple and gold after wearing them for just a few games??
That idea is right up there with the Sabres' choice to introduce the Slug as their new logo a few years back- and absolutely blind, ignorant move which ignores the fans' wishes completely- and we all saw how that ended up in Buffalo eh?
Horrible, horrible idea.
Maybe they really do just want to see the fans' reactions to this decision before deciding to actually keep the retro uniforms on a regular basis.
They're gonna choose those black/purple/silver ones over the purple and gold? Who's running that show down there???
They're not getting rid of the throwbacks! They have already gotten word that they'll be in the 2012 Winter Classic, and they're saving those unis for that game.
I heard this from a reliable source in my head.
I like every version of the Kings' jerseys except the purple and gold.
The NHL knows exactly what the fans want but they don't want to give it to them right away. Ever wonder why Toronto didnt have hem stripes on their first edge uniform? They knew some fans would buy them them and they be back to buy a new uniform in three years. The NHL would rather sell new uniforms every few years and slowly give the fans what they want later.
The purple and gold will be back but it wont be next year. In a few years they'll probably get rid of that terrible pencil logo crest on the black uniforms too and sell another home and road set.
kings have some of the best thirds and throwbacks in the league. to not use BOTH of them next season is a tragedy. offsetting black/white/gray with purple and gold sounds AMAZING...but we're stuck with the black, shiny silver, and ugly purple homes as their third next year :(
Vintage Purple-Home,
Vintage Gold (With purple pants)-Road,
Silver and black w. vintage crown-3rd.
Problem solved
Glad to see the purple and gold die but really liked the purple and black. Oh well, it is great to see a team use a modern design instead of just going to bad retro jerseys.