Predators New Jerseys Leaked?
It may turn out we didn't have to wait for the new Nashville Predators jerseys after all. Some new photos were posted by On The Forecheck today, which seem to show the team's unreleased sweaters.
Are these the Predators' new home and road jerseys? / On The Forecheck
The blog is now saying that a contact with the team says these are not the final jerseys. Perhaps a prototype then? We'll find out for certain — at least as far as the road sweater — this weekend when it's officially unveiled by the team. Until then, we have this to speculate on.
To quote my tweet from earlier in the day, these are astonishingly good. I'm serious. I've never liked the "space-suit" silver used on the sleeves and this is miles away from that. I like almost everything about these jerseys except for the piping on the back. I think it's used brilliantly on the front.
And kudos to the Preds for stepping outside the box and going with a primary color that no one else has. Gold may not be a common color for a hockey sweater, but it looks great here.
I'll have more to say on the subject when I have some time to write later. For now, what do you think? Are you hoping they're the real deal or real fake?
Chris
I have some new independent information regarding the legitimacy of the above jerseys. While it's true these are not the final versions of the new design, I'm told spotting the differences would require a close look. Most important is that the colors are accurate. The home jersey will indeed be gold!
What the Predators almost looked likeA uniform overhaul has been in the works a few years, but gold wasn't always the plan. Like the rumors suggested, the original redesign would've been what you see here (right).
The blue and black third jersey was launched during the 2009-10 season. The expectation was that it would become the home sweater the following year and a white version would be added for the road.
Late in the season, that plan was scrapped. The team's brand would go in an entirely new direction. I'm told a number of the white jerseys had been produced by Reebok by the time that call was made. But rather than discard the unused sweaters, they were worn by players to a special event and auctioned off to fans.
So why the decision to go with gold? It's the reason a lot of us marketing-types suspected. The Predators' took a look around the league and noticed that every team was starting to look the same. They wanted to stand out — to "own" a color. And blue was already taken by a number of teams.
The last time an NHL team wore a gold sweater full time was the 1980s when the Penguins and Canucks did. In more recent years, the Bruins had a yellow third jersey and wore the same color at the 2010 Winter Classic. But the Predators saw an opening here and went for it. Good job on them!
And as previously mentioned, the navy blue alternate sweater will not be returning next season.
The official unveiling of the Predators' road jersey happens tonight at the draft. The home jersey will come next month at Nashville's Skate of the Union event.
Reader Comments (106)
i was hoping they made the Gold jersey the road and a navy jersey the home! However, these are sharp. I hope they're the real deal.
If these are the real deal then I'm very pleased with them. I do find it a bit odd that they have "Nashville" on the front and back of the jersey though.
I'm not crazy about them but there's something (I don't know what) that strangely appeals to me about these jerseys. I can't put my finger on it.
ONE OF THE BEST home/road sweaters in the NHL, IMO. these are classy, eye catching, and also revert the horrible atrocities they had... into something respectable among the elite (classic) jerseys in the NHL. i want a white one soooo bad. i disagree with chris tho... the blues have always used gold and they look classy also
Not a fan of the yellow jersey. The white's fine, but still looks minor league-ish. This is an example of how not to use yellow.
I don't get how anyone can like that home jersey. Its BLINDING. Their other jersey was so much nicer. They should have kept the third use that as their home jersey and use that away jersey.
I like them. The six-strings across the numbers is a nice homage to "Music City."
Wow, I'm in love! They are amazing!
So much better than Tampa, hopefully Winnipeg looks half this good next year.
There is a lot I like about the jerseys. There is also that I think could be improved. The guitar strings on the number and the piping, especially on the back, could use some work. Beyond that I think you've got the core of a really good jersey. If the final products are going to look similar that I am eager to see the final result. Either way I already committed money towards buying the home jersey, and I'll buy the away eventually... so, yep.
I love the look of the jerseys. I like everything about them... Aside from the color. It's not horrid, and definitely doesn't remind me of vomit like the old, old, Preds third jersey did, but it still isn't great. I'm sure after awhile I'll warm up to them, though. The details, themes, and layouts are great, though.
I was really hoping the Predators would take this opportunity to move in a new, good direction. Clearly that wasn't the case.
I think the road sweaters look a little to similar to what the blues look like. The sleeves are pretty much the same, and the only differences are the shoulders and the stripes on the waist, other than that they look all most the same.
I like them, but I don't like the 'slash' marks through the numbers. Seems way too minor league
Nice sweater. Of course, almost anything is better than the old Preds jerseys. That gold has looked nice on lots of college jerseys over the years, so it makes sense its in the NHL.
I like the road jerseys. Some neat details (e.g., the stripes on the numbers.) I'm not sure about the homes, though. I do like that they went with yellow/gold as the primary color, but the execution of is .... hmm ... not sure about it.
I absolutely love these jerseys. I hope they don't change a thing
Much better than before. Only things I don't like are the piping and the stripes on the numbers. I was hoping the striping would be more traditional, I can't stand piping. The striping on the numbers is ugly. Besides those things, though, I love the colors. It's about time yellow found it's way back.
i absolutely love the white version. im not sold on the gold (home) jersey until i see it on the ice. from first glance though it looks like too much gold for me.
I really hope these are their final jerseys or that the final jerseys look similar, because that is the greatest yellow jersey I've ever seen.
Okay now that we should have a good idea as to the final product, I have to say that the white jersey looks much better than the gold. I just think the yellow streak pulls the look together more against the white away than on the home. I hope that small "Nashville" wordmark remains - kind of like a milder version of the asymmetric "Atlanta" used on their sleeve. Just push the crest lower to make room for Shea Weber's "C" though.
They look good. But yellow should be the light jerseys like they were in the 80s. And a navy blue dark jersey for home games. I like the yellow jersey so much I might actually cheer for the team.
To quote from Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, "I dunno, I rather like it!" If I lived in or liked Nashville, I wouldn't be ashamed to wear these. San Jose, are you listening?
I hope those are fake, they look absolutely awful.
good - yellow as a primary color. thats awesome. i love it. the simplified logo is also great. the guitar strings on the numbers. nice touch, and with the guitar pick is really nice tie to nashville. just dont over do it
bad - i hate piping. all piping. i havent seen any that looks good. the hash marks on the front and halo above the name on the back. not a fan. st louis does this too. why? i wish i knew
meh - the nashville under the hashmark. i dont hate it, but i dont know why teams feel the need to put the name on the jersey like this. same goes for vancouver and tampa bay. people going to forget who they are?
overall, nice. a few things i think it could do without, but much much much better than the current ones
These look very impressive, I'd give them an 8.5/10
Love the color, but the awful vertical Bettman stripes should be banished. Glad this isn't the finished product.
love the gold, the pinestripping is a little st louis blues-y but i really like these. love that they took a chance on the gold and were able to actually pull it off quite well.
These line on the jersey number are actually guitar cords!
I love them. Nothing more to say. Great jerseys.
I was a huge Preds fan when they came into the league, then tapered off. While most teams are going for a retro look with jerseys, I agree 100% that going "outside the box" here shows Nashville hit a freakin' grand slam! I love these!
You know, those numbers look very similar to the Ducks' numbers on their jerseys, to me anyways.
I like that they went with the gold and simplified their color scheme a lot, so I'll give it a pass.
Is that the guitar pick logo on the shoulder?
If you look carefully, you can see a piano keyboard on the inside collar of the jersey. Very nice.
Great new uniform! I love the details (6 strings on the numbers, pick logo, Nashville on the shoulder) and the YELLOW!! When you see the yellow here will be no mistaking they are the Predators. I wish more teams, mine included (the Penguins) would make more distinguished uniform sets. This is a huge step forward for the NHL if more teams follow the Predators. I will for sure be getting a yellow one!
The combination of piping and below-piping contrast panels is the same style that St. Louis uses, and I don't like that at all, although these at least don't have clownishly huge contrasting shoulders. If they didn't have that piping at all, I'd consider them great.
Seriously, I'd hoped teams were getting smart enough to move away from the Bettman stripes!
Personally, I was hoping the yellow would be just a little darker, more of a nod to their mustard years. Take out the piping and Nashville from the front and it leaves an identity that could last years.
Bonus points for the guitars strings idea!
At first glance, I was REALLY put off by these kits, but they almost instantly started growing on me. Right on, Nashville!
Wow, I love them! The yellow is so different from anything in the league and different in a good way!
LOVE the yellow sweaters! And a nice shade of yellow-gold too. However, the yellow sweaters should be the road uniform and blue should be the home uniform. While teams like Buffalo and St. Louis wear white on the road, the yellow would give the Preds their own identity. As a Canucks fan, that is what I loved about the controversial V uniforms - the home yellow uniforms, in comparison to the other home white uniforms around the league. I still feel that white and yellow should be worn at home and darks on the road. Overall, great job Nashville.
i think they're ugly, but, better than the old Preds jerseys.
they look like a football team's jersey. or worse even. like an arena football team's jersey. eh. oh well, we'll only have to look for a couple more years until they move.
I thik that the road jersey actually looks too similar to the Bruins, but that could be fixed by making the bottom hem blue.
Overall, 7.5/10
These jerseys would look better without the vertical piping on the front.
I didn't expect to like them, but I actually really do. Nice work!
I love what we can tell from the pictures, the only thing is the shading of the image means that even if these are the final versions, they'll look somewhat different. What appears to be black on these jerseys is actually (or, at least, you'd have to imagine) the shade of navy blue introduced in the new logo (which I think is slightly lighter than the old navy). So the shading/brightness/darkness/vividness of the jersey has to be entirely in question until we see the road jersey tomorrow at the Draft. Once the light is revealed, we'll know exactly what shades of gold, navy, etc these jerseys are.
Again, though, I love these. Very, very, very cool. My question now becomes...which do I get to wear to games next season in Smashville?
Nashville got it right. I love these. The NHL needs more color. I am a Dallas Stars fan, we have the most boring jerseys in the league. Looking forward to seeing these on the ice. Great job Preds!
Really? People actually like these/ These are hiddeous. I think I threw up in my mouth. I hope these are not the final jersey's and just a prototype.
I really, really like these jerseys. I was honestly hoping for a blue home and yellow/gold away like how yellow/gold was substituted in the 80's for the Canucks and for one year for the Penguins and for the Kings for all those years but I understand the want for the really different jersey being the home so the fans see them regularly. I really liked the thirds and hoped somehow that would have become the home with a yellow road to match somehow but this set is very nice. Also I hoped at the least the third would have been kept as a compliment to these as it had some unique features. As far as the striping and piping, I love it. Classic and traditional jerseys are amazing but its good to see teams still incorporating new design ideas as long as it isn't overdone. The piping is not at all over done or overly complex. The Nashville text is a nice touch because it adds simple asymmetry to the jersey and again isn't overly large. It compliments the logo, doesn't overshadow it. The secondary logo isn't spectacular but ties in nicely with the city of Nashville itself. The guitar string stripes in the numbers is something I find really interesting because it makes the numbers something absolutely unique from any other team and it doesn't require a font that is unreadable. Overall an amazing set in my opinion.
they are sharp design-wise, but i think they should have went with a more golden color and less yellow color. it seems a bit too bright if you know what i mean. maybe its the photo though. i also agree on the piping down the back. even if they cut it off at the bottom like on the front of the home jersey it would look much nicer.
I actually don't mind the new jerseys. Yellow is an under-used, under-appreciated color in sports. It's good to see originality. However, that just screams "YELLOW!" they should have used an Oakland A's or Green Bay Packers shade of yellow. It's yellow without burning people's eyeballs like this seems to be trying to do. Overall, it's creative but needs to be subdued (but not subdued enough that it reverts back to mustard).
I like these. Love the simplified primary logo and the guitar pick alternate logo as well. I like that they went out on a limb with the yellow home jersey. A little blinding, but totally unique in the NHL. There seems to be a lot of love these days for the old school Kings jerseys, so it's cool to finally see a franchise embrace the yellow. And yes I'm glad it's home yellow and road white. Every team should have a white jersey. As for the Preds white, it's a fine jersey, but it looks exactly like a Sabres/Blues mashup with the Preds logo slapped on. At least ditch the piping and the yellow shoulder accents. And the Nashville wordmark can go too. As someone else here said, the guitar strings on the numbers are a little minor league, but it's understandable why they did it. Despite it all, huge improvement over the shiny silver shirtsleeve disasters that they've had for the past few years.