Caps to Sport Throwback Third in 2011-12
Friday · Sep 16 · 2011 | 10:01 AM PDT
After years of telling us that for reasons relating to the economy, it would be unseemly for his Washington Capitals to add a third jersey, owner Ted Leonsis is changing his tune. He once said, how could he ask fans struggling to pay bills to buy another jersey?
But that's all changed now because the Caps will join their 2011 Winter Classic opponent in resurrecting their outdoor jersey as an alternate this season. It was announced today that the sweater will be worn for 16 road games during the fast-approaching 2011-12 season. The throwback sweater is based on what the Capitals wore from their inception in 1974 until 1995.
Alex OvechkinAnyway, along with announcing the addition of the third jersey, the Caps released a schedule to tell us every night the retro duds will see action. Here it is:
- Sat., Nov. 26 – at Buffalo Sabres
- Fri., Dec. 23 – at New Jersey Devils
- Wed., Jan. 18 – at Montreal Canadiens
- Fri., Jan. 20 – at Carolina Hurricanes
- Sun., Jan. 22 – at Pittsburgh Penguins
- Sat., Feb. 4 – at Montreal Canadiens
- Sun., Feb. 12 – at New York Rangers
- Mon., Feb. 20 – at Carolina Hurricanes
- Sat., Feb. 25 – at Toronto Maple Leafs
- Sat., Mar. 10 – at Boston Bruins
- Fri., Mar. 16 – at Winnipeg Jets
- Sun., Mar. 18 – at Chicago Blackhawks
- Mon., Mar. 19 – at Detroit Red Wings
- Thurs., Mar. 22 – at Philadelphia Flyers
- Mon., Apr. 2 – at Tampa Bay Lightning
- Sat., Apr. 7 – at New York Rangers
One key difference to the uniform this season is that the Caps will wear white helmets. That'll be especially handy as they're wearing them twice in Raleigh, where the Canes will already be wearing red helmets. Wouldn't that be a sight?
I have to admit I feel silly. I've known about this third jersey thing since last week but completely forgot to include it in Tuesday's blog post. But then I've been terribly preoccupied with things outside of the Internet lately. Oops.
And I know I was giving Leonsis a hard time about going back on his third jersey philosophy, but maybe there's something to the fact that they're only wearing it on the road this year. They're not parading around in front of the home crowd with it. Sure, the fans will see it on TV but that's a different experience from seeing it live.
Also, I probably would've given him less of a hard time had the new third jersey actually been new. I, like many of you, am still waiting on a blue jersey with the Weagle on the front. Will that day ever come? Maybe if the economy ever turns around.
Reader Comments (20)
While I agree that a blue "Weagle" jersey would look cool, I feel that the reason they don't have one and why they are wearing the Winter Classic jerseys on the road is so they can maintain the "Rock The Red" promotion for home games. People go nuts for that and seeing a team wearing a blue jersey in a sea of red would look out out of place
I hope they go with the blue version of the star spangled pants. I just think it looks better than the red ones.
Should be Blue pants...
I knew in my mind that we'd see the Winter Classic jersey return as a third, but i didn't think it would be this year! I also think they should wear it at home at least once. Hopefully the Bruins and Red Wings will also realize that their Winter Classic jerseys were too good to go back into the closet.
Um, last time I checked, NHL teams don't demand 3rd jersey purchases. If you can afford one, go for it, but don't start whaaawhaaawhaaaing if the teams sports a third. My favorite team released 5 alternate jerseys in one year, and as nice as they looked, I refrained from grabbing them all, because that's INSANE. Sure it'd be nice to have, but it's not a requirement to love your team.
November 26 vs. Buffalo is going to look just like old times.
This is so weird that they are going to wear it on the road, but I think you have a good point there about the third jersey thing.
The red helmet his sooooooo wrong !!!
In the 70's and 80's it was a white helmet .... and graphicly its better ... cause there too many red on top (shoulders en helmet)
Its weird because I was apathetic to these as a Winter Classic jersey buuuuut; I'm happy these are in the league. The Caps have done probably the best job of modernizing a classic look in sports history with their current home/road set but MAN does their classic look pop. Having their current set with a classic third is, to me, having their cake and eating it too.
I've said before, as a Caps fan, no interest in the Blue weagle. We have an identity. Let's not mess with it.
It's not a third jersey; it's a jersey that was created for a specific event from last year and the team is simply not putting it into mothballs. Like what Detroit did with theirs. And Boston did with theirs.
What Leonsis (and McPhee) said was that they weren't going to create a third jersey when they just completely redid the team's colors and look. They didn't feel right about enticing fans to go buy yet another jersey when most of the fanbase just dropped at least a couple hundred bucks to buy the new regular jerseys. That hasn't changed, and ripping the Capitals for going back on their "promise" (a) ignores exactly what they said and (b) makes a huge leap in logic by treating this as if it's an actual third, despite the fact other teams have reused their Winter Classic jerseys without treating it as a true alternate. Where were your complaints last year when the Capitals introduced the jersey? Seems like you're just stirring a pot, even when it's empty.
A third jersey is created solely to get fans to buy it, and that's not what the Capitals did here. It's not an accident that they simply used a replica of the original Capitals jersey for the Classic rather than coming up with a brand-new jersey. A real third will come eventually.
Is anyone else tired of seeing what should be a one time only jersey for the Winter Classic being turned into the alternate jersey later on?
As a Capitals fan, this is all I really want. I could care less about this so called blue weagle jersey that "everyone" wants. Personally, as much as I like their current jerseys, I'd LOVE it if they go the Buffalo route and create a red one of these and make it their full time home and away jerseys. However, they SHOULD put the weagle on the shoulder(s). Then, MAYBE create a RED weagle jersey.
While this is a nice jersey, i think it's too bad they're not using the red helmets with it. I thought the red helmets on the white jersey was a really unique look.
Ya know, I'm happy enough not seeing the Weagle as the primary logo. It's a perfect secondary, but at least with the Cap's identity, a jersey with a logo rather than a script would seem out of place. Their home and away are perfect in just about every regard already, why screw with a good thing? They have an unimpeachable identity that's only strengthened by lack of a third, and with that, a throwback is the perfect solution, as it's understood as outside their identity and doesn't detract from the identity in the way another modern jersey might.
As a Pens fan, I LOVE these! Really wish the Caps would go back to this look full time, just create the red jersey to match it!
Red helmets would also not work when they play at Detroit. I like the red helmets and think they should go with two "sets"...one with red helmets (when they don't clash) and one with white. That makes much more sense.
It's interesting to see that the Capitals and the Penguins match-up on January 22nd doesn't feature both teams thirds. I figured it would just for the fun of it.
a lotta good looks at the preds' new roads at the caps game in baltimore last night
I thought I read the helmets were changing from red to white?
Also, I'd like to see the red version of these be worn as a alternate home jersey, that way the Caps and their fans can still ROCK THE RED together.