Last Hurrah for the Royal Purple
Friday · Mar 15 · 2013 | 1:30 PM PDT
The Los Angeles Kings announced early this morning that purple is being officially removed from their color palette next week after one last hurrah for the third jersey. See this tweet:
After a long discussion with Grimace, we've decided to retire purple from our color scheme. See us in them one last time next week.
— LA Kings (@LAKings) March 15, 2013
For my part, this is a disappointing development. With purple, the Kings always had a color scheme that was one of a kind.. In black, silver and white, technically they still do, but now it's just boring. Purple is associated with royalty and being named the Kings, this team was in a unique position to claim a color no other club could. Now they're retiring it?
So I'm not a fan of this change, obviously. I think it's a big downgrade. But that's enough editorializing for now. Let's get to the details of this retirement of purple.
Yesterday, Icethetics reader "Tyfighter77" shared a list of third jersey dates he attributes to "Kings TV analyst Jim Fox during Tuesday's game." This is regarding the black and purple sweater.
- Sat., March 16 — vs. San Jose Sharks
- Mon., March 18 — vs. Phoenix Coyotes
- Tues., March 19 — vs. Phoenix Coyotes
The Kings also wore black and purple on Tuesday night in Phoenix.
The real question is, of course, whether the Kings plan to continue sporting the retro "forum blue and gold" uniforms they've used occasionally over the past three seasons. This year, they've seen action on February 23 and March 9. The latter was the final Legends Night of the season and I remember reading somewhere that this would be the last time we'll see those throwback threads for a while (possibly years, but probably not for good).
My thanks to Aaron P., Steve M. and "Tyfighter77" for keeping me in the loop about this Kings news. You can attribute the lack of blog updates to the fact that I'm moving in two weeks and have been spending more time packing boxes than doing any research for the site. Thanks for understanding.
Reader Comments (22)
The purple and gold uniforms are staying, that has already been confirmed. The team is retiring the black/purple uniforms because they wore them Tuesday and sucked, so they aren't wearing them the full amount of times they were supposed to. That's all this means. (Besides, can't take what the Kings' official Twitter account says at face value anyway haha)
from what ive heard the plan is for the retro jersey to be the official 3rd jersey starting next season.
Long Live the retro purple and yellow that look SO good when they sport those and the King's goalies are wearing gear of old time brown. I think those older purple ones are truly classic and will always be 'LA Kings' to me.
RIP purple
It seemed like the current third was on it's way out when I didn't see a schedule released for when the team would wear it. (I wondered if it wouldn't be worn at all this season.)
Taking out the vintage unis completely seems strange but they were considered to be specialty jerseys for the last 3 years and were only worn a few times a season, so I can see the reasoning behind this.
Hopefully the Kings will roll out more vintage jerseys for their fiftieth anniversary in a few seasons.....or maybe for a winter classic? ;)
I know this is not a popular opinion, but I think they look better without purple. I hate the color purple in general so of course I am biased.
However, having said that, I wouldn't mind the Kings being purple since it is unique and I wouldn't want every team wearing the same couple of colors.
But if it was my team (luckily they are not) I would be happy because then I could at least wear their team colors without hating them.
I HATE the Kings current set. U-G-L-Y. Should have left the purple in, the shield, and the updated crown. I'd really prefer a return to the purple and gold, tho. I'm not even a Kings fan and I'm pissd off. FAIL.
Those purple & gold duds are some of the very best in the league. They'd be crazy to get rid of them for good
Raaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiddddeeeeeeerrrrrrsssssssss
Noooooooo!!!!!
Personally I was never a fan of the black and purple uniforms. The simple black/silver/white look is pretty slick. However, I absolutely love the purple and gold throwbacks and think it would be a damn shame to retire a uniform so beautiful. And as you said, to get rid of such a unique colour scheme would be such a waste. After the dreadful years of black, red, and, blue jerseys it feels like the league has finally gotten its colour back. To lose it now would be going against a trend I am very much in favour of.
I would have loved it if the Kings switched back to purple and gold rather than the boring black and silver and that hideous shield logo.
I like the current jerseys more than the previous ones, but I would love to see them keep the specialty purple and yellow, even if it is only worn 2 or 3 times a season. I think it's a huge mistake removing the purple completely, as it was one of its kind.
I think the 3rd jerseys were on there way out anyway. You have to keep wearing these purple and gold throwbacks though. It is such a treat! I actually just bought the purple throwback jersey. Its one of my fav jerseys.
Purple and gold have always been the colors of royality, not black and silver.
I never liked the black and purple anyways. This is a good thing, imo.
Hopefully they don't consider "Forum Blue" as purple.
purple and black were the best unis they had
Apologies, I must have misheard Foxy. Looks like the correct dates for the third are just:
Mon., March 18 — vs. Phoenix Coyotes
Tues., March 19 — vs. Phoenix Coyotes
Obviously they aren't wearing them tonight (March 16).
I've always liked the purple/black/silver jerseys with the bigger crown logo better than the current ones they have. Like you said, purple is the color of royalty and I was disappointed that they were letting go of such a great opportunity to flaunt that color.
They've never been a team that I've liked, but the new unis make me dislike them more :P
If the purple and gold stays (which the majority of the comments here say) then I'm happy, because those look bloody awesome.
As a lifelong Kings fan I was so disappointed when Jim Fox said the purple was leaving forever. I actually cried because it's such a nice part of the Kings leaving. At least all purple merchandise is 50% off at Team LA on Monday and Tuesday.
Let the Lakers keep the purple and gold, sadly no one around LA identifies those colors with the Kings. I liked the black/silver/purple scheme, but they never got the execution right. I'm happy with the current sweaters and I'm gonna rock mine with pride.
They better bring those old purples back as 3rds next yr, if not then they should wear the black and silver from the Gretzky days as alternates. But I love the purple doing away with it completely is just dumb imo.