Leafs Officially Unveil Third Jersey

Leafs unveil new 3rd jerseyMonths of rumors were validated last week when the Toronto Maple Leafs new third jersey was mistakenly leaked. Then two days ago, the team made it official.

Last we heard, the Leafs were planning to "officially" introduce the new sweater on October 6, opening night. Instead, they decided to do it a couple weeks early — probably since it's already out there.

Real Sports Apparel in Toronto was the site of Friday's unveiling event. Current Leafs Luke Schenn and Colby Armstrong were in the house to model the new look alongside ex-Leafs Darryl Sittler and Wendel Clark.

The design is based on the jersey that was worn the last time the Maple Leafs lifted the Stanley Cup in 1967. In fact, here's the story as the team tells it:

First introduced at the start of the 1967 NHL playoffs, the Maple Leafs captured the Stanley Cup that spring and went on to wear it for the following three campaigns.

Some of the attributes of the sweater include; a solid, snow white, wool-felt, 11-point Maple Leaf crest similar to the Maple Leaf on the Canadian Flag as the country celebrated its centennial year in 1967, felt fabric numbers and lettering, one set of thin-wide-thin stripes adorning the waist and both elbows, no shoulder patches, and a six-eyelet lace at the front of the neck.

Pants adorned with a new white vertical stripe along the sides will also be worn by the hockey club for games in which the third sweater will be used.

I should use this opportunity to clear up a mistake I made when talking about the jersey earlier this summer. I originally reported that the crest had a silver inner-outline, which it clearly doesn't. The photo I had at the time was causing my eyes to play tricks on me. Turns out its just white embroidery on the wool-felt logo — which in itself is pretty awesome! Now that's what I call retro.

A faceless mannequinThe Maple Leafs also announced their third jersey schedule for the 2011-12 season. It'll be worn on 14 occassions during the regular season:

• Thurs., Oct. 6 – vs. Montreal Canadiens
• Sat., Oct. 29 – vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
• Sat., Nov. 5 – vs. Boston Bruins
• Sat., Nov. 12 – vs. Ottawa Senators
• Sat., Nov. 19 – vs. Washington Capitals
• Sat., Dec. 3 – at Boston Bruins
• Mon., Dec. 5 – at New York Rangers
• Sat., Dec. 17 – vs. Vancouver Canucks
• Sat., Jan. 7 – vs. Detroit Red Wings
• Fri., Jan. 13 – at Buffalo Sabres
• Sat., Feb. 4 – at Ottawa Senators
• Wed., Feb. 29 – at Chicago Blackhawks
• Sat., Mar. 24 – vs. New York Rangers
• Sat., Mar. 31 – vs. Buffalo Sabres

So that's five of the 14 third jersey nigths on the road against Original Six foes or geographical rivals. And if you want to see this jersey in action, seems your best bet is to show up to a Saturday home game.

Oddly enough, the Nov. 12 game against the Senators was one I had initially marked as a Heritage Jersey game for Ottawa based on information not directly from the team. Obviously this is incorrect as you cannot have dark blue versus black in Gary Bettman's NHL. I'm adjusting the Senators' schedule accordingly.

If you check out the rest of that press release, it talks about how the team polled more than a thousand fans while trying to determine which retro design to go with for this season. I'd bet the green St. Pats jerseys were on the list but that no Icethetics readers were polled. Shame.

For more pictures from the unveiling, click here. 

Now if you thought that was it for third jersey news today, you were quite mistaken...

Panthers Dying to Ditch Those Blue Thirds

I always thought the Florida Panthers looked best in red and, despite all the other teams that have added dark blue third jerseys in recent years, I never disliked theirs as much as other people did. Now I find out that "other people" group includes the Panthers' own management!

Stephen WeissThis is also from last week, but Miami Herald beat writer George Richards quoted Panthers assistant GM Mike Santos saying some terrible things about what have become known as the "JetBlue jerseys" among fans.

The Panthers have brought back their original look by wearing predominately red jerseys at most home games this season. Florida has a contractual obligation to the league to wear its alternate light/dark blue jersey for 13 games this season.

It's apparent this will be the final year the Panthers wear that jersey. Santos is obviously not a fan of the look. He hopes to burn off some of the mandatory dates by wearing the third jersey in select road games. "As soon as we can rid ourselves of those things," Santos said, "we'll be a happier bunch."

The Panthers are going all out when it comes to bringing back the red color scheme. Seats in the lower bowl of the BankAtlantic Center are being reupholstered in red.

"We're connecting to a time when this organization was successful," Santos said. "A big part of that success is the color red. Red is our color, is a Panthers color. It's not light blue, baby blue or all these other silly colors. They have nothing to do with us. We were successful in red and will be again."

Based on this, it doesn't sound like the Stinkin' Panthers will be releasing a third jersey schedule, so we'll see them when we see them. But for the record, they've been wearing them for all of their home games during the preseason. According to Lightning radio play-by-play announcer Dave Mishkin, the team is waiting until the regular season to debut the new red sweaters.

For what it's worth, the Jets are also holding off on wearing their new home jerseys until the regular season. They've been wearing their white jerseys only throughout the preseason. The Predators and Lightning have each been wearing both of their new jerseys in exhibition play.

But back to the Panthers a moment. Since this will be the last season with the current third jersey, we have to wonder how long before they get back into the alternate uniform fray and what direction they'll go. Seems like blue is their best option, but maybe not the two-tone thing.

While we're on the subject of all these new jerseys, I'm already starting to put together new galleries. They'll start getting posted once the season gets started and there are more photos out there. (By the way, if anyone would like to help out with finding decent photos of pre-Edge jerseys, I'd love to expand even more.)

Housekeeping: Jets Contest & IceHL Project

I'll make this part quick. Since no one correctly predicted the unveiling dates of the Winnipeg Jets' logos and uniforms, I regret to say no one won the prize. I'm currently trying to think up another contest so I can give that board game away (preferably to a Canadian).

Also, if you haven't been keeping up with the IceHL Project, now is the time. I just published the IceHL 2011 Yearbook, a free digital book now availble to download here at Icethetics. It's the perfect way for new readers to catch up on everything you may have missed since the project began in 2008.

We have two fantasy leagues going this year, one with our Eastern Conference teams, the other with the Western Conference. But more importantly, you'll be able to get involved when Jersey Design Competition launches later this fall. And as if that weren't enough, we'll be expanding the league by two teams later in the winter or spring. So we'll need all you talented logo designers to help out!

Don't Forget: Winter Classic Announcement

Last thing, I swear. The NHL officially announces the 2012 Winter Classic from Philadelphia tomorrow at 1:30 PM ET (10:30 AM PT). It's no secret the Philadelphia Flyers will host the New York Rangers at Citizens Bank Park on January 2, but that's not stopping the league from pretending like it is anyway.

The real secret, actually, is the uniforms. In the past, the Winter Classic uniforms have sometimes been unveiled at the press conference that announces the event. That wasn't the case last year, but I don't recall there ever being a big press event at Heinz Field last year. I could be wrong about that. (Bad memory, you know.) But either way, both the Penguins and Capitals waited until October to unveil their throwback jerseys last year.

This time around, there's a bigger question about the uniforms. We all know the Winter Classic is used as an excuse to make money and new jerseys mean more of it. However, neither the Rangers nor Flyers have made a lot of uniform changes over the years, so we may not see anything dramatic this time around.

Having said that, let's not forget that the Penguins' 2011 Winter Classic jersey, while based on historical elements, was a brand new design. Similarly in 2010, the Bruins designed a new look that incorporated certain features from past uniforms.

It's entirely possible that either one of the 2012 opponents (or both) could simply rewrite history and sport retro-style jerseys that are unlike anything they've ever worn before. Hopefully we find out tomorrow. 

New Looks for a New Season

As a long summer starts winding down, we're now less than a month away from training camps across the NHL getting underway. But before that, I wanted to do a quick run-through of all the new jerseys we'll be seeing this fall. And believe it or not, I have a few surprises in store.

Edmonton Oilers

Fans have been begging for it for years, and the Oilers have responded. This new road jersey pays tribute to the original white sweater the Oilers wore from their NHL inception in 1979 to 1996.

Florida Panthers

Like the Oilers, the Panthers are fixing their uniforms as well by returning to their roots with a red home uniform. The chest and sleeve piping as also been removed from both the home and road sweaters.

Though the red sweater was unveiled at the draft, the road jersey design below is still unofficial. We know the blue piping is going away but it's not clear if the jersey will see any other changes.

Los Angeles Kings

The Kings are undergoing an identity overhaul in 2011, though they're only adding one "new" jersey. The white road sweater is based on the black alternate which launched in 2008.

Nashville Predators

The Predators are also making sweeping changes by introducing new home and road jerseys.

New York Islanders

We got our first glimpse at the Isles' new third jersey when a prototype design was leaked recently by a former team employee. But I've recently been made aware of some new details and can confirm report this is what the final version looks like. (Accidentally broke one of my own rules there. I can't "confirm" anything. That's for the team to do. However, this is an accurate representation of the final design.)

Ottawa Senators

We've known for some time that the Senators have had a Heritage Jersey in the works, meant to pay tribute to the original Senators from the 1930s for their own 20th anniversary season. You got your first look at a photocopy of the design earlier this month. This is what it looks like in color.

The shoulder patches have been the source of much of the speculation surrounding this jersey since the team itself offered up a sneak peek back in March. I can report that there are two of them, both in the shape of a shield. One reads Ottawa Senators, the other is in French: Sénateurs d'Ottawa.

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pens will be promoting their 2011 Winter Classic jersey to alternate status this season. It replaces the light blue third which debuted at the 2008 Winter Classic.

Tampa Bay Lightning

The Lightning unveiled their new branding back in January but the jerseys still aren't available in stores. Here's a refresher of what they'll look like.

Toronto Maple Leafs

And finally, one of the worst kept secrets of the summer has been the Leafs' new third jersey. It pays tribute to the 1967 design which was only used for a few seasons. Take note of the silver inner-outline of the throwback leaf crest. Other than that, it's practically identical to the old jersey.

Obviously, the odd man out on this post are those elusive Winnipeg Jets jerseys. Plenty of you have emailed and tweeted to tell me the counterfeiters already have them. I refer you to my earlier post about phony leaks. Everyone's favorite thieves are simply manufacturing jerseys based on concept art. As I've said before, this would not be the first time. And it surely won't be the last. Be patient; don't waste your money.

For what it's worth, I can't say how close the fakes will be to the real thing as I haven't seen the final designs yet. They could be close or miles away. But since the Jets haven't scrambled to assemble a press conference on short notice, I'm guessing it's the latter. 

I also expect to have another edition of JerseyWatch posted before the end of August, but aside from one busy week, there hasn't been a lot of news this month. Hopefully this will hold you over until then.

Update on Friday · Sep 16 · 2011 | 10:40 AM PDT by Chris

Winnipeg Jets

The Jets finally unveiled their new home and road uniforms 10 days ago. Here's another look at them.

Washington Capitals

The Caps announced they will bring back their retro Winter Classic jersey for 16 road games this season.

The new season is shaping up to look pretty nice. And I don't think there will be any other new jerseys to add to this list for the 2011-12 season. You've now seen everything there is to see.

The Best Jerseys in the Southeast

Earlier this year, we began a series of polls asking readers to rate the 2010-11 uniforms worn across the NHL for the purpose of creating a fan-determined ranking. We've completed the teams in Canada and the western United States. Now we move on to the southeastern U.S.

Each group includes six teams, split up by geography. This set of polls includes Atlanta, Carolina, Florida, Nashville, St. Louis and Tampa Bay. You can rate each jersey individually with a 10, 5 or 1. (You can either love it, hate it, or be on the fence. Keeps things simple.)

After all the votes have been cast, an average rating will be calculated. These polls will remain open for two weeks, ending Thurs., July 14. When we've voted on all the teams, I'll assemble a complete league ranking of every uniform worn for the 2010-11 season. Happy voting!

Sorry, no comments on this post. Just vote!

The Big Bad Draft Recap of 2011

I can't remember the last time an NHL draft yielded so many new jerseys. Eight different teams used the 2011 NHL Entry Draft in St. Paul to showcase something new. So settle in, there's a lot to cover.

Oilers Go Full-On Retro

1 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 19 Oscar Klefborn, 62 Samu Perhonen, 92 Dillon Simpson

After 16 years, the Edmonton Oilers once again look like they did when they entered the NHL in 1979. The Oilers used the first overall pick in the draft to select Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as well as to unveil their new retro road sweater — which now matches their home uniform, with the colors reversed.

This is exactly what Edmonton fans wanted and I'm happy to see them get it. The jersey looks fantastic! On the team's website, Oilers president Patrick LaForge said, "We listened to our fans and know they will be happy to see the set complete with the new road vintage jersey." Truer words were never spoken.

The Oilers also announced that the previous road jersey is officially retired. And while they didn't say so specifically, it's likely the navy and copper third jersey will remain in use next season.

Seeing Red in South Florida

3 Jonathan Huberdeau, 64 Vincent Trocheck, 76 Logan Shaw, 87 Jonathan Racine

Earlier this month, the Florida Panthers launched their "We See Red" marketing campaign — an effort to return to the franchise's color roots. This weekend, it culminated with the reveal of their new red home sweater, which was given to each of their 2011 draft picks.

The Panthers didn't do an all-out redesign with this jersey, but more of a color swap. The sleeves are now blue, but there is no piping on — a refreshing change of pace from the old jersey. So that's a big plus. All in all, I think this is easily the best jersey in the Cats' arsenal at this point.

But that's not to say it's perfect. The elbow striping is an element of the Reebok Edge template that I just don't like. Maybe if it went all the way around the arm. I also think gold piping would've looked sharp and added contrast between the red and blue on the sleeves. But these are not dealbreakers.

I don't yet know about the fate of their other jerseys. I would assume the white road uniform will remain unchanged. They could use the old home jersey (the blue one) as a third jersey, but I think the blue alternate they already have is superior. So I'd bet the old home sweater is retired.

On Behalf of the Winnipeg Jets...

78 Brennan Serville, 7 Mark Scheifele, 119 Zachary Yuen, 157 Jason Kasdorf

The new Winnipeg franchise used the occasion to announce their new name — or should I say old name? The Winnipeg Jets are once again an NHL team. How about that. Unfortunately, while the team had a name ready to go, they couldn't say the same about a logo and jerseys.

Each of their draftees were given generic black jerseys with the NHL shield on the front. Rest assured, this will not be the uniform of the Jets come the fall. True North chairman Mark Chipman has said it may be a while before we see the new uniforms and logo.

Illegal Curve tweeted some details from Chipman yesterday. He said they wanted to have a prototype jersey ready for the draft, but were worried about knockoffs showing up before they were able to put official merchandise on sale. So production time is likely the reason we'll have to wait to see the new branding.

The team has also said that the colors "won't be completely different" from the old Jets. I take that to mean possibly a darker shade of blue and the addition of a third color such as silver. So another red and blue team, then. Fun. I may sound bitter, but at least the Thrashers and their too many colors were unique.

Earlier today, TSN's Darren Dreger tweeted, "I haven't seen the Winnipeg Jets new logo or sweater design, but I'm told it's very impressive." I'm sure it is. And I'm sure a lot of money is being spent to make sure of that. To be honest, I hope it doesn't leak so as to avoid the knockoff issues.

New Bolts Get New Blues 

148 Nikita Nesterov, 27 Vladislav Namestnikov, 178 Adam Wilcox

The Tampa Bay Lightning unveiled completely redesigned blue and white uniforms back in January. This weekend, they handed them out to their new draft picks in St. Paul.

There is one element of the jerseys that has changed since we last saw them at the January press conference. The numbers now feature an inner black outline after enough Bolts fans complained about the lack of black in the new threads. (I wasn't one of them.)

As much as I've praised these new sweaters, I was disappointed by one thing I noticed this weekend. Based on the previous pictures I've seen, I thought the blue was a lot lighter than it is. Turns out it's basically identical to the Maple Leafs' blue. Really not happy about that. Don't get me wrong, I'm still buying one, but I was hoping Stevie Y would do something to make us stand out.

Predators Decide to Simplify

38 Magnus Hellberg, 52 Miikka Salomaki

The Nashville Predators didn't have a pick in the first round this year due to the Mike Fisher trade, so we had to wait a day to see their new road jersey. As the NHL draft picked up with Round 2 this morning, the Preds gave the new sweater to their draftees, who became the first players to wear them.

While both new jerseys were sort of leaked on Thursday, we learned they weren't the final versions. Today we can play spot the differences. The biggest one (and only one that I could spot) would be the left shoulder which featured the word NASHVILLE in small text. On this version, it's only seen on the back of the collar. Everything else is basically how we first saw it.

Prior to the jersey leak, the new logos were officially unveiled, so I won't spend anymore time discussing them. I did want to note, however, that the new guitar pick logo is only used on the right shoulder of the road uniform. I suspect it will be the same on the gold home jersey.

Kings' Worst Kept Secret is Official

49 Christopher Gibson, 110 Michael Mersch

The Los Angeles Kings will have a new road uniform next season and their 2011 draft picks became the first to sport it for cameras today. (Like Nashville, they lacked a first round pick.) And for what it's worth, it was the worst kept secret of the year. We first saw this jersey way back in October!

Well a version of it, anyway. An Icethetics reader snapped a photo of what appeared to be prototype jerseys in Luc Robitaille's office at the Kings' practice facility before last season even started. To be fair, though, there's an L.A. pee wee team that's been wearing something similar for a while now.

They're nice. That's really all I can say. By dropping the purple from their palette, I think the Kings have done themselves a disservice. But the new jerseys aren't bad. But for the waist stripes, this new road sweater nearly matches the black and silver alternate the Kings have been wearing for a couple of years. It will become the new home jersey.

The old black and purple home sweater will become a third jersey and the old road sweater will be retired.

Isles, Sens Add Patches to Mark Special Occasions

5 Ryan Strome, 127 Brenden Kichton, 21 Stefan Noesen

The New York Islanders have created a new 40th anniversary shoulder patch while the Ottawa Senators will wear an All-Star Game patch for the 2011-12 season. The new add-ons were first spotted on the teams' first round draft picks on Friday night.

This is our first time seeing the Islanders' new 40th anniversary mark and I'm still waiting to get a better look. So far the above pictures are the best I've seen. The Isles entered the league in 1972 with the Atlanta Flames, but Calgary tends to only recognize the Calgary years with their anniversary logos.

Ottawa hosts the 2012 All-Star Game next season but the logo was first unveiled way back in September. The Senators are also celebrating their 20th anniversary, but it seems that logo will be trumped on the jersey this season. Perhaps they could change it after the All-Star break?

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If you've made it this far into this post, you're clearly the kind of person who will be interested in the following minutia. I'm talking about the breakdown of what jerseys were handed out by teams to their draftees.

• 21 teams gave colorful home jerseys to their draftees, 1 of which was seen for the first time (Florida).
• 7 teams gave white road jerseys to their draftees (Buffalo, Colorado, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Nashville San Jose and Vancouver), 3 of which were unveiled at the same time (Edmonton, Los Angeles and Nashville).
• 6 teams gave jerseys that have never been used in a game before, one of which will never be used in a game (Winnipeg).
• And 1 team gave an alternate jersey to its draftee. And that would be Minnesota. Perhaps a privilege of being host of this year's festivities.

I hope that answers all of the jersey- and logo-related questions you had about this year's draft. If it doesn't ask in the comments and I'll do my best to answer.

Panthers See Red

The Florida Panthers have officially launched their new marketing campaign today: We See Red.

The campaign will culminate on June 24 with the unveiling of their new red home jersey at the NHL Entry Draft in St. Paul. The first player to wear it will be the Cats' first round pick, which currently sits at No. 3 overall. Here's a link to the Panthers' press release on the matter. And an excerpt:

“We See Red” signifies the Panthers’ passion, aggressiveness, new blood, attitude, desire and commitment to winning under the leadership of General Manager Dale Tallon and now, Head Coach Kevin Dineen. Coinciding with the campaign, the Panthers will also unveil a new home jersey at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft on June 24. The jersey will feature the Cats’ “true colors” and will be worn by the team’s first pick — currently No. 3 overall.

All right, I may have just said most of that in the previous paragraph, but now you have it from them too.

Personally, I like the idea of the Panthers returning to red. That's how I always think of them. The dark blue just never worked in south Florida. Now, whether this means they'll actually improve the jersey remains to be seen. What I mean by that is they only specifically mention unveiling a "new home jersey," making no reference to a new road sweater to match.

This makes me wonder if they'll simply take the template of the current jerseys and just make a red one. I'd much rather see them go with a design more like their third jersey — or even that original red one from the early '90s. As always, we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

So when the Stinkin' Panthers go back to red, they'll be the third team in the Southeast Division to wear that color (Carolina and Washington being the others, of course). The Lightning will now wear blue instead of black. And as we know, red and blue are by far the most common colors in the NHL.

We don't yet know what the Winnipeg team will be named, but if it's the Jets and they go with the blue-and-red color scheme, boy will that be original and will certainly stand out. I'm hoping they go with something in a nice green, honestly — or even purple to make up for Los Angeles dumping it. But that's just because I like variety. Ultimately, I hope whatever is chosen is liked by the fans in Winnipeg.

That's all for today. Coming later this week: Remember how we ranked the Canadian NHL team uniforms a few months ago? Yeah, we're about to start tackling the rest of the league. (Just in time for me to take a nice long vacation. More later.)