Reebok Replacing New Jerseys With Old?

Interesting development coming out of Boston today. According to the Boston Herald the Bruins may be getting new jerseys — the same cut but the old material. Here's an excerpt from the article that talks about this.

According to sources in the B’s dressing room, Reebok has been unable to correct problems with the new jerseys introduced this season across the NHL and will replace them at the company’s expense with new uniforms made of the old materials.

Players have complained since training camp that the new jerseys, which are supposed to be lighter and allow sweat to evaporate out through the shirts, have instead trapped water inside and gotten heavier.

We'll see what happens. I'm intrigued. Will the EDGE go down in history as one of the NHL's biggest flubs?

Thanks to Jeff for the tip.

Comments

[bryan]

YES!!!
WOOHOO!!!
THANK YOU JESUS!!!!

I don't feel bad for anyone whose purchased those monstracities.

Maybe, just maybe, they'll improve the overall design of each jerseys, i.e. go back to previosu years.

[Charlie]

What happened to the "fabric treatment"?

I didn't think a can of scotch guard would fix these things...

[Dan]

You should really credit Paul Lukas of www.UniWatchBlog.com for this scoop. He's like the premier guy when it comes to anything uniform related. He also did some homework this afternoon and came to the conclusion that this article in question is false.

"Update, 12:55pm: Just spoke with an NHL spokesperson, who told me that the Boston Herald report is incorrect. As it was explained to me, Reebok has informed each team that players who have “moisture issues” with the new jerseys (i.e., lots of water ending up in their gloves and/or skates) will be given the option to have the option to wear a jersey with a new front panel made of a different high-tech material. The spokesperson maintained that there was no league-wide move to scrap the new jerseys, nor was there any move back to “old materials.”

When I asked if the league had any sense of how many players were requesting this option, I was told to direct that question to Reebok. I’m still waiting to hear back from them."

[Drew Celestino]

Who called it? Stand proud now, because you were dead right.

The Edge jerseys are the NHL's new NBA ball.

[Charlie]

New "Front panel"?!?! We aren't talking dashboards on cars! Why not a whole new jersey? I thought the Edge system was high tech...didn't know there was a higher tech out there.

I read this from Chris Creamer's forum and to me is DEAD ON about the general state of the Edge uniform system.
So to sum things up:

1. the Reebok "uniform system" doesn't live up to it's performance benefit claims

a. wind resistance gains are negligable.

b. dangerous for fighters because they either can be pulled over the head of an opponent easier or make it harder to hold onto which is dangerous for any mismatched fighters

c. water resistant jersey ensures that water ends up in unwanted places like skates and gloves

d. slippery socks may cause players to slide further/faster potentially resulting in dangerous collisions with the boards

e. jerseys and socks are known to tear easily

f. jerseys are much hotter contrary to Reebok's claims

f. numerous complaints from players about all of the above

2. outside of a few teams, the jerseys are considered less attractive by most hockey fans.

3. they are more expensive for the fans to purchase

It's safe to say the naysayers have won the debate here. Clearly the new Reebok uniforms are of no benefit to anyone except Reebok and those fans that have to buy every new uniform that comes out. The NHL desperately need to rethink this disaster. The least Reebok should do is ditch the socks and change the cut and make up of the uniform for next season.

[Drew Celestino]

The problem is Charlie, the NHL is making loads of cash from Reebok's meddling. And that's probably all that really matters to the NHL.

It'll always be an uphill fight to be rid of these things so long as that's the case.

[NHL Jeff]

Didn't they already ditch the slippery socks...?

[Tim]

Oh how that would be sweet justice. With that and Nike getting out of hockey, life is a little sweeter. That is why I stick to minor league teams when picking up a new jersey. Whether it is true or not, Reebok and the NHL get what they deserve.

[Mad Zionist]

In addition, the Rangers have already started hemming the diapers. Love seeing Bettman fall on his ass.