What's Up With The Rangers?
Wednesday · Sep 19 · 2007 | 1:41 PM PDTA reader noted in the comments on an earlier post something interesting with regard to the New York Rangers new Rbk EDGE uniforms.
I was noting that the New York Rangers were the only team in the league which doesn't have images of its new uniforms available online in the NHL.com Shop or any other site that is selling the new Reebok jerseys. Then this official Reebok site came out and it had the first official photos.
Suddenly, as Gabe pointed out, those phoos disappeared from the site and were replaced by a "coming soon" graphic.
What's stranger is that way back when the Rangers first began taking orders back in July, photos were posted on their web site. Within hours, the photos were removed. Now this.
Luckily, I was able to grab both images before they mysteriously went away, so we've all been able to see them. But I'm just curious as to the reasoning behind these decisions. As Gabe mentioned, are the Rangers planning some big unveiling ceremony they have yet to announce? And if so, for what reason? The jerseys, much like Detroit's remain entirely unchanged — merely adapted to the new EDGE cut.
Regardless, we'll find out for certain what the deal is no later than Friday, as that is the night of the Rangers' first preseason game and they'll surely be wearing them. I'll keep on top of this if anybody is interested. And if you hear or read anything, do let me know, either by email or in the comments of this post.
Reader Comments (11)
Maybe they decided to be the only team to protest the new Edge uniforms. Wouldn't that be a twist.
I believe they may be re-orienting the "RANGERS" wordmark, as a lot of people have complained about it being narrowed and funny-looking. Most teams felt that you cannot put any lettering on the "mesh" fabric panels, hence moving teh C or A like Detroit, but then Philly went and put their C/A designations across a panel.
Maybe the Rangers are fixing their jersey so it looks "right"?
maybe they realized that the new reebok jerseys suck
Maybe Avery got hurt in a fight because the EDGE jerseys can be pulled over the head even with the fight strap engaged and that is the reason they are boycotting the EDGE jerseys!
OR maybe they realized how lame RANGERS looks across the EDGE jersey and are working on bringing the Liberty Head OR Shield Logo out as their main logo....
..... or in protest of the EDGE jerseys...
In any fact, I would love a market like NY to hate the jerseys and say "Gid outta heere!"
I predict a last minute change to a 1976-77 type design. That would be pretty cool, actually.
P.S. I noticed the Coyotes are having a logo history poll coming up. Are you going to include the Jets logos in there? It would be interesting to see how they fared. I think you ought to do the same for other relocated teams, like Carolina or Colorado.
As somebody mentioned above, I think it might have something to do with the narrowed text of "RANGERS" down the front of the jersey. If you look at the original leaked photo, you can see that the text was made more vertical and moved slightly to the side to fit the writing on the designated panel of the jersey.
But, if you look at the photos that were on the Edge site before being pulled, you can see that they fixed that to some extent, especially on the white away jersey.
Maybe they are just doing some last minute adjustments to make the home jersey have the same style/angle of writing as the away, exactly how it always has been.
At first I didnt mind that they had to modify the writing for the new fit, but after seeing that it isn't necessary, I am so glad they are taking their time to fix it. Just shows they know what their fans want and deserve.
The Rangers are too old and traditional of a team to go and make a full jersey redesign. Much like the NY Yankees, the Rangers jersey design will NEVER change. The "Liberty" third jersey, by many fan's standards, was kind of egregious in its own right (though I thought it was pretty nice). Along with the other Original Six teams, there will not be a major change, there just can't.
I'm a fan of the team, and this kind of thing is par for the course in regards to how the Rangers' PR department goes about doing stuff. Slowly, and with very little tact or notice.
By the way to the person who suggested that the style of the rangers jersey is 'lame' and that they should change to the liberty head...are you drunk?
The rangers jersey is classic, and will never change. If it got changed, along with changes to say detroit or chicago etc, the league would lose all connection to its history and ultimately lose touch with the core of its fanbase. History of the NHL is as big of a part of its future than many people realise, and classic roots have to be maintained for the league to thrive in the future.
Jono, you took my lame comment out of context. I said it looked "lame across the EDGE jersey", not just any jersey.... the EDGE jersey.
While I much prefer the Liberty Head or Shield to the diagonal name, I understand its legacy in the organizations.
I happen to think that the Rangers jersey is lame - whether it's on the EDGE template or something else, it's a terribly dull jersey - not classic, not cool, not stylish...just lame.
The liberty head logo is far more appropriate for the Rangers anyway, because they tend to play like a bunch of ladies.
Before everyone and their brother starts complaining about me trying to pick a fight, that's exactly what I'm doing. I actually do like the Rangers liberty head jerseys and think they're cool. As for the traditional Rangers jerseys, I just don't see what's cool about Rangers written diagonally across a jersey.
I like the Liberty Head jersey myself, better design, better color scheme.