2016 NHL All-Star Jerseys A Musical Tribute

It’s about to get country-music all up in here; the National Hockey League has unveiled the jerseys players will be wearing during the 2016 NHL All-Star Games later this month in Nashville aka “Music City”.

The colours of the jerseys are black and white, symbolic of the keys on a piano; the player numbers and names will be “designed as modern interpretations of traditional country music poster lettering, which has been a defining aesthetic of Nashville” (no photo of this that we can find just yet).

The NHL shield has gold added to it in honour of the host team Nashville Predators and will be made of a reflective material to symbolize (and, seriously, they said this) “Nashville’s vibrant night life”… can’t they just say “it’s shiny and reflective because Reebok wants to try out this new technology again and we’re obviously open to doing things like that with our All-Star jerseys”? Just more, “let’s find a reason for something after we designed it” nonsense; there’s no way the designers went into this going “hmm, how can I show Nashville’s vibrant night life on this jersey? I know! Reflective material!”. Player name and numbers will also be reflective, the press release makes it seem this feature will only be included on the on-ice jerseys, not the replica retail editions.

Below the collar are three stars, a tribute to the state of Tennessee (which features the three stars on it’s state flag), the Predators team, and the All-Stars. Patches will be worn on each shoulder, one of the 2016 All-Star Game logo and the other of the team the player plays for — full colour this time, unlike last year’s graphite-and-black mess.

“The 2016 Honda NHL All-Star jersey pays tribute to the city of Nashville’s cultural scene, which includes the Nashville Predators. With creative support from Reebok’s design team, the jerseys reflect the deep bond the Predators have with the music community, the city’s growing passion for hockey and the All-Star Game’s showcase of the best players in the League.” – Brian Jennings, NHL Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President in the press release

As this year’s All-Star event is a tournament, every team and player will get one of each jersey; round one will be one division in white versus the other in black, the winners will meet in the final switching jersey colours as necessary (to avoid black vs. black or white vs. white).

My thoughts? They’re better than last year. Still nowhere close to any NHL All-Star jersey pre-Bettman.

UPDATE Jan 7/16 9:40am ET

We’ve got a look at the jersey name and number style via the Chicago Blackhawks official Snapchat account (h/t @BupsJones):

Note the rounded rectangle name plate “KANE” is stitched onto and the slight bevel effect on the numbers. (The stars shown in the photo on the left are not part of the jersey).