New Uniforms on the way for the New Jersey Devils

According to a Tweet by Fox Sports’ Pete Blackburn and by two of those good old friends of mine “anonymous” and “sources”, the New Jersey Devils will be getting a new look for the 2017-18 season. The design change coincides with the switch in the league-wide jersey/gear contract from Reebok to Adidas.

Obviously nothing is confirmed at this time but what I’ve *heard* is that the the jerseys will feature a different design and that the colours of red/black/white will remain the same (this means no green!). I’m not able to confirm or deny the status of the logo, sorry.

By the way, I’ve been told that the New Jersey Devils are getting a full jersey makeover from adidas next season
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) January 9, 2017

New Jersey, despite the relative young age of the team, has kept their design consistent and traditional more than practically any other team in the league. The Devils have played in New Jersey since the 1982/83 season (35 years!) and have only undergone one major uniform design change during that time — the infamous switch from green in black in 1992

New Jersey has also never had a regular alternate uniform, only occasionally wearing their red-green throwback uniforms on St Patrick’s Day, they were also the only team to refuse to wear the “chromified” logo for the first round of Stadium Series games in 2014. We liked that.

So needless to say this is a big deal, a once in a generation change.

The Devils turned-back-the-clock to the 1980s to wear their red and green uniforms on St Patricks Day — The Devils wearing their red/green throwbacks on a previous St Patrick’s Day

With the switch to Adidas and the departure of former Team President and famous third-jersey holdout Lou Lamoriello to Toronto now over a year gone the conditions are ripe for a change in Newark. It’s just a shame it has to happen at all. How many NHL teams can you look at any photo of any of their players in the last 35 years and they’re (practically) wearing the same basic uniform design throughout? Montreal? Detroit? Everyone else regularly wore alternate uniforms for a good chunk of that span. To be a franchise that young and include yourself in a group uniform-wise with Detroit and Montreal is something to be proud of.

And now, they’re not.

2012 Stanley Cup Final New Jersey Devils — Martin Brodeur in the soon-to-be-old uniform during 2012 Stanley Cup final

It remains to be seen how big of a change we’re talking, Blackburn in his tweet said it was a “full jersey makeover” which… doesn’t sound good if you don’t like change.

One thing we know, they’ll keep their no-alternate jersey streak alive at least another year.

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