Thanks to multiple sources of ours, we have learned that there will be twelve National Hockey League teams making changes to their uniform during the switchover from Reebok to Adidas this summer. When you add in the expansion Vegas Golden Knights to that mix that’s a solid thirteen new looks to varying degrees in 2018.
The teams we were told to expect some changes to are the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, New Jersey Devils, and the Ottawa Senators.
Let’s make this clear right away, these changes could be very minor, even as minor as just an already existing alternate uniform being “promoted” to a full-time home uniform (as we know is the case with Edmonton). We’re expecting almost all of these to be no more than just a few tweaks to their design.
Unlike the switch to Reebok for the 2007-08 season, none of these uniform changes will be accompanied by a new primary team logo. The summer of 2007 saw new primary logos for seven teams, three of those teams: Boston, Columbus, and Ottawa are among the twelve in line for new uniforms with Adidas here ten years later.
Aside from the Oilers dropping their home blue, replacing it with their alternate orange (remember there will be only a home and a road uniform for each team in 2017-18, aside from outdoor games, we will not see any alternate uniforms throughout the season), we have no idea what any of these changes are. But we can share our wish list!
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Here’s a list of what we *hope* will be the changes to each team in the list we received. Again, these are merely predictions.
BOSTON BRUINS: These are pretty much perfect as is so hopefully this is nothing more than some small change, maybe to the name or number font. I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to them wearing a gold version of their road whites as their full-time away uniform, but that could cause problems when visiting Nashville.
BUFFALO SABRES: Get rid of some of those silver lines that swoosh all over their current set and we’ve got ourselves a much improved look. Silver can stick around in the colour scheme, I don’t mind it as a border around the circle on the jersey crest or perhaps on some of the sleeve or waist stripes, but that piping is a mess.
CALGARY FLAMES: The 1980s retros as full-time home and roads or GTFO. At the very least those shoulder flags have gots to go; they were added as a one-year celebration of Alberta’s 100th anniversary… the province will turn 113 during the 2017-18 season.
COLORADO AVALANCHE: Like Buffalo I’m hoping this is a tidying up to eliminate all that obnoxious Reebok era piping. I’d be happy with a return to the mountain range style waist striping.
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS: Traditional style waist stripes. That is all.
DALLAS STARS: The numbers could use some trim colours, either silver or black (or both), the State of Texas alternate logo would look awfully nice on the shoulders, also a nod to their past uniforms.
EDMONTON OILERS: This is known. Orange jersey replaces blue as the home uniform. My wish is that it wasn’t. (Update! We’ve just learned via a trusted source that the Oilers will also be darkening the shade of blue on all their uniforms from royal blue to a navy blue)
FLORIDA PANTHERS: So soon?! Extend the horizontal stripe around to the back, might as well mimic the Habs’ waist stripe as well while we’re at it.
MINNESOTA WILD: A green home jersey based off of their existing road white design. These guys have three different designs here, let’s pick one already.
NASHVILLE PREDATORS: Well there’s no way they’re getting rid of gold at home (although I’d rather it be used as a road jersey with a blue version for home games). So I’ll add Nashville into the Buffalo and Colorado pile… scrub off the piping and we’re good.
NEW JERSEY DEVILS: I’ve heard too much about the details of this re-design, the condition of which is that I’m not to share any of those details. So, I’m remaining silent here.
OTTAWA SENATORS: Black alternate to home jersey, make a version in white (such as that worn during the 2014 Heritage Classic) for the road. There is no other acceptable choice here. To be fair, *any* change to the Senators existing home and road set would be a vast improvement, certainly a contender for the title of “most boring uniform in the league”.
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Each of these design changes are expected to be announced just prior to or at the 2017 NHL Draft in Chicago on June 23rd.
Share your own wish lists in the comments below!
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UPDATE May 25/17 – 11:05am ET: We’ve just learned some brand new details on what the Oilers will be doing in 2017/18, check their section of the “Wish list” above for that change
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