Flames Going Retro in Stanley Cup Playoffs

The Calgary Flames are back in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and are planning to do so while wearing their retro third uniform. It will just be the Flames third appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2009.

According to a Tweet by @CompleteHkyNews, Flames Director of Marketing Ryan Popowich has said the Flames will eschew their usual home red-and-black set for their very popular, very amazing throwback alternate uniform. It’s the same style of uniform the team wore when they clinched the only Stanley Cup championship in franchise history, on the road in Montreal in 1989.

The Flames won the Stanley Cup wearing this uniform in 1989

NHL teams are permitted to replace their home or road uniform with an alternate uniform during the playoffs but must continue to wear the uniform throughout, no switching back to the usual home or road. Basically what this means is the Flames will have to wear their retro reds for every home playoff game in 2019.

Unfortunately, none of the teams Calgary would be slated to face on the Western side of the bracket are currently wearing uniforms that existed during this uniform’s original run; we’ll just have to hope they’re pitted in a Stanley Cup Final up against the Pittsburgh Penguins or New York Islanders.

That Tweet mentioned earlier had also claimed that Popowich said the team was discussing bringing the throwback style back full-time for the 2020-21 season. While the Tweet making that claim was shared extensively around social media, the very important response from Popowich denying the team had discussed the plan was not. That’s 2019 in a nutshell…

No discussions yet on full-time retros in the 2020/21 season

Calgary has worn their retro reds as an alternate uniform off-and-on for over a decade now, the team originally wore them beginning in 1980-81, their first season in Calgary, up until the end of the 1993-94 season. The style of jersey originated in Atlanta where the franchise began life as the Atlanta Flames in 1972.