The Toronto Maple Leafs will be wearing a special patch on their uniforms during the 2023-24 National Hockey League season.
In recognition of the Leafs playing host to this season’s All-Star Game in February, the team will wear the 2024 NHL All-Star Game logo on the right shoulder of their home blue, road white, and alternate black sweaters.
The Leafs last hosted the NHL All-Star Game back in 1999-2000. The club also wore the 2000 NHL All-Star Game logo as a patch on their jersey during that season, but it was instead placed on the front above the “NHL2000” patch. The switch in placement almost certainly has to do with the “Milk” advertisement for the Ontario Dairy Council taking up residence on the front right.
NHL All-Star hosts have routinely worn patches on their uniforms throughout the season; the practice has happened regularly since the 1989-90 Pittsburgh Penguins added the 1990 NHL All-Star Game logo to their shoulders. The 1986-87 Quebec Nordiques wore a patch with the logo for that season’s Rendez-Vous ’87, an exhibition game between the NHL All-Stars and the Soviet National Team, which was played instead of the All-Star Game that year.
In other Toronto Maple Leafs news, the club will also reportedly be ditching the TikTok ad from their helmets, (I’ll click the like button on that one), *and* getting rid of their longtime goal song, “You Make My Dreams” by Hall and Oates. A new era in Toronto, hopefully, it translates to some playoff victories.