Report: New NHL City Connect-Style Uniform Program Coming Next Season

A post on a Reddit forum has generated a lot of buzz among hockey jersey collectors with rumours of a new league-wide City Connect-style jersey program for the National Hockey League in the 2026-27 season.

The information was posted to r/hockeyjerseys on Friday, January 2, by Reddit user PollutionSoggy9411. They claim to be an employee for a hockey retailer in the United States who is using a throwaway account to share information on the new alternate jersey program that came up in recent inventory listings. “Take the information with a grain of salt as none of this is confirmed,” they say in the post, “but it might be fun to speculate.”

According to PollutionSoggy9411, the program is listed as the NHL “HTR” Jersey program, which other hockey jersey-focused social media accounts have speculated stands for “Hometown Remix.” A trademark search through the United States Patent and Trademark Office confirms that Fanatics — the NHL’s current jersey supplier and retailer — has filed for a trademark on the phrase “Hometown Remix.” Premium blanks jerseys are listed at US$200 while customized jerseys are listed for US$230.

While there’s no information on specific team designs, the post details what will reportedly be the primary colour for each team’s HTR jersey:

Anaheim Ducks: GREEN	Boston Bruins: BROWN	Buffalo Sabres: NAVY BLUE	Calgary Flames: RED
Carolina Hurricanes: GREY	Chicago Blackhawks: GREEN	Columbus Blue Jackets: GREY	Colorado Avalanche: WHITE
Dallas Stars: WHITE	Detroit Red Wings: RED	Edmonton Oilers: BLACK	Florida Panthers: PINK
Los Angeles Kings: PURPLE	Minnesota Wild: BLACK	Montreal Canadiens: NAVY BLUE	Nashville Predators: NAVY BLUE
New Jersey Devils: BLACK	New York Islanders: WHITE	New York Rangers: BLACK	Ottawa Senators: BLACK
Philadelphia Flyers: BLACK	Pittsburgh Penguins: NAVY BLUE	San Jose Sharks: TEAL	Seattle Kraken: NAVY BLUE
St. Louis Blues: BLACK	Tampa Bay Lightning: BLACK	Toronto Maple Leafs: BEIGE	Utah Mammoth: BLUE
Vancouver Canucks: NAVY BLUE	Vegas Golden Knights: BLACK	Washington Capitals: BLUE	Winnipeg Jets: NAVY BLUE

The biggest departures from normal team colours on the list raise some interesting questions: Will Anaheim’s green jersey be a nod to their original look from the 1990s? Is the Blackhawks’ green jersey a nod to the city’s tradition of dyeing the Chicago River green for St. Patrick’s Day? How will Florida incorporate pink into their identity? Is Pittsburgh’s jersey a throwback to their double-blue days? Will the Mammoth’s jersey bring their shade of light blue to the forefront? And what are teams like Edmonton, St. Louis, Minnesota and the Rangers doing wearing black?

This report on Reddit follows a similar drop from Edmonton Oilers insider Tom Gazzola on a recent episode of the OilStream Podcast.

“There’s also something cooking for next year, league-wide,” Gazzola said. “So, remember they had Reverse Retro one and two? [A new] league-wide theme [is] coming in next year. I know that the league provided each team with different options.”

*The NHL has previously done league-wide uniform programs with the Reverse Retro series in 2020-21 and 2022-23*

This new “HTR” program follows the two iterations of the NHL’s Reverse Retro league-wide jersey program, which mixed logos, colour schemes and uniform designs from different eras of each team’s history. The initial Reverse Retro program debuted in 2020-21, while Reverse Retro 2.0 was unveiled during the 2022-23 season. League-wide uniform programs have been a hit in Major League Baseball with their City Connect series, the NBA’s long-running City Editions, and the NFL’s previous ColorRush and now Rivalries sets.

Based on the information posted on Reddit, which HTR jersey are you most excited about? Which one are you dreading the most? Let us know in the comments!