Calgary Flames Go “Full Retro” with New Uniforms for 2021

As the Golden Knights go gold, the rest of the National Hockey League is going old… but that’s okay! Because the old we’ve been getting here is, in most cases, absolutely glorious.

The Calgary Flames joined the retro parade for the 2020-21 NHL season today by unveiling their new, full-time, home and road sweaters, a carbon copy (applied to the new jersey cut) of what the team first wore upon their relocation from Atlanta in 1980 through to their only Stanley Cup win in 1989.

Calgary had been wearing this style as a very popular home red alternate for several seasons, even opting to use it as their regular home jersey during their 2019 Stanley Cup Playoff run (which, lasted far shorter than they had anticipated).

“Since re-introducing the retro look in alternate jerseys back in 2009, we’ve heard the feedback from a large portion of our fan base,” Calgary Flames Director of Marketing Ryan Popowich told the Flames website. “They love the original look and really wanted us to return to it. It took a while to get all the pieces in place to make it happen.”

The throwback white, now the team’s full-time road jersey, was never an alternate, but had been worn recently for the 2019 Heritage Classic outdoor game in Saskatchewan.

While this style of uniform with the flaming C logo on the crest has been worn since 1980, the design itself has been with the team since their years down in Atlanta when they were known as the Atlanta Flames. The red and gold look debuted with the team as they played their expansion season in 1972-73 with a logo that featured an A with flames on the chest. As mentioned earlier, Calgary began wearing this set in 1980 and continued to do so until the end of the 1993-94 season when they were replaced with a modern new set which added black to the colour scheme.

Speaking of black, fans of the Flames wearing black need not worry, what had been worn as the home jersey (red with black “C”) will be retained next season as the club’s official alternate/third uniform. Though I imagine this look will eventually be phased out over time.

Calgary rocked the red and gold for 15 seasons including two trips to the Stanley Cup Final, both against the Montreal Canadiens. They wore this red style for their Cup clincher in 1989 as they became the only road team to ever celebrate a Stanley Cup championship over the Canadiens at the legendary Montreal Forum.

Calgary joins the Buffalo Sabres and Ottawa Senators as NHL teams to turn the clock back to their original uniform style for next season. The Sens will officially unveil their new/old uniform set tomorrow.