Panthers, Rangers Unveil Their Uniforms for 2026 NHL Winter Classic

The Florida Panthers and New York Rangers have unveiled the uniforms they’ll wear for the upcoming 2026 NHL Winter Classic, the annual outdoor game is set to take place on January 2, 2026, at loanDepot Park in Miami, the home of baseball’s Marlins.

As always, the Winter Classic features new takes on traditionally-styled uniforms, with Florida tapping into their state’s mostly unknown pro hockey history and the Rangers doing what they do best, sticking to their well-established identity by creating what is essentially a light version of their blue Centennial uniform.

Florida’s uniform introduces a re-imagined version of the club’s original leaping panther logo, constructed to resemble a 1930s-era crest with felt textures and chain stitching. The Rangers continue their 100th-season program with a Winter Classic uniform built off their existing anniversary set, featuring oversized stripes and a “New York” wordmark diagonal down the chest.

The Florida Panthers’ 2026 Winter Classic uniform was developed collaboratively between the team, Fanatics, and the NHL throughout a lengthy design process; in a conversation with SportsLogos.Net, Panthers vice chairman John Viola described the project as a shared, multi-iteration effort rather than a single direction. “It was little contributions here and there, little tweaks, suggestions, inspirations from all corners that built this thing out,” Viola said. “I can’t tell you who came up with what. So much of it was driven by back and forth, many, many, many iterations to get specifically what we were looking for.”

Florida’s uniform adopts early hockey sweater construction techniques to give us a version of the franchise as if it had existed in the late 1930s. “It really feels like it walked off the pages of history more so than a fauxback per se,” Viola said. “It really does feel like something of its time.”

The red, blue, and yellow colour palette blends shades from past Panthers uniforms with some variations developed specifically for the Winter Classic. On the chest is a newly interpreted, vintage take on the Panthers’ original leaping cat logo, now rendered with felt textures and chain stitching. Leather-style gloves and pants help complete that 1930s-style look with chevrons sewn into the player numbers as a reference to regional military history. On those leather-style pants, we see a new Florida-themed shield logo, the helmet includes a new flag design, and a silhouette of the rat is added on the rear hem loop.

Florida’s hockey origins can be tied back to the Tropical Hockey League, an early professional hockey league in South Florida that gave it a go in the late 1930s. The four teams in the league were the Miami Beach Pirates, Miami Clippers, Havana Tropicals, and the 1939 Champion Coral Gables Seminoles. The league lasted just one season before a brief revival in 1940. Florida didn’t get another shot at pro hockey until the Eastern Hockey League expanded to Jacksonville in the 1960s. The major league World Hockey Association attempted to place a team in Miami, but it was unable to get off the ground. The NHL finally expanded to the state with the Tampa Bay Lightning joining in 1992-93, one season before the Panthers came on board.

“I hope that these uniforms shine as much as we believe they can,” Viola added. “I hope they continue to shine and serve as a part of our visual identity for a long time to come.”

Meanwhile, in New York, the Rangers’ 2026 Winter Classic uniform ties into a century of franchise history through the club’s existing blue Centennial uniform unveiled earlier this season, a jersey based on the team’s inaugural 1926-27 design. This new Winter Classic jersey functions as a light-coloured counterpart to that set. Instead of “RANGERS” down the front, the chest reads “NEW YORK.” According to the league, the uniform “honours the franchise’s traditional light jersey while introducing distinctive elements including bold oversized stripes that echo the Centennial uniform’s colours.”

All lettering on the jersey, including player names and numbers, is single-colour blue. The shoulder features the red apple logo with “NYC” inside, which is already present on the hem loop of their Centennial jersey.

The 2026 Winter Classic will be the 17th edition since the event began on a snowy New Year’s Day in Buffalo in 2008. This will be the first outdoor NHL game held in the state of Florida and precedes the second outdoor game in the state’s history by just a few weeks, as the Tampa Bay Lightning will host the Boston Bruins in the 2026 Stadium Series at Raymond James Stadium.

Jerseys and other Winter Classic merch will be available starting Thursday at 10 a.m. ET at NHLShop.com.