What was the worst jersey in modern NHL history?

[psycat]

Sticking to jerseys that are worn on a somewhat regular basis. Third jerseys are fair game but no winter classics, novelties etc

my picks are:

purposefully leaving out the Kings/Ducks/Blues cartoon jerseys because they were in a class of ugly all their own

The Trasher one is awesome.

 

[Gardner McKay]

IMO it is the blues trumpet jersey or the buffaslug. As bad as those blues jerseys were, I still think the buffaslug takes it.

 

[Torspo21]

I'm most concerned with that Edmonton goalie wearing #19. That should be forbidden.

#19 has a history of being worn by goalies in Finland.

 

[Montrealer]

#19 has a history of being worn by goalies in Finland.

I never minded players and goalies wearing whatever number they want. This isn't the NFL, position doesn't dictate jersey number.

 

[Kaners Bald Spot]

There were some nice ones too

My god I love those to this day. Why they ever changed I have no idea.

 

[Kaapo Cabana]

The canucks gradient jerseys were awesome. I had one.

 

[Gnashville]

I really like that logo of the kings head. I don't see how anyone could say these were worse than the Mighty Ducks uniform with a cartoon Wild Wing jumping through the ice. Those look like a child's pyjamas.

The “King” on the jersey looks as if he has been on a 3 day drunken bender and the Mighty Ducks jersey is bad but that entire team was designed to market to kids. Mighty Ducks was a Kids movie and TV show before being and actual team.
Kings intended to create an ugly jersey.
I also don’t consider that Trumpet Blues jersey as real since it was only a concept design and never used. The story about Mike Keenan trashing them has been exaggerated. They were trashed before they had a chance to wear them.

 

[Hatfield]

There were some nice ones too

[MOD]

I actually prefer the Mooterus to this one.

 

[Dr Pepper]

My god I love those to this day. Why they ever changed I have no idea.

IIRC, they were forced to alter their jersey design after Reebok got the NHL jersey rights after the lockout, and the slimmer design made Dallas's jerseys incompatible. Same happened to the Avs, I think, and a few others who didn't have the more streamlined jersey style.

As for the so-called "Mooterus", a pox on all of you.

I always thought those jerseys were cool....but as proof of how short-lived they were, I still have mine in storage - complete with the Modano "C" on the front from his (very) brief run as captain. Almost as brief as those jerseys.

I get what it's supposed to look like.....I mean, they're the Dallas Stars, the logo is a constellation, and what better constellation to represent Texas than the Taurus bull? Made sense to me.

Wouldn't mind if they brought it back as a third, even if it was just for a game.

I doubt it, though.....when their current jerseys were released, this was the reaction from the Stars' PR team.

 

[Hoser]

It’s very odd that people now like the islanders’ fisherman jersey. The consensus back then was everyone hated it. But now it’s okay?

Weird

I don't think the hate for the jerseys at the time was because they were objectively 'bad', but more so because it coincided with the worst parts of the team's history. Don Maloney was in the GM's office, and many Isles fans believed he was so bad that the most plausible explanation was that he was a Rangers turncoat deliberately sabotaging the team. Al Arbour retired. John Pickett had been looking to sell the team for a long time and the payroll was slashed as a result.

Then they come out with these audacious uniforms that eschew straight lines, and whatever ties the team had to the "glory days" of the early '80s are totally gone. What's left is a young team that's one of the worst in the NHL, with a succession of miserable veterans like Kirk Muller and Trevor Linden dotting the lineup over the following few seasons.

Off the ice the team is sold to shyster John Spano, given back to Pickett when Spano's fraud is revealed, sold to Milstein and Gluckstern who gut the team even further... There wasn't much to cheer for on Long Island at the time. The new uniforms became emblematic of the entire situation.

 

[sabremike]

Did this need to be changed in the first place?

No, it certainly did not.


And, for God's sakes, if you were going to change it, how in hell would it end up... here?:

Someone needs to photoshop a picture of Brett Hull wearing that monstrosity...

The thing is that if they were smart they would bring it back as a third jersey because it is so completely off the wall it would sell like crazy.

 

[aufheben]

In your opinion

He’s right that design principles aren’t really an opinion. There are parts of that jersey that objectively don’t make sense. But as they say in graphic design: if it looks right, it is right.

This is what a less askew version might have looked like:

 

[PhysicalGraffiti]

Current Bolts unis.

 

[BlueDream]

This is your example of a nice one?

It's so amateurish it's almost laughable. Take a look at the logo. It's italicized. Then take a look at the star that the striping on the jersey makes, it is not italicized. So you have star on top of a star, but they don't line up, making the entire logo look off centre and pushed to the left. This thing is an embarrassment to design.

That's one of the best jerseys in league history, and you're in the minority for not thinking so.

This jersey has a gradient.

I think those are nice tbh. Better color scheme than the currents.

Unpopular opinion

I liked the original mustard yellow preds jerseys with the 3D sabretooth.

I'm not going to say I liked them but they're better than their current ones by far IMO.

 

[Crazy Cizikas]

He’s right that design principles aren’t really an opinion. There are parts of that jersey that objectively don’t make sense. But as they say in graphic design: if it looks right, it is right.

This is what a less askew version might have looked like:

Nice work! Still not a great jersey, but much better than the italicized version. Generally, I find black jerseys to be boring. It’s as if the team can’t find it’s colors, so they settled on black.

 

[BKRangerFan]

surprised i havent seen anyone mention the devils christmas tree jersey.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

Not NHL related, but I figured someone might want to give their 2 cents on this since it's recent.

 

[Muddy Wilbury]

The Lighting and it's not even close.

 

[Crazy Cizikas]

surprised i havent seen anyone mention the devils christmas tree jersey.

Those were great. I wish the kept them instead of going with a passé red and black.

 

[Pilky01]

Forgot about that hideious abomination.

I actually saw it in person. Only Sabres game I have atteneded they wore these against Anaheim.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

Those Sabres ones are horrendous.

Best Sabres are the 90s Hasek-era, don't @ me.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

the bear's face always makes me lol

It's the expression on the bear's face that gets me. It's like " WTF is my face doing on a hockey jersey?!"

 

[double5son10]

How has no one mentioned the Kings' All Yellow abominations? I get that Jack Kent Cooke wanted them to share colors w/ the Lakers, but...they look great on a basketball court but back in the day you used to have to adjust your TV set because the players looked so radioactive against the ice. I did like the away purples though.

 

[Crazy Cizikas]

It's the expression on the bear's face that gets me. It's like " WTF is my face doing on a hockey jersey?!"

It looks like Bruce Boudreau.

 

[socko]

Atlanta Flames. The burning of Atlanta was a travesty to the city. Would be kind of like Hiroshima having a mushroom cloud for a hockey jersey.