Rbk Edge - The new NHL UPDATES

As new jerseys get released over the coming weeks I will post them here. The original post with the original 7 team designs is here.



September 15th

Philadelphia Flyers
Opinons and petty complaints are just that, till you come to your own team. And now that time has come. I'm not even going to attempt to play devils advocate here, and I personally don't get the people that try to, but I honestly don't like these at all. It gets worse when you see the backs...

If you are a Flyers fan you may be going, "Jeez, that's a bit harsh...", but well, yeah it is. The fans wanted the orange jerseys back, they wanted orange, but alas we are still saddled with black as the main color. (Don't even mention the Nemo jersey and the possibility of it being put into the same mould as these, the idea of that is beyond anything I want to imagine.) I really wish they had kept the same design, and this isn't the fear of change talking, it's the voice of reason. These, and it escalates ever time I look at them, just plain look weird. The home jerseys more so than the whites. Maybe they'll grow on me. Maybe in 5 years or so I'll see them as the Flyers jerseys. But, at the moment a small voice is still going "Noooooo" inside of me. My brother may have put it best when it comes down to the actual sport of hockey rather than the fashion show, "They can wear pink for all I care as long as they don't lose 60 games." There you have it. Rating: Me no like.

September 15th

Dallas Stars
Well, well, well, what in the name of Sergio Momesso is going on here? First off, if you aren't aware, player numbers will be appearing on the fronts of these jerseys. So the black jersey will look just like a college basketball/hockey one. Which is ok, I guess, if that's what you want to look like. It's creative and original, but is going to look awfully empty without any customization. (Which is like $100 per letter and number in Rbk edge money).


I actually don't mind these, it's nice to see the minimum amount of stripes etc. I think these have officially pulled Dallas into 2007+ and out of somewhere in the 1990's which was needed. Unfortunately, since I think Bettman doesn't like green, they've banned the color so the Stars are severely lacking in that area. Rating: Not at all bad, considering they went way out on a limb with these.

September 15th

Chicago Blackhawks
Not much to say here, obviously the powers that be in Chicago know a good thing when they see it, and decided that the iconic design of the Blackhawks jerseys weren't going to be changed. Not for nobody, not no how.

Fine by me, they have one of the most recognized uniforms in sports so why go and wreck it with piping and strange fabric shapes. Rating: A-OK

September 14th

Colorado Avalanche
Maybe. I haven't completely made up my mind yet. There is the omnipotent piping, which I think is sort of a shame at this point, but at least Colorado has some colors and ideas to work with compared to certain other teams...Ducks.

It's kind of a strange thing to see the Avs without their trademark mountain range on the bottom of the sweaters, but at least the identity hasn't been completely lost. The colors stand out and they haven't over complicated things too much with sleeve bars and horizontal stripes. The ratio of blue to burgundy is well done, and...OK I've made up my mind. I like these. These should be well received with the fans. Hell you could wear one of those to the Senior Prom. Rating:Don't spill beer on yours at the first home game.

September 14th

Toronto Maple Leafs
No, your eyes are not deceiving you, these are the new Maple Leafs jerseys. And if you are like most people you already either hate them or love them from the first glance, and I can tell you that your opinion is not going to change....ever.

If I can pretend to be a Leafs fan here for a second, which is difficult, I am going to take the two different approaches to this sweater.


Leafs Fan 1: These are horrible, do we really want to look like this on the ice? I thought this team had some dignity. Talk about boring and completely lacking any initiative. At least put something on the shoulders, or another stripe on the hem, or at LEAST give us the old Leaf back! Just plain pathetic.


Leafs Fan 2: Yes! Old time hockey is back! No more TML on the shoulders, no more overly complicated designs. Just plain hockey. We don't need a bunch of piping and pizazz, we just need the leaf and blue and white. If anything this team has recreated a classic design that is timeless.

You be the judge of that. Rating: Either Leafs Fan 1 or Leafs Fan 2.

September 14th

Anaheim Ducks
I will spare you the spiel about how much I dislike Disney, and how they ruined the look of hockey and how when the no longer mighty Ducks finally ditched Disney they proceeded to do even stranger things than Wild Wing to their jerseys.

Instead I'll get right into two other things. One, why I like these jerseys - they have no piping. They are almost simple. They look different than the other teams in the league and they don't use the usual red, black, white, blue color schemes.

Two, and this one is longer, why I don't like these jerseys. I had anticipated more from this franchise, and I think maybe there would have been if they hadn't gone and won the Stanley Cup last year - thank freaking god this was after the dropping of "Mighty". The wordmark (logo) and jerseys seem rushed, like merely a temporary solution on the way to something better. I really haven't got the faintest idea why it needs to say a team's name on a jersey in hockey. It makes no sense. Fine if you want to include it in the logo (Toronto for example) but to make it the logo seems a bit amateurish. (Bare with me I didn't complain last season when these were released so I am doing it now.) Alas, it's better than the goalie helmet cartoon...thing...and it seems that the team has decided that focusing on a demographic over the age of 9 is a better way to sell merchandise (something that Disney really ought to have known something about from the beginning)...but I can't help being a bit bothered. To be honest, I think I would never have named the team Ducks to begin with, and I think that having that name is the major stickler when it comes to creating anything close to a respectable and classy organization. I don't care that they won the Cup, it's not fair to the people of Anaheim to have to root for a team that's called the Ducks. It's not fair to a kid from Twoferville, Nova Scotia to have to play on a team called the Ducks....ok...enough. Rating: Same as last year...unfortunately...for some. Still lacking in imagination.

September 8th

Minnesota Wild
If you are from Minnesota you are pleased as punch. Why? Because your team didn't decide to do strange uncomprehendible things with their jerseys. Instead they kept a near identical style to that which they have had since their inception. Why is this good? Well, if you look what other teams have done, you'll see that the better results come from adapting rather than conforming.

The red jerseys, originally the teams alternates, are hockey. (I'm even letting the laces slide...) If any place should be celebrating the sport and wanting to put their players on the ice looking like a hockey team (rather than models geared at selling merchandise) it's Minnesota. So, say what you will about the lack of pizazz, they don't need it. People go to the games to see scrums in the corners up there, not to sit in a corporate box and discuss venture capital.

The loss of the green jerseys is kind of a dissapointment, since well, nobody in the league seems to want to have anything to do with the color anymore. I can only prey that they bring them in as an alternate next season in the same style has the red. (Just flip the colors...) As for the white jerseys...I'm going to sort of ignore them. They should have the same circle logo and simple style. Not that they are bad, they're just totally eclipsed by the other. Rating: Somebody has been doing their homework.

September 7th

Carolina Hurricanes
Move along, nothing to see here. Oh, wait, they did add the seemingly mandatory piping. (I have no idea what the desired effect of this little addition is on the part of the Hurricanes but all it does for me is make things look more complicated.) Carolina has maintained the look that they've had for 10 years now. Which, to be honest, is quite an accomplishment considering how often most expansion teams have changed appearances. Or are doing so this year.(They are celebrating that anniversary with a patch...)

I've never really had any qualms about the Hurricanes sweaters, they are original and definitely give the team an identity. And let's be honest red, white and black is not an uncommon color scheme in any sport. They could, if they so wanted to, make the shoulder patches a little smaller and straighten out the font (personal opinion but slanted fonts are painful to look at), but...that's just me. Rating: If it works don't go and Calgary it.

September 6th

Pittsburgh Penguins
My first reaction to these was that they were a major improvement over the last set of Penguins jerseys. And I think they still are for a number of reasons. (One being the lack of diagonal golden bars.) However, the more I look at them the more I get the feeling something is missing somewhere. Maybe the scarf?


These are quite simple, and I think that works for Pittsburgh (they may actually going for that penguin look with those sleeves). They resisted the foul temptation to throw in a bunch of piping and nonsense stripes, which deserves some applause. Quite honestly these look like Pittsburgh without a huge departure from the previous sweaters, and to me that means they've succeeded transitionally. Rating: Le pingouin semble bon.

September 4th

Calgary Flames
There is way, way too much going on here. Laces, piping, stripes galore (in every which way) and alas the patches. These are apparently for celebrating 100 years of Alberta hockey, and may only be for this season. (We can hope.)


I don't really understand what Calgary is going for, I haven't for about 15 years now. This desire for stripes at multiple angles is lost on me. If they removed the vertical stripes and the piping it would make sense, in this case it just looks like the boys in design office got a little carried away (or couldn't agree and opted to include everyone's ideas.) Rating: Ask a Flames fan what they think. It's a love it or hate it thing I imagine.
A more detailed rant about the Calgary Flames jerseys can be found...here.

September 4th

Montreal Canadiens
See, you don't have to change anything to have a really nice jersey. People would have rioted in Montreal if they went with any of this piping stuff.

Some persons, most notably my own brother, believe that change is good (and he's seen what the Flyers jerseys will look like). I think when it comes to sports uniforms you better have an all out reason to change. (Like say the Sabres...going on 10 years now.) I don't. The red Canadiens jerseys are hockey, they mean the NHL, changing them would mean changing the whole league...wait...well, something like that. Rating: Business as usual.

August 30th

Vancouver Canucks
Ladies and gentleman...introducing your 195..err..196...1970? 80? 90? No, your 2007 Canucks. All the speculation and guessumptions were accurate. The Canucks are now green, white and blue full time. (A tribute to British Columbia's natural beauty if you wondered.) As you may have noticed the orca logo has been kept, yet received a slight makeover. Now, what is it about these things that just looks wrong? Is it the stripes? No, although all I see is Hartford when I look at them. Is it the revamped rink-with-a-stick-C logos on the shoulders? No, I think they were a nice touch. Wait, I know what it is....how about the fact that it says, and you may have missed this, VANCOUVER, really big over the logo. I know they wanted to combine the different decades and use the different styles (oddly hopping over the Buck Rogers V-knecks), but seriously I think they could have skipped the pre-NHL days with the city name.

What you're saying now is: "I don't think it looks that bad." Well, you're wrong. See, you're looking at an image on your computer screen. Imagine said image skating around a rink or being punched in the face by Donald Brashear...then you'll get the picture. I dunno, I might be wrong, but the Canucks change logos, colors and uniforms as often as Sean Burke gets traded so in the end it won't matter too much. Rating: Should have let Trevor Linden design them, heck he's been around long enough to know what a Canuck should look like on the ice.

August 26th

Tampa Bay Lightning
I don't think this will be news to anyone when I say that the old Lightning logo was boring and that they should have used the alternate logo as the main one. Now the Lightning have a new logo and well, it's also boring and nearly identical to the old one. As for the new jerseys...I have to admit these do absolutely nothing for me. They do even less with the numbering on the front. To say one positive thing I am glad that they didn't put any stripes along the bottom, there would have been way too much going on with that. These are pretty simple, which can be a good thing, but in this case the jerseys are much like the logo: boring. Rating: Something is missing here, and I don't know what.

August 22nd

Ottawa Senators
There was massive speculation regarding these...and some hope for barberpole action. As it turns out the 67's will keep their lone posession of that look for a little longer. Ottawa has opted with a simple - read no laurel leaves and no waves - look which actually looks pretty good and certainly solidifies their identity. The logo has been nicely updated to a pseudo-three dimensional one and well, makes senators look tough instead of democratic. The new shoulder patches reflect the teams history and feature an O on red and black stripes. All and all these are pretty nice, and I don't think fans of the team will complain too much...except about the barberpole. As far as I can tell they have gone with the alternate Senators font albeit thinner and streamlined. Rating: No complaints