10 NHL jerseys worse than the new Edge jerseys

Yes, Rbk made some mistakes. In some cases some awful ones. In some cases the designers are to blame. In some cases owners. Vancouver doesn't need the city name, Edmonton needs real stripes, Calgary needs to start over or at least lose the patches...in fact based on the voting and opinions voiced here nearly every team has presented some sort of dissapointment.

In reality, not just the fan/fashion world, the issue of the non-water absorbing material used in the jerseys rages on. Nameplates continue to fall off, and jerseys get ripped too easily. Whether this will bring about any new changes in the 2008-09 season remains to be seen, but with all the talk of going back to the old style and old designs we should be reminded that things weren't always that pretty and the good ol' days weren't necessarily better...

The following jerseys are actually game worn and come from either GameWorn.net, Spirit of the Game or from collectors pages.


10. California Golden Seals
1974-1976
The last two years of the Seals less than stellar existance in the NHL saw a switch of jerseys that didn't exactly make up for the lackluster performance on the ice. Long before whatever you want to call that shade of blue/green was fashionable the Seals proved to the world that it was an awful idea...so were the shoulder stripes.


9. Boston Bruins
1995-2005
I can hear people disagreeing with me already, but quite honestly it still confounds me that the Bruins wore these as an alternate for 10 whole years. Maybe it's the yellow, maybe it's the lack of the B, maybe it's the fur/bite mark/rough edge pattern thing. Boston being an original six team with strong ties to tradition and history amazingly escaped unharmed by this total departure from their identity. It didn't hurt that a lot of the fans loved them...probably about as many as hated them. Among the host of hideous jerseys that came out of 1995, these survived the longest.


8. Calgary Flames
1995-2000
Calgary's obsession with stripes at weird angles seems to have started here. Say what you will about the Bettman stripes that Rbk has given us, the Flames striping here (and the white C) is just plain baffling. It's like someone broke off a chunk of the hem striping and just threw it onto the front of the jersey. I could see these in the Olympics during the 80's, even in Calgary in 1988, but not on an NHL team all the way into the new Millenium...


7. Vancouver Canucks
1995-1997
Another fine example of what 1995 brought us....the fabric gradient. It's as if someone said, "Hey guys, look what we can do!". Amazingly the Canucks would use the gradient again on an alternate starting in 2001 and going all the way up to 2006! These truly got the prize though because they didn't just involve the gradient they involved a gradient over stripes. The only way these could have worked is if they didn't have a logo ruining the whole effect..which brings us to...


6. Vancouver Canucks
1978-1981
Quite possibly the most famous of the bad taste jerseys, at least the Canucks changed the plain red names on the backs following the '81 season. They also brought new meaning to the term V-neck, and are one of the rare examples (if not the only example) of a jersey without a crest that was used as the teams main uniform. The look was complete with the addition of the yellow helmets. Not surprisingly Vancouver completely left this look out when they created their new montage look.


5. Phoenix Coyotes
1998-2003
Alot can be said, or not said, for the Coyotes original branding after the move, but when they got in on the third jersey game they truly proved that a new look was needed. Complete with mesas, cacti, Hopi moon, and well just about everything else you don't associate with hockey. If the fact that the entire bottom of the jerseys displays this imagery wasn't enough for you then you're in luck... it's repeated on the sleeves. (In 2004 the team completely changed their appearance...)


4. Los Angeles Kings
1995-1996
Dubbed the "Burger King" style, the only good things about these were the fact that they were only used for one season. It was if Los Angeles decided they wanted to play in disguise (considering they only won 24 games it's not surprising)... At the time they were black and silver with no purple in sight...let alone a king logo. These would have been great had the Kings played in say Austria at the time, but alas that was not the case. I can only assume that a game worn Gretzky version of these is something of a holy grail for collectors, cause god knows I can't see anyone wearing a store bought one.


3. Tampa Bay Lightning
1996-1998
Oddly enough these didn't come out in 1995, it seems like the Lightning felt like they were missing out on the fun and introduced these as a third jersey in 1996. Let's see here..we've got an Atari 2600 graphics style version of a wave and the ocean with some rain (two tone rain that is) and then some crazy lightning shooting into the players gloves from the shoulders. I think. So, at least we get the message. Sort of. Oh wait, the logo with the words Tampa Bay Lightning with a lightning bolt coming out of a cloud explains it. I'm not gonna even touch the font...


2. New York Islanders
1995-1998
Yes, you knew these were coming, and most of us already know the story about them. Amazingly they lasted three whole seasons before an apology card was sent to all of the fans and the original jersey style returned. For the 1995-96 season they actually used the fisherman logo (going an awesome 22-50-10) before making a compromise and at least returning to the Islanders traditional logo for part of the 1996-97 season and permanently in the 1997-98 season. Whatever excuse or reason they had for this, and whatever they paid someone to do what amount of research as to what would be a good idea...they were wrong. (The original Isles logo was created in just three days...)


1. Anaheim Mighty Ducks
1995-1996
Perhaps the most embarassing jersey ever worn by a professional sports team in modern history in North America (and quite possible the other continents and Antarctica). A disgrace to the NHL, the sport of hockey, the players, CCM, ducks, and just about anything and everyone besides then owners Disney. The fact that every Mighty Duck jersey isn't on this list is because this one eclipses the others so completely. Can you even imagine if they had won the Stanley Cup wearing these things? I can honestly say that I don't think we will ever see anything that makes so much a mockery of such a great sport ever again. Thank goodness. (By the way the jersey pictured is for sale for $2,250.)

Honorable mention goes to:

New York Islanders
2002-2006
Just...no.

Vancouver Canucks
2001-2006
The forementioned Canucks second attempt at a fabric gradient...and the addition of yet another jersey style they would not keep very long. At least it was an alternate...ok I beat up enough on the poor Canucks.

Buffalo Sabres
2000-2006
These aren't so much awful as they are just plain wrong. If everyone is crying out for a return to blue and yellow and the old jerseys, why would you go and bring in yet another jersey furthering itself from what the fans want. The word Buffalo on the front is...well you get the picture. Only the advent of Mr. Buffaslug brings them into perspective...