Joe Yerdon October 30, 2024 7 NHL Alternate Jerseys from the Past We Want to Return
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Anze Kopitar in 2016 Andrew D. Bernstein
Nothing gets our NHL fandom kicked up like teams showing off new alternate jerseys. We get to be fashion critics and flex our fan muscles regarding what we think they should and should not look like.
Too often, however, alternate jerseys are but a fleeting thing. A brief bump in time while teams do their part to sell a few more jerseys and stoke the fires of nostalgia or plant the seeds for future nostalgia.
But that’s the thing about thinking back on the past and nostalgic things—we usually want to bring back what we used to have. That’s the case we’re going to make for a handful of teams whose alternate jerseys left a mark on our brains and make us yearn for the past.
We’re picking out alternate jerseys from the past we would love to see teams bring back. Sure, we could pick out past home and road jersey combos and try to pass them off as alternates and put out the call to bring them back, but that’s too easy!
Of course, some alternates became part of the home or road set after a while, but we respect their roots as the alternate that fans clamored so much to bring them on full-time. We’ve only picked out a few, and if there are others you want to shout out as well, let us hear it in the comments.
New York Rangers “Statue of Liberty”
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Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky in 1999 Brian Winkler/Getty Images
When you have an “Original Six” team, coming up with an original alternate jersey can be controversial immediately. For the New York Rangers, they hit it out of the park instantly in 1996-1997 when they introduced the so-called “Lady Liberty” alts.
There’s nothing more iconic in New York City than the Statue of Liberty, and seeing the head of the statue adorning the crest of the jersey immediately struck a chord with everyone. The dark blue jersey with red, white and silver striping just looked great, and adding it to the mix with their iconic home white and road blue shirts made it the epitome of what it meant to be an alternate jersey.
The look got so popular that they introduced a white version of it years later, but it was the dark blue version everyone loved and still does.
The Rangers made two “Reverse Retro” versions of this jersey, and while they did their best to encapsulate the spirit, nothing compared to the original.
When the Minnesota Wild Went Red
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Marian Gaborik in 2008 Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images
We’ve been pretty psyched seeing the Minnesota Wild embrace Minnesota’s NHL recent history by adopting the old Minnesota North Stars colors for their “Reverse Retro” jerseys and current alternates.
But when the Wild started play in 2000, green dominated their look since, you know, they’re in the wilderness and all that. But in 2003, they added a red alternate jersey that had a circular version of the Wild logo on the front and did it ever pop.
Going from green to red was such a stark change for the better that the team switched it from being their alternate jersey to their regular home jersey in 2007. Mind you, there was absolutely nothing at all wrong with their original home and road set at all, it’s just that the red jersey was just that good. But when the NHL went from Reebok to Adidas as uniform supplier, the red jersey went away and has yet to return.
If the Wild ever decide to go back to their own history instead of the North Stars’ history, bringing back this iron range red beauty would be a great call.
Buffalo Sabres 40th Anniversary Jersey
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Thomas Vanek in 2010 Bill Wippert/NHLI via Getty Images
Sometimes when teams introduce alternate jerseys, they’re meant to be there for a good time and not a long time, and sometimes that good time is an anniversary season.
In 2010 when the Buffalo Sabres celebrated their 40th anniversary of being in the NHL, they broke out an alternate jersey that paid homage to the city’s pro hockey history when the Buffalo Bisons played in the AHL.
At the time, the team’s home and road set brought back the original logo but in navy blue and dark gold, so the alternate made use of the classic royal blue and gold with the “Buffalo” script and the Sabres logo. The name plate was differently colored, and the numbers were made of felt and had stylish stitching. It looked like and acted like an old-time hockey jersey. It was great.
As great as it was, it didn’t stick around long (just two seasons) before it was packed away for good. But 40th anniversary or not, it’s a brilliant looking jersey and one worthy of resurrection as an alternate. That said, the Sabres might have the best current alternate jersey in the NHL with their black and red “goathead” throwback jersey from the 1990s.
Los Angeles Kings Purple and Gold Throwbacks
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Drew Doughty in 2016 Andrew D. Bernstein/NHLI via Getty Images
There is nothing we clamor for more around here jersey-wise than the Los Angeles Kings bringing back their original “Forum blue and gold” jerseys from their first couple decades in the NHL.
While the first iteration of these jerseys were not alternates, they were brought back on occasion for “Legends Nights” after 2010 through 2017 which puts them in a bit of a gray area for consideration. But since we make the rules, we’re calling these alternates, and who in the world is going to argue with us about bringing these back (aside from you more pedantic folks out there, of course)?
Whether it’s the gold jerseys we’re showing off to you now, or the purple ones they wore back from 2010-2014, we’re not picky.
Jonathan Quick in 2013 Harry How/Getty Images
If the Kings broke one of those out as a standard alternate jersey to go with their new silver and black set that’s a modernized version of their 90s jerseys, it’ll be all the proof we need that people knew how to design jerseys back in the day.
Toronto Maple Leafs Throwback
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Mats Sundin in 2003 Bruce Bennett Studios via Getty Images Studios/Getty Images
If it seems like the Toronto Maple Leafs have been trying really hard to do something new and unique with their jerseys over the past few years, you’re not wrong. Their efforts with the “Reverse Retro” program as well as their current black alternate in which they teamed up with Justin Bieber to design prove that they’re trying to find ways to improve upon a perfect, iconic look.
Funny thing is, they’ve already had a perfect look, and all it took for them to properly pay homage to their past was to move out of Maple Leaf Gardens in 1999. During the 1998-1999 season, the Leafs wore a vintage-style throwback to honor the nearly 70 years they played in the Gardens.
Those jerseys came back in 2000, stayed as their alternate jersey until 2007 and were re-worked into a similar style from 2008 through 2011. The Leafs using a vintage look just always looks right, and it often looks better than what they’re usually sporting, and those jerseys are already outstanding.
The Leafs have too much history to not make use of it to create a great alternate jersey, and busting out something they already nailed down 20 years ago would be perfect.
Colorado Avalanche 2001-2007 Alternate
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Joe Sakic in 2006 Brian Bahr/Getty Images
This choice is a bit controversial for Avalanche fans. When Colorado broke out these maroon alternatives in 2001, they seemed to interfere with their already outstanding home and road set they’d been wearing since the team started playing in Denver in 1995.
The Avalanche logo was moved to the shoulders and spelling out “Colorado” diagonally across the front in white, at that time, was a bit derivative because it’s a style the New York Rangers have had for decades, and the Pittsburgh Penguins recently used for their own alternate jersey from 1992 through 1997. Fans loved the Avs logo, and they’d just come off winning their second Stanley Cup. Why mess with the best, right?
But the look of this jersey is really good, and the style made it a true alternative to their instantly classic look. While they shelved this look in 2007, they introduced a light blue version of this alternate from 2009 through 2015 that also worked really well.
Gabriel Landeskog in 2014 Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images
While the blue is cool and the maroon shoulder yoke adds a nice touch, the original maroon style just looks and feels right. Either way, I guess we’re fans of diagonally spelling a location’s name.
Bring Back the New York Islanders’ “Fisherman”
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Zigmund Palffy in 1995 Graig Abel/Getty Images
We’re bending our own rules a little bit here so we can give a shout out for the New York Islanders’ most divisive creation, the “Fisherman” jersey.
Unlike the other jerseys we’ve shown off here, this was not an alternate jersey for the Isles. Their home and road set from 1995 to 1997 featured white and dark blue sweaters with a new, bold logo and a new concoction of colors.
Out went the classic blue and orange, and in came gray and aquamarine and navy blue along with a logo that had a bearded fisherman in a rain slicker guarding a net with what looked like a nod to AquaFresh toothpaste underneath the “Islanders” word mark.
The new look was reviled on Long Island and around the NHL world, but like all things with time, it’s earned a cult following and went from being ironically cool to sort of actually cool now. It’s so cool that the Islanders’ current AHL affiliate in Bridgeport, Connecticut, adopted the logo with current Islanders colors as their new look.
Listen, this jersey was a mess at the time, but in its own bizarre way it was ahead of its time. We love it now because it was reviled and if it was going to be brought back at all, doing so as a fun-time alternate to their supremely classic current set would be enjoyable.
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