2013-14 NHL jersey rankings

Thanks to the fun lockout last season, this is the second time I'm doing this list in 2013! There have been a few uniform changes for this season, mostly for the better. My initial thoughts on most teams' uniform sets are in the old article linked above, and this article focuses mainly on changes for the 2013-14 season. Let's take a looksie.

30. Chicago Blackhawks

Uniforms unchanged from last season. Still as culturally insensitive as ever, but people still gush over them because it's an Original Six team.

29. Anaheim Ducks

Uniforms unchanged from last season. Still too much black for a Southern California team and still too boring of a logo. Luckily the team has officially declared the "Webbed D" crest is the team's primary logo, and the wordmark appearing on their home sweater is only the secondary logo. Makes no difference for this season, but hopefully it's a hint that the vastly superior third jersey will replace the home uni next season. Apparently Anaheim will be wearing a throwback Mighty Ducks jersey for at least one game this year: the more eggplant we see, the better.

28. Columbus Blue Jackets

Uniforms unchanged from last season. There are only a few clubs still using the design relic of the '90s that is the "full sleeve shoulder yoke." It seems only a matter of time before the Blue Jackets' jackets get a facelift.

27. Florida Panthers

The blue third jersey (which I actually liked!) is retired. Still needs a better primary logo, and they still get deducted points for calling themselves "Florida" when they're not the only NHL club in Florida.

26. Winnipeg Jets

Uniforms unchanged from last season. Still as boring as ever. It's only a matter of time until a "throwback" third jersey based on the classic Winnipeg sweater is introduced, and it eventually becomes the primary jersey: just like what happened with the Oilers, Sabres and Islanders.

Thoughts on the new Carolina Hurricanes and Dallas Stars uniforms

Carolina and Dallas both unveiled new uniforms today. My thoughts on each:

Carolina Hurricanes

It's more of a tweak than a rebranding. Both the home and away uniforms have been cleaned up and given a more "classic" look, all the rage these days across the NHL. I like it a lot, but it bears more than a passing resemblance to Hurricanes captain Eric Staal's other team, Canada--with both the white stripes on the red jersey, and the red shoulder yoke on the white jersey, with black piping around the names and numbers.

With that said, they're great. The simplified name and number font is a huge step up from the italicized "NASCAR" font they used before, and I enjoy the red shoulder yoke on the away sweater. My biggest gripe is that in the process of otherwise-smart simplification, the jerseys have lost a bit of character. I particularly miss the square hurricane warning flag pattern around the bottom of the jerseys.

The Hurricanes also announced their existing black third jersey will continue to be worn next season. It's a bummer those jerseys won't be retired, or at least cleaned up like their other jerseys were.

Dallas Stars

This is another "simplified" jersey update. Gone (for the most part) is the drab black of the last two decades, replaced by glorious green--the most under-appreciated color in sports. And luckily, it's not a super dark, almost-black green either like they've worn before; it's green green! It even carries over to a substantial amount of green on the white away jersey.

But of course, they didn't abandon black altogether. I wish instead of black detailing, they had used the gold from their previous uniforms... particularly the bright gold detailing from their time as the Minnesota North Stars. Overall, these are good sweaters but the black detailing detracts from the brightness.

I'm torn on the new logo. On one hand, it's a step up from their last logo. But I still don't think it's great. I don't know if there's any way to make a really great logo out of an unremarkable name like "the Stars."

2013 NHL jersey rankings

I wrote about changes in hockey jerseys this year, but I've never done a full NHL ranking of team sweaters. With a return to clean, classic looks being the new trend in jersey design, the NHL is looking better than ever 2013. This season is the most stagnant in a long time, uniform-wise, so it's the perfect opportunity to start my list. Without further ado:

30. Chicago Blackhawks

Hardcore hockey fans are always partial towards the sweaters of Original Six teams, and many folks in the hockey community point to this jersey in particular as the pinnacle of jersey aesthetics. I think it's absolutely atrocious. It's a boring sweater with no clear color scheme and an even more boring away jersey. But more importantly, it's racist. Defenders of the Blackhawks will say it's not nearly as incendiary as other Native American-named sports teams, like the Cleveland Indians and Washington Redskins. They even say it's "respectful." But how would you feel if there were a team called the Chicago Zulus, with a "respectful" cartoon tribal leader as its primary logo? In the 21st century, it's unacceptable. And unlike some other Native American-named teams, the Blackhawks have an easy way out: they could change the logo without changing the name, and "Blackhawks" could literally refer to birds rather than to an ethnic group of humans.

29. Anaheim Ducks

Chicago racism aside, this is by far the ugliest jersey in hockey and Anaheim knows it. They take every chance they can get to wear their slightly more colorful third jersey, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the third jersey become the new home jersey in a couple years. Even when I went to the Ducks home opener this year, more fans at Honda Center were wearing the third jersey than the home one. The home jersey has no personality, and the boring wordmark is too small to read from far away.
It frustrates me that all three California NHL teams feature predominantly black jerseys. Of all places to not wear black, you'd think it'd be California. The Ducks wear orange as a reference to Orange County where they play, which I'd like to see more of. And with the shoulder patch on their third jersey, they're even beginning to hint at their classic Mighty Ducks look. Perhaps it's a sign of things to come.

2013 in hockey jerseys

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a bit of a jersey enthusiast. Heck, despite all my videogame journalism, four of my five most-read articles of all time are all about jerseys (and the other is about a team logo).

I cannot deny my love for hockey uniforms, and the NHL season starts tomorrow! The new season is the most stagnant in recent memory when it comes to new get-ups. So all we can do now is speculate about the future. For reference, my two go-to websites for everything related to hockey sweaters are Icethetics and the NHL Uniform Database.

Dallas Stars reboot

The most drastic overhaul is coming next season in 2013-14 when the Dallas Stars will redo their entire look. Their current sweaters are unremarkable, a product of the Edgy Black Jerseys fad of the 1990s. But with the revamp, the predominant color will be green--the most underappreciated color in the NHL, only appearing today in the Minnesota Wild's third jersey.