9 Old-School NHL Jerseys We Wish Would Return
The NHL jerseys have significantly improved this season, particularly with the unexpected new designs unveiled after the season began.
What's more fun about some of the new ones is that they're not even new; they're throwbacks made new, and if a team ever wants to get a big win with the fans, it's to turn back the clock with a classic look beloved by everyone. Case in point, the Colorado Avalanche bringing back the Quebec Nordiques blue jerseys from the dead.
If those aren't a sight for sore eyes, nothing else is. That they'll be wearing those in both games against the Carolina Hurricanes this season, while the 'Canes wear the Hartford Whalers throwbacks, makes our nostalgia meters go off the charts.
It also makes us think about how they're wearing the jerseys of the places they moved from, too, but let's focus here, OK?
We love the old jerseys, and there's a reason, aside from cashing in big-time, that teams are bringing them back in droves. From the Sabres' black and red "Goathead" sweaters to the Canucks' black and gold "Flying Skate" jerseys, throwing it back is all the rage, and we demand more.
We've dug through our memories, hauled out our old boxes of hockey cards, and watched a lot of old videos on YouTube to find the throwback jerseys we want to see again. We're not ranking them because they're all beautiful; we're just listing them off because our collective yearning is too much to be contained.
Buffalo Sabres 2006-2010
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It's funny how time works.
When the Buffalo Sabres changed from the black and red "Goathead" logo and jerseys to royal blue and gold, with a new logo, it was chic to hate on it, even though it sold out like mad.
They called the logo the "buffaslug" or even said it looked like Barney Rubble's hair, and the mockery of it, the entire look that echoed around the league was massive. And yet, the season it was introduced, the Sabres won the Presidents' Trophy, and it came a year after they made it to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final.
Now that it's been 15 years since it was shelved and the Sabres have now been mocked the way these jerseys were back then, time has healed those wounds. Those Sabres teams were really good, albeit with bad luck, and opinions have softened on the "slug."
The Sabres are honoring the 2005-2006 team in January, which makes you wonder if they'll do the same next season for the 2006-2007 team that was the best team in the NHL, and with it bring back the "slug" for one more go-round.
Chicago Blackhawks Alternate 1996-2007
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When teams went bonkers for using the color black in their designs in the 90s, the most egregious offenders were teams that didn't even have black as one of their team colors. However, when the Chicago Blackhawks introduced a solid black alternate jersey that basically just took the design of their red and white jerseys and used black instead, it was relatively perfect.
If you can excuse the team's history of legendary sweaters and how red and white with the now significantly past its prime crest was always their look, switching it to black was a radical move. It was akin to messing with perfection, and in a way, it still is. However, if something looks good, it works, and this jersey works.
Chicago's team colors are red, black, and white, and they hadn't had a mostly black jersey since the 1930s, which was surprising. The 'Hawks have done numerous different types of jerseys that are all sort of similar, thanks to their various outdoor game appearances, but when they brought this particular alternate back for the 2014 Stadium Series, it made sense.
Sure, Chicago wasn't very good when they had these jerseys the first time around, but bringing them back now, as they're about to emerge from a rebuild, would help put it over the top.
Dallas Stars 1993-1999
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Even though the Stars have one of the best home and road looks in the NHL with their dedication to green and white with a hint of black and silver, the style they brought with them to Dallas upon leaving Minnesota in 1993 was a lovely one.
The Stars' black and white jerseys from 1993 to 1999 are supremely good, giving them a modern (for the time) style while shedding the iconic North Stars logo. Although that particular logo is one of the best made, the fact that it still belongs to Dallas, despite being a very much a Minnesota thing, is what makes us steer fully away from wanting to see it again.
That's what helps make this particular look stand out for us. The pitch-black sweaters are very good and intimidating in their own way, while the home whites from back then were used as the inspiration for their Reverse Retro jerseys in 2022-2023. Still, there's something about this original look in Dallas that just worked so well, and with their Stanley Cup title from 1999 having happened in these jerseys, we're sure bringing them back would go over great in Big D.
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Florida Panthers 2022-2023 Reverse Retro
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We've been begging since the NHL unveiled the Reverse Retro jerseys for the 2022-2023 season that the Florida Panthers needed to keep theirs somehow, someway.
The Reverse Retro program was designed to bring something fun and unique to all teams. For the most part, teams got into it and tried to have fun with it. However, no one went as hard as the Panthers did that season.
Going hard with baby blue, using the original shoulder secondary logo as the jersey's primary crest, and using the team's primary colors for striping and the Panthers' original style jersey as the style template made this beauty utter perfection. The fans fortunate enough to have bought their own have collectors' items that make them the envy of jersey fans everywhere.
There's no mistaking which team these jerseys represent, as no team in the NHL has dared to push things to this limit. It's such a massive departure from their current home and road set that if they ever made this jersey a full-time alternate, it'd be perfect. A truly alternate design and one borne from a league-wide marketing plan? What more could you want? Bring it back, please!
Los Angeles Kings 1980-1988
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We're fans of the Kings' new black alternate sweater with the silver crown on the front that pays tribute to the team's roots in purple and gold. Still, seeing that jersey makes us wish they committed to an alternate that actual dials it all the way back to that era.
When the Kings wore purple (or Forum Blue if you want to be proper about it) and gold from 1967 to 1988, the so-called "crown royal" sweaters they wore were so, so, so good. The jerseys they rocked from 1980 until 1988 added a bit more with striping and that's something that helped make an already great look even more enjoyable.
If the Kings wanted to bring these style jerseys back as a full-time throwback alternate, we doubt you'd find anyone who'd mind in L.A. or literally anywhere else. We've seen the modern Kings don them in the past for Legends Nights and those occasional one-night-only appearances were not nearly enough.
The Kings are already cleaning up thanks to changing their home and road set to look virtually identical to their silver and black jerseys from the late-80s/early-90s, but bringing back one of these styles be it in purple or gold would be incredible.
New York Rangers "Lady Liberty" Alternate
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Even though we're absolutely geeked about the Rangers' centennial jerseys this season that are basically straight copies of their first jerseys from 1926, we keep getting stuck on wishing they'd bring back their "Lady Liberty" alternates from the late-90s.
The darker blue alternate jerseys were such a huge departure from their home and road jerseys that it was virtually jarring to see. After all, the Rangers are a historic team with a look that's stayed virtually the same since just after World War II. That's a legacy you don't generally mess around with, but the "Lady Liberty" alternates didn't detract from that history; instead, they added to it spectacularly.
These jerseys were an immediate hit, so much so that they added a white version of them for a season (1998-1999) before going back to the navy blue. They even brought back the look twice in two different ways as a Reverse Retro jersey. But an honest-to-goodness throwback would be great to see, adding a little more fun nostalgia to the mix, something the organization has nailed in recent years.
Pittsburgh Penguins 1995-2002
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The Pittsburgh Penguins have had their share of cherished moments throughout their history, but the so-called "RoboPen" from the mid-90s was as divisive as it gets among Pens fans. For all the fans that loved its unique look and style, there were just as many who wished they had gotten lost during travel.
Calling it "unique" somewhat downplays it. The trail effect the stripes had that wrapped around the back of the jersey was unlike anything we've seen on a jersey then or since, and the way the shoulders were designed and the proliferation of gray mixed in with the black and gold was a curious choice, too.
The great thing about time is that often hard opinions soften. Those who once reviled the "RoboPen" look back on it as a cool jersey from a fun era of hockey dominated by Mario Lemieux, Jaromír Jágr, and Ron Francis, among many others. After all, we've seen many more jerseys that look worse since then, and this one has held up through the years with that history attached.
Breaking them out again, even for only a handful of games, would be enough to make even the most ardent haters of the jersey smile.
Tampa Bay Lightning 2021 Reverse Retro
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If you'd forgotten about the Reverse Retro jerseys the Lightning used in 2021 during the Covid season, you'd be forgiven, but upon looking back at them, it makes us wonder why they didn't try to run them back.
For that one season, the Lightning's alternate was done in the style of their original black jerseys, but rather than black, they used the royal blue color they've attached to since 2011. Mind you, it was always part of their color scheme since the beginning in 1992, but it has been played up so much more in recent years. Using it as the base for their Reverse Retro version of their original sweaters was a simple yet great idea.
Sure, it would be easier to just say the Lightning should bring back those original sweaters, and that would be fine, but there's something about making them blue that just works so well. Maybe it's the fact that it's a lighter color and makes everything pop a little more, but whatever it is, we want more of it.
Winnipeg Jets 1990-1996
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What would be a better way to reclaim a great, classic look from the '90s than to go all the way with teams that changed addresses during that decade and changed their identity upon moving, than to have the Winnipeg Jets (current) don the jerseys of the Winnipeg Jets (past, dormant)?
The awkwardness that came with the Atlanta Thrashers moving to Winnipeg and reclaiming the Jets moniker was compounded by the fact that the "old" Jets were residing in Arizona before their move to Utah.
Got that all?
The Coyotes/Jets history is locked away and might return one day if a franchise reemerges in the Phoenix area, but for now, all of that past is just that. If the modern Jets wanted to part ways with their Thrashers history to give to a future Atlanta franchise, we're sure they'd be happy to do it if it meant they could reclaim the past Jets' history as their own and really muddle up the books.
But let's be real, the jerseys the old, former Jets rocked from 1990 to 1996 were elite-tier jerseys. The fantastic logo, the colors, the stripes... everything was incredible and far superseded the team's success on the ice. Bringing these jerseys back from the dead, either the white or blue ones - we're not picky, would be a massive victory so long as you're not from Arizona.
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