Ranking the 10 Best NHL Alternate Jerseys for the 2025-26 Season
By now, we've seen or will very soon see all of the alternate jerseys NHL teams have busted out for this season. Some of them are brand new this year; others are classics from the past; some are for special events only; and they're all at varying levels of great or worthy of discussion.
With teams making sure to embrace alternate looks to both do their bit of fan service and make a few extra bucks, we get to judge which ones we like most.
From throwbacks to completely new designs, we're selecting our 10 favorite designs and calling them the best. Are you going to agree with the whole list? Highly doubtful, but that's what makes us eager to hear from you about it just the same.
If there's one that you like a lot and it's not in our top 10? Sorry about that...kind of.
10. San Jose Sharks Anniversary Throwback
1 of 10
The competition for the No. 10 spot in our rankings was genuinely ferocious, what with the Florida Panthers and New York Rangers Winter Classic jerseys, the Tampa Bay Lightning's Stadium Series jersey, and the assortment of other alternates that are out there, but the Sharks dusting off a classic from the height of Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau's best years gets the nod.
To celebrate 35 years in the NHL, the Sharks broke out their (then) road jerseys from 1998-2007. The classic Sharks logo, the swoops of gray with teal and black, made it a modernized look at the time.
Now? It's a classic, and getting to see Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith speed around the rink in them couldn't stop us from thinking about the days of Jumbo and Marleau. It's a look that's very much a product of its era, and that's what makes it unique: it's never been mimicked by another team. It was deeply and uniquely one that belonged to the Sharks.
9. Minnesota Wild Original Throwback
2 of 10
We know Minnesota fans go wild for their team's North Stars-like alternates, and we do like them as well, but now with the team in its 25th anniversary season and having brought back their inaugural home white jerseys? It reminded us of how good they used to look back then and do again now when they're wearing them.
The Wild's throwbacks, particularly because it's the white jersey, help the team colors stand out boldly. The logo is as unique as it is divisive, but the green, red, and gold pop on the white jersey. The sleeves are old school in their own way, and the former Wild alternate shoulder logo reappearing after all these years put a smile on our face.
Now with Quinn Hughes, Matt Boldy, and Jesper Wallstedt wearing these beauties, the days of Manny Fernandez, Brad Bombardir, and Wes Walz don't feel so far gone now (even though they totally are).
8. Los Angeles Kings Alternate
3 of 10
We're suckers for designs in alternate jerseys that hearken back to the past, and the Los Angeles Kings bringing out a modernized version of the "crown royal" design, but in silver and black showed us that you can make the old new again and make it look good.
The simplicity of the Kings' crown makes it a strong crest for a hockey sweater. There's no mistaking who they are because who else would be sporting a crown other than royalty? The black jersey with the glittering silver sleeve stripes only adds to that.
Had the Kings gone with a straight purple-and-gold throwback as an alternate, it would've made everyone lose their minds in a positive way, but L.A. has been dedicated to holding firm to its silver, black, and white palette, and if it's going to look like this? Yeah, it's a good idea.
What makes it a little extra fun is the font used for numbers and letters for names. It's not the kind of standard style you see around the NHL and it's something that's all their own and stands out. Little things like that help make this a great jersey.
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7. New York Rangers Centennial Jersey
4 of 10
Sometimes, a jersey doesn't need to go over the top with crest logos, stripes, or making things too busy. Sometimes, all it takes is to honor history in its own way and that's what the New York Rangers did for their 100th anniversary.
The jersey is a straight throwback to their first season, 1926-1927, only it's made with modern material, and have the players' names on the back. When other sports ancient throwbacks always look like something exactly from that era, hockey jerseys tend to be the opposite and the Rangers' centennial jersey is a perfect example.
What really makes this jersey outstanding is the baby blue color. Even though the Rangers use royal blue these days, and have for the better part of 90 years, dialing it back accurately with the light blue makes this a virtually perfect look.
The off-white color for the letters and numbers and stripes allows it to be more old-timey, but for something that's meant to honor the team's history and sell a lot to fans, you couldn't ask for something better.
6. Washington Capitals Alternate
5 of 10
If there was a team that got a necessary jolt from the Reverse Retro jersey program in recent years, it's the Capitals. Those two years of doing something new and creative allowed them to bring back their "screaming eagle" logo from the 1990s and early 2000s and workshop looks for it.
That creativity led them to create a new alternate jersey unveiled this season that again uses the eagle but the body of it looks like something from the 80s and it's awesome. The red jersey with the white shoulder yoke that has a dark blue outline and the giant screaming Capitals eagle on the front gives the team a lot more personality with how they look as opposed to just their players.
The other part of this jersey is that it doesn't make them look like a different team. Sometime alternate jerseys can have that effect, but this one is very much Capitals-like, just it's a fun amalgamation of two past eras of style and it works.
5. Detroit Red Wings Centennial
6 of 10
Being one of three NHL teams celebrating their centennial season of existence meant the Detroit Red Wings also had to come up with something to honor the past.
Where the Rangers threw it all the way back to the beginning, and the Chicago Blackhawks added gold trim to their numbers, the Red Wings took a page out of 2014.
Detroit's centennial jerseys closely resemble their virtually perfect Winter Classic jerseys from 2014. The old-style red-and-white is there, making the winged wheel logo the feature on the front alone (the Winter Classic jersey also had "Detroit" above the logo).
The centennial jersey, however, looks like something they could've worn 100 years ago, with the stripes on the hem and sleeves giving off a sweater effect, and the logo being uniquely designed with the stitching to give a similar appearance.
It's wholly modern and yet still something you'd think Herbie Lewis or Normie Smith would've worn during their first Stanley Cup season in 1936. It's simple and beautiful, and considering that's what their jerseys have always been, it makes a lot of sense.
4. Seattle Kraken Alternate
7 of 10
Sometimes, teams that go for black alternate jerseys manage to take all the fun out of their looks, and it ends up being a new version of bland. The Seattle Kraken, who have one of the most fun color palettes in the league, going to black could have been the same if not done right. Fortunately, they hit it out of the park.
The Kraken opted for a deeper, murkier mystery with their black alternate. The aquamarine gradient stripes on the sleeves, paired with a single red stripe, give it an ominous look. The logo and numbers, outlined in glow-in-the-dark teal and filled in black, make it haunting and striking to look at.
They have done nothing but produce bangers for jerseys from their home and road set to their Winter Classic jersey, and their new black alternate might be the best of them all, and that's saying a lot.
3. Dallas Stars Alternate
8 of 10
Everyone loves throwbacks, but making a throwback meant to look updated can be dicey. However, the Dallas Stars have nailed their alternate jerseys that throw it back to the late 1990s and 2000s.
The star-shaped body design of the jersey, along with the Stars logo from that era, are the featured parts of this one, but the big difference between this jersey, worn by Jake Oettinger and Jason Robertson, as opposed to the one worn by Ed Belfour and Mike Modano back in the day is the current one also makes use of the Stars current color set.
Instead of dark green, black, and gold, this jersey uses their "victory green" and silver and black for the design, and the result looks fresh. You can look at it and recognize it as something the team wore in the past, but also know it's not the same.
The silver-and-white star design around the jersey creates a clear boundary between green and black. Meanwhile, we bring back the old Texas shoulder logo on the new jersey to reinforce it.
2. Carolina Hurricanes-Hartford Whalers Throwback
9 of 10
We know that seeing the Carolina Hurricanes breaking these beauties out can dredge up a lot of bitter feelings about teams relocating and cashing in on legacies they gave up in the process, but when you think about the Hartford Whalers history and the simplistic beauty of this jersey (or any version of the Whalers jersey they break out) the pull of nostalgia is so, so strong.
Seeing Gordie Howe, Pat Verbeek, Ron Francis, and Ray Ferraro in these jerseys back then was so enjoyable, and watching Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Andrei Svechnikov, and Jaccob Slavin do it now is just as fun.
The Whalers' logo is one of the most perfect designs in sports history, and the green, blue, and white color scheme was equally great. We're just going to sit here and deeply sigh about what used to be and still enjoy how great the current Hurricanes stars are, just the same.
Half of you will agree with us about keeping this jersey here, and the other half will be deeply upset about it, but facts are facts. The Whalers jerseys from the 80s and early 90s are perfect hockey jerseys and deserve adulation.
1. Colorado Avalanche-Quebec Nordiques Throwback
10 of 10
We wanted to give credit to newer designs that really nailed it, but sometimes the classics are just so good that we cannot ignore the beauty.
When the Colorado Avalanche decided to wipe out the competition on the ice this year with their threads by bringing back the Quebec Nordiques' baby blue jerseys, we were helpless.
It's one of the greatest jerseys in NHL history, and that it's part of history rather than still regularly worn is deeply unfortunate. From the Nordiques' classic logo to the colors, the simple stripes, and the white fleur-de-lis around the waist, it's an unbeatable jersey.
Watching Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar roar around the ice in it got us thinking back to the days of Joe Sakic and Peter Stastny doing the same at the Colisée de Québec in the 1980s and 1990s.
It's an easy jersey to put No. 1 although it comes with the same pangs of the past that come with seeing the Hurricanes donning the Whalers jerseys each year in that it's a look that once belonged to the franchise that was sacrificed due to relocation. You want to take points off for it, but come on, look at them.
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