The best, worst, and weirdest jerseys every NHL team has ever worn

[TheScorpion]

Hey, folks: I love hockey jerseys and, with the impending release of the "Reverse Retro" series, it's time for me to write about them again!

In this thread, I'll be breaking down the best, worst, and weirdest jerseys that every team has ever worn. Will I get pedantic? Yes.

I hope you enjoy this. Please feel free to comment on my choices and share what you would change about my picks!

Anaheim Ducks

Best:



Worn 1995 to 2006

It's too bad that the Ducks didn't win their Cup in these jerseys. They're iconic for good reason. I love the angled diagonal stripe... it's not too busy, but it's bold. The logo is silly, but it's not distractingly bad or out-of-place. The colour scheme is distinctive. In my opinion, the white jersey is cleaner than the purple one (and it's the one Paul Kariya was wearing when he scored the "off the floor/on the board" goal).

Worst:



Worn 2015 to 2017; 2019 to present

These suck. I hate orange as part of the Ducks' colour scheme, and it's particularly obnoxious on this uniform. With its bland striping pattern and ugly number font, this jersey feels like a relic from 2006 — and not in a good way. Everything about it is terrible.

Weirdest:



Worn 2018 to 2019

This jersey has seven colours on it. It's such a weird mish-mash of elements from the Ducks' jerseys over the years:

- For some reason, this uniform is primarily black, despite it clearly being based on the Mighty Ducks' old home uniform, which was purple. Why not just make this one purple too?
- The sticks in the main logo are now orange, for some reason, despite them never being orange before and orange not appearing anywhere else on the jersey
- The waist stripe is at a significantly different (and more boring) angle than before
- The Ducks' gold primary logo is on the shoulders, despite gold not appearing anywhere else on the jersey
- The jersey has an ugly green shoulder yoke that has never appeared on any Ducks jersey before (it kind of resembles the shoulders on the little-seen Mighty Ducks fourth jersey from 1997)

Bizarre. Thankfully, the Ducks put this thing out to pasture after just one season, replacing it with... the orange jersey seen in the "worst" section. Great. Combined with their very bad home and away jerseys, the Ducks probably have the worst jersey kit in the league.

It doesn't have to be this way...



So good.

[TheScorpion]

Arizona Coyotes

Best:



Worn 1997 to 2003

Hopefully Arizona brings these back soon. The Kachina jerseys are so great, incorporating some of the NHL's least-used colours all together into designs that are way more cohesive than they have any right to be. The black Kachina is fantastic, and I love how it adds beige into the mix, but I think the logo stands out better against the white background. I also love the rounded number font.

Worst:



Worn 2007 to 2015

Yawwwwwn. These are so boring. The Coyotes inexplicably removed the waist stripe from the previous version of this design when they moved over to Reebok Edge, and the result is a uniform that looks so incomplete that it could masquerade as a practice jersey. But the Coyotes also had their best season ever in this jersey, losing to the Stanley Cup champion L.A. Kings in the 2012 West final. So, if the Flames ever want to make it back to the Cup final, I guess they need to ditch the yellow and black and just run with a Detroit Red Wings-style two-tone jersey. It worked for the Coyotes.

Weirdest:



Worn 1998 to 2003

This isn't exactly an unexpected choice... but it's the right one. Not many NHL jerseys come adorned with a purple crescent moon and a field of cacti. Also, I just realized that the crest is just a decapitated version of the Kachina coyote, which is a little disturbing.

I think it's pretty likely that the Coyotes' "reverse retro" jersey is a purple version of this one.

[TheScorpion]

Boston Bruins

Best:



Worn 1981 to 1995

These are slightly different from the jerseys Bobby Orr skated in as a Bruin but, in my opinion, they're better. I'm not a huge fan of shoulder yokes, and I think the numerical font looks sharper on these ones. Even better, this jersey boasts one of the greatest shoulder patches in NHL history.

Worst:



Worn 1940 to 1944

Yeah, these are pretty old, but they don't get a pass. The Bruins just look weird in yellow, and script logos don't belong on hockey jerseys! These pre-date the spoked "B" and it's clear that, at this point, the Bruins were still very much in an experimental phase with their uniforms. Their next effort wasn't much better...

Weirdest:



Worn 1948 to 1949

I'm 90% sure that logo was drawn by an 11-year-old. But, believe it or not, that is the first spoked "B" logo ever worn by the Bruins. (Thankfully, it wasn't their final revision). This uniform was worn in commemoration of the Bruins' 25th anniversary and, if you look closely, you can see the numbers "24" and "49" on the spokes of the logo.

Also, what's going on with those socks? My goodness. I think there are more stripes there than there are Bruins Stanley Cups.

[AC]

These are definitely the worst Bruins jerseys IMO:

[TheScorpion]

They're close, but at least the striping is kinda cool. Looks like the fur of a grizzly.

[btimbit]

All hail Boston meth bear

[Huntingwhale]

I actually think the Ducks' "weirdest" one is one of their best. Maybe it's the nostalgia but I absolutely love that Might Ducks logo. I wish they kept that logo and name. I'd probably hate them a little less. There was actually a time I didn't hate the Ducks (the Selanne/Kariya era and their '03 run). Their orange one makes me so angry since that reminds me of that stupid HC curse.

Great writeups and looking forward to seeing this thread progress. Ultimately can't wait to see what is probably the worst/weirdest jersey of all; the musical STL jersey

[MrMike]

Anaheim worst

[Funkhouser]

A few notes:
-agree on the best ducks jersey
-Wild Wing is clearly their worst and weirdest
-I like the introduction of orange as a colour, but it has been poorly executed
-I prefer the simple Coyotes jersey...the colour is great, the logo is simple. I find it a clean design. I think their current threads are their worst...the nonsensical black bands are as logical as the Flames’ stripes to nowhere
-Meth Bear is definitely the worst Bruins

Great thread, thank you!

[MrMike]

Originally Posted by Funkhouser

A few notes:
-agree on the best ducks jersey
-Wild Wing is clearly their worst and weirdest
-I prefer the simple Coyotes jersey...the colour is great, the logo is simple. I find it a clean design. I think their current threads are their worst...the nonsensical black bands are as logical as the Flames’ stripes to nowhere
-Meth Bear is definitely the worst Bruins

Great thread, thank you!

The black bands are my favourite part. I think it really makes them look sharp.

[OutOfTheCube]

I got dis for the Sabres already:

Best: original white
Worst: slug
Weirdest: two tone third

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by MrMike

Anaheim worst

You misspelled "Best"

[the_only_turek_fan]

I used to hate the Mighty Ducks concept. I thought a Disney jersey was not worthy of being in the NHL. This was when I was a kid.

Now as a 37 year old, I would love to see the Disney jersey back.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Yeah, Wild Wing falls into "so bad it's good" territory. But it is clearly their weirdest jersey. I'm not sure how anyone could argue that.

[undercoverbrother]

Thread

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Yeah, Wild Wing falls into "so bad it's good" territory. But it is clearly their weirdest jersey. I'm not sure how anyone could argue that.

It was close to being my pick, for sure.

I'll have Buffalo, Calgary, Carolina, and Chicago up at some point today.

[Mattman]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Worst:

Respectfully disagree with the "Worst" jersey for the Coyotes. It may be a bland or boring jersey, but then you would have to make that argument for Detroit, Tampa, and Toronto. It's the years of staring at a blue Alberta flag, and the eye-popping Canadian flag on the Flames jersey's that made me jealous of simple jerseys like this.

Also having the same colour pants and socks makes those jerseys stand out as one of the best uniforms the Coyotes have ever had.

Spoiler!

In my opinion, these are far better than their current jerseys with those terrible black/red/white sleeves.

[TheScorpion]

I like those sleeves!

[Funkhouser]

Originally Posted by Mattman

Respectfully disagree with the "Worst" jersey for the Coyotes. It may be a bland or boring jersey, but then you would have to make that argument for Detroit, Tampa, and Toronto. It's the years of staring at a blue Alberta flag, and the eye-popping Canadian flag on the Flames jersey's that made me jealous of simple jerseys like this.

Also having the same colour pants and socks makes those jerseys stand out as one of the best uniforms the Coyotes have ever had.

Spoiler!

In my opinion, these are far better than their current jerseys with those terrible black/red/white sleeves.

100% agree
Their simplicity makes them great, much like the current Lightning, Maple Leafs, and Red Wings

As for the current dark sleeves, they make me want to burn my eyes out...

[TheScorpion]

Buffalo Sabres

Best:



Worn 1983 to 1996

I really do love that the Sabres have reinstated a variation of these. Buffalo just looks right in the blue and gold. I do like the small accoutrements that the Sabres have included in the logo on their new design. But, when it comes down to it, I kind of like that this old jersey has a gold collar and the shoulder patches. I think the Sabres' new design looks a little bit plain up top.

Worst:



Worn 2013 to 2015

I'm pretty sure Reebok had basically given up by this point in their jersey contract with the league. This Sabres uniform is such a strange mish-mash of different elements and I'm amazed it made it past the conceptual stage. What are those weird grey vertical stripes on the back of the jersey? Why is there an enclave of yellow on the collar? Why are the front and the back of the jerseys two different colours, vaguely resembling an apron? Why did the Sabres decide to reveal this jersey by having Steve Ott pose for some blurry pictures in a random hallway?



Why, why, why, why.

I want one.

Weirdest:



Worn 2006 to 2010

This was such a weird departure from everything else the Sabres had ever done in the past. What is going on with those splotches on the underarms? Who thought it was a good idea to put numbers on the the chest?

The silver stripes coming down the front of the jersey kind of create the effect of a tank-top. And the logo... my god, the logo. It's a San Diego Chargers-brand snail.

I actually own one of these. It's at North Star Jerseys right now getting Thomas Vanek's name on the back. It's a perfectly strange jersey for a perfectly strange player.