The Best and Worst NHL Uniforms

Some looks remain classic on the ice. But many need upgrades.

The Best and Worst NHL Uniforms

Boston Bruins — Who isn't stoked to wear the spoked B?

For our money, the NHL has the best uniforms in pro sports. OK. There. We said it.

Let’s start with stability, kids. From top to bottom, the basic hockey look has changed very little since helmets became mandatory four decades ago. Teams have a home uni, a road uni, and in most cases, an alternate model. That’s it. You don’t see many of those needless, cockamamie rebrands designed to pad the bottom line and take up closet space.

Then there are the Original Six teams, bless 'em. They scream style and tradition. Every one of 'em. As you’ll soon discover, the Original Expansion Six aren’t bad, either. By our count, at least nine of them rank among the dozen best unis in the league overall.

And another thing: In pucks, they’re called sweaters, not jerseys. Is that cool or what?

Here’s where every team set ranks, from worst to first.

31. Anaheim Ducks

Ryan Getzlaf — Back to the drawing board.

Founded: 1993

Stanley Cups: 1 (2007)

Top sweater seller: Ryan Getzlaf

31. Anaheim Ducks

Bottom line: The franchise lost its identity when Disney sold it a decade ago. Gone was that popular duck mask logo and lovely teal sweater, neither of which has been sufficiently replaced since then.

Orange has become more prominent in recent years — for Orange County, get it? But it doesn’t mesh with the rather unimaginative gold "D" logo.

The original model returned with orange hockey sticks on the logo in the 25th anniversary season. Why not give the fans what they want and bring it back permanently?

30. Philadelphia Flyers

Claude Giroux — You can do better, Philly.

Founded: 1967

Stanley Cups: 2 (1974, 1975)

Top seller: Claude Giroux

30. Philadelphia Flyers

Bottom line: Just as the "Broad Street Bullies" once dragged the game into the dark ages, the "Flyboys' have given hockey fashion a black eye.

In 2010, the Flyers became the first team to put incredibly tacky black nameplates on the backs of their white sweaters.

Wait, it gets three times worse. They also will wear ugly orange nameplates on their black sweaters and yucky white identifiers on their orange ones this season.

Not even their classic logo can overcome this bit of thuggery.

29. Colorado Avalanche

Nathan MacKinnon — Room for improvement.

Founded: 1972 (Quebec Nordiques, renamed as Avalanche in 1995)

Stanley Cups: 2 (1996, 2001)

Top seller: Nathan MacKinnon

29. Colorado Avalanche

Cale Makar, Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon, Nazem Kadri — Not everyone's a fan of the Avs' threads.

Bottom line: The burgundy-and-blue combo may be different, but it’s a tad dark for our taste. The logo doesn’t do it any favors, either.

In the 2019-20 season, the old Colorado Rockies identifier will return with the navy alternate after a one-year hiatus.

It’s a slight upgrade over the regular brand, which resembles frozen custard wrapped around the side of an A-frame.

28. Columbus Blue Jackets

Founded: 2000

Stanley Cups: 0

Top seller: The last free agent out the door

28. Columbus Blue Jackets

Bottom line: The nickname is a link to Union Army heritage, so the Blue Jackets are pretty much stuck with the overused navy-and-red combination. (It comes as no surprise that the white sweater packs more energy.)

The logo needs to come up big here, except the red ribbon (representing the Ohio flag) wrapped around the state capital star doesn’t quicken many pulses.

Some variation of the cannon logo that appears on the alternate crest might be worth a try.

27. Dallas Stars

Tyler Seguin — What was wrong with the original logo?

Founded: 1967

Stanley Cups: 1 (1999)

Best seller: Tyler Seguin

27. Dallas Stars

Bottom line: When the league switched to the adidas brand after the 2016-17 season, it was the ideal time for league members to enhance their brands.

In this case, even a move back to the Stars' original logo would have been a half-step forward.

Instead, we got a whole lot of nothing. Not even a stinking alternate. Sad.

26. Florida Panthers

Founded: 1993

Stanley Cups: 0

Top seller: Aleksander Barkov

26. Florida Panthers

Bottom line: Their sweaters look like soccer jerseys, with the oversized red (home) and white (road) stripes across the front and triangular shield in the center.

What to do here? How about move to a real hockey town with a large fan base? Sorry.

Or they could return to the original red-navy-gold design with the cool cat logo, the one that was worn in the 1990s, when the team had its only real success.

25. New Jersey Devils

Taylor Hall — A little imagination can go a long way.

Founded: 1974

Stanley Cups: 3 (1995, 2000, 2003)

Top seller: Taylor Hall

25. New Jersey Devils

Bottom line: Like too many pro sports teams, this one has fallen victim to the black plague. I prefer the original dark green with red, the primary colors of its first 10 seasons.

If anything is overdue for a change, it’s the logo that has been around since the first puck drop.

Devils fun fact: The nickname comes from the Jersey Devil, a mythical creature that lived in the New Jersey woods.

24. Nashville Predators

Founded: 1998

Stanley Cups: 0

Best seller: Pekka Rinne

24. Nashville Predators

Pekka Rinnew — Are you a fan of these duds?

Bottom line: Did you know that Predator logo actually gets one-sixteenth of an inch longer in the tooth every season?

OK, we made that up. But really, the same insignia has been around for all 21 years of the team's existence.

If the organization is gonna make us eat that mustard color, the least it can do is give us a snazzy new logo.

23. Carolina Hurricanes

Founded: 1972

Stanley Cups: 1 (2006)

Best seller: Sebastian Aho

23. Carolina Hurricanes

Jake Gardiner and Sebastian Aho — Thumbs up or thumbs down?

Bottom line: So who came up with not one, not two but three bad logos, one for each sweater? Had to be another bunch of jerks.

Fact is, more than two decades after the franchise moved from Hartford, the vintage Whalers look remains the best in its history.

A solution: Bring back the nickname and those wonderful green sweaters. That’s right — the Carolina Whale.

Bet you didn’t know that whales have been spotted off the North Carolina coast, did you?

22. Washington Capitals

Founded: 1974

Stanley Cups: 1 (2018)

Best seller: Alex Ovechkin

22. Washington Capitals

Bottom line: This model was overdue for a do-over, but the higher-ups fanned on an attempt after the 2017-18 season.

Save for some collar and piping alterations, the Capitals' new adidas duds look a lot like their old Reebok ones. Which is to say, meh.

Can we get some creativity here, people?

21. Tampa Bay Lightning

Founded: 1992

Stanley Cups: 1 (2004)

Top seller: Steven Stamkos

21. Tampa Bay Lightning

Bottom line: The alternate black model is unique in that white is nowhere to be found on it. There’s also no city or state identifier on any of the three versions.

The simple look is a rip-off of the Detroit Red Wings' model, except Tampa isn’t Hockeytown exactly. And a lightning bolt isn’t the famous winged wheel, either.

The design is fine. It’s the arrogance we can do without.

20. Ottawa Senators

Craig Anderson — Aesthetics matter — even on the ice.

Founded: 1992

Stanley Cups: 0

Best seller: Craig Anderson

20. Ottawa Senators

Bottom line: The organization blew an opportunity for some needed positive pub when it failed to bring back that wickedly good Roman emperor/winged shield logo, which was around for its first 15 seasons.

Sure beats the heck out of the big, fat zero across the front of the sweaters on the Senators' alternate, a needless reminder of the number of Stanley Cups the team has won in its long-and-inglorious history.

What? That’s really the letter "O" for Ottawa? Oh, never mind then.

19. New York Islanders

Mathew Barzal — The better you look, the better you play. At least in theory.

Founded: 1972

Stanley Cups: 4 (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983)

Top seller: Mathew Barzal

19. New York Islanders

Mathew Barzal, Jordan Eberle, Anders Lee — Islanders' away uniform.

Bottom line: The more this organization tinkers with its orange and navy design, the closer it gets to Oilers East.

We're just grateful that god-awful fisherman logo hasn’t reared its ugly head again.

Bring it back, and we'll downgrade this team faster than you can shout "Potvin sucks!"

18. Buffalo Sabres

Founded: 1970

Stanley Cups: 0

Top seller: Jack Eichel

18. Buffalo Sabres

Bottom line: The franchise will celebrate 50 years of frustration in the 2019-20 season. So we should expect a bold, new alternate, right? No.

What we’ll get are gold-trimmed whites that are as blah as blah can be. The good news is, the classic royal blues will replace the navies in the 2020-21 season.

As they often say in B-Lo, wait 'til next year!

17. Minnesota Wild

Founded: 2000

Stanley Cups: 0

Best seller: Zach Parise

17. Minnesota Wild

Bottom line: The home wintergreens have grown on us a bit. The road whites, not so much.

Now about that emblem. Is it supposed to be the Minnesota hinterland? Or a bear with a large bump on its head?

If the franchise had been named the Northern Lights like it should have been, that big, bold, beautiful North Star would still be with us. And we wouldn’t have this problem.

16. Vancouver Canucks

Founded: 1945 (PCHL), 1970 (NHL expansion)

Stanley Cups: 0

Best seller: Elias Pettersson

16. Vancouver Canucks

Bottom line: We like orca whales. We really do. Just not the toothy one that appears on these otherwise likable sweaters.

Give us the diagonal flying skate that was worn in the 1985-97 seasons. You know, the one that has Pavel Bure written all over it.

Heck, we'll even settle for the original stick-in-rink emblem that appears in the alternate version.

Just not that goofy orca whale, please?

15. Arizona Coyotes

Clayton Keller and Brad Richardson — Make the black Kachina sweaters the primary home look.

Founded: 1972

Stanley Cups: 0

Best seller: Clayton Keller

15. Arizona Coyotes

Bottom line: The organization has used words like "cool" and "classic" and "iconic" to describe its black Kachina sweaters. Fine. Swell.

But if they’re that good — no disagreement here — then why can they be seen only at Saturday home games with rare exceptions? Pure and simple, they should replace the howling coyote version as the primary homie.

After the team blew a playoff berth in the 2018-19 season, we'll call it a choking dog until further notice.

14. Winnipeg Jets

Founded: 1999

Stanley Cups: 0

Best seller: Dustin Byfuglien

14. Winnipeg Jets

Bottom line: The organization unveiled its first alternate in the 2018-19 season in what was supposed to be a tribute to their WHA predecessors. Truth is, we’ve seen better unis in peewee leagues.

That doesn’t diminish the well-done regulars, though, which feature a sharp logo patterned after the Royal Canadian Air Force insignia.

13. Calgary Flames

Founded: 1972

Stanley Cups: 1 (1989)

Top seller: Johnny Gaudreau

13. Calgary Flames

Former Flames star Jarome Iginla in Calgary's home uni.

Bottom line: The 2018-19 home season marked the return of the red/gold/flaming white "C" model. Not a minute too soon, either.

It remains the best in franchise history all these years later. Now it’s time to make it the go-to model and reduce the red/gold/black version to a lesser role.

Long live Lanny McDonald!

12. St. Louis Blues

Jordan Binnington — It's good to be champs.

Founded: 1967

Stanley Cups: 1 (2019)

Top seller: Jordan Binnington

12. St. Louis Blues

Bottom line: Recent designs have featured more black, less gold with mixed results.

It’s impossible not to like the insertion of the Winter Classic light blues into the Saturday home lineup, though.

Bet they’ll look even better with a Stanley Cup banner above them.

11. Vegas Knights

Founded: 2017

Stanley Cups: 0

Top seller: Marc-Andre Fleury

11. Vegas Knights

Brayden McNabb — The Knights' road uniform.

Bottom line: The gold-black-steel gray design and insignia are well-done.

But whoever is responsible for the red stripe on each sleeve should be demoted to Zamboni driver immediately.

It has all the subtlety of a Ryan Reeves punch to the face. Please remove it. Thank you. Have a nice day.

10. Los Angeles Kings

Drew Doughty — Long live the purple and gold.

Founded: 1967

Stanley Cups: 2 (2012, 2014)

Top seller: Drew Doughty

10. Los Angeles Kings

Jonathan Quick — The Kings' road uniform.

Bottom line: The silver home sweater that made its debut in the 2018-19 season is a keeper.

But what happened to purple and golden yellow, the colors of royalty that were team staples as recently as the double aughts? They would make for an awesome third option.

Now, what do you say?

9. Edmonton Oilers

Founded: 1972

Stanley Cups: 5 (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990)

Top seller: Connor McDavid

9. Edmonton Oilers

Bottom line: These unis lightened up after the 2016-17 season with a new shade of orange.

The old navy blue was brought back for better contrast, while the home blues were scrapped in favor of orange.

All in all, a good look got even better.

8. San Jose Sharks

Founded: 1991

Stanley Cups: 0

Top seller: Brent Burns

8. San Jose Sharks

Bottom line: Too many sweaters include a third color that only fluxes things up. The San Jose Sharks are the exception.

The orange hockey stick in the logo and subtle accent line on the sleeves complement the dark teal and black quite nicely.

Coupled with the ominous shark logo, one of the best in team sports, there’s a lot to like here.

7. New York Rangers

Chris Kreider — Some looks never go out of style.

Founded: 1926

Stanley Cups: 4 (1928, 1933, 1940, 1994)

Top seller: Mats Zuccarello (pre-trade)

7. New York Rangers

Boo Nieves and Alexandar Georgiev — The Rangers' road uniform.

Bottom line: From the diagonal "RANGERS" on the front to the drop shadows on the letters and numbers to the red, white and blue stripes on the sleeves, this basic concept has stood the test of time.

Might the ever-popular Lady Liberty sweater make a comeback at some point soon?

Puckheads can only hope.

6. Montreal Canadiens

Carey Price — Looking good is half the battle.

Founded: 1909

Stanley Cups: 24 (1916, 1924, 1930, 1931, 1944, 1946, 1953, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1986, 1993)

Top seller: Carey Price

6. Montreal Canadiens

Bottom line: This look has remained virtually unchanged since the days of "Phantom Joe" Malone and "Newsy" Lalonde more than 100 years ago. That’s not a good thing, people. It’s a great thing.

Les Canadiens fun fact: The "H" in the logo stands for Habs, right? Faux! It’s actually for "hockey," as in Club de Hockey Canadien, the official team name.

Which is a nice way to say, the rest of the country can kiss their Cups.

5. Toronto Maple Leafs

Mitch Marner — Looks aren't everything. How about a Cup?

Founded: 1917

Stanley Cups: 13 (1918, 1922, 1932, 1942, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967)

Top seller: Mitch Marner

5. Toronto Maple Leafs

Bottom line: Their trademark Maple Leaf has been flipped almost as often the team has flopped over the years.

We prefer the current version, which has more of a backyard hockey feel to it.

After more than 50 years without a Stanley Cup parade, there’s only one option left. A fig leaf.

4. Pittsburgh Penguins

Founded: 1967

Stanley Cups: 5 (1991, 1992, 2009, 2016, 2017)

Top seller: Sidney Crosby

4. Pittsburgh Penguins

Sidney Crosby and teammates — The Penguins' road uniform.

Bottom line: Black and gold are to Pittsburgh uniforms what Sidney Crosby is to his linemates — they can make almost anything look good. (Uh, ain’t that right, Colby Armstrong?)

Now how about they bring back those fabulous powder blues of the Les Binkley days for some variety?

3. Boston Bruins

Founded: 1924

Stanley Cups: 6 (1929, 1939, 1941, 1970, 1972, 2011)

Top seller: Patrice Bergeron

3. Boston Bruins

Patrice Bergeron, Karson Kuhlman, Marcus Johansson — The spoked B looks good in black or white.

Bottom line: The spoked-B logo remains the best thing that has happened to the Hub since the 1948-49 season, when it made its debut.

Well, next to Gilles Marotte, Pit Martin and Jack Norris for Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield, anyway.

2. Detroit Red Wings

Founded: 1926

Stanley Cups: 11 (1936, 1937, 1943, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2008)

Top seller: Dylan Larkin

2. Detroit Red Wings

Bottom line: The timeless winged wheel has been a big winner ever since owner James Norris hatched the team name and logo eight decades ago.

Here’s hoping it’s around for at least eight more.

1. Chicago Blackhawks

Founded: 1926

Stanley Cups: 6 (1934, 1938, 1961, 2010, 2013, 2015)

Top seller: Patrick Kane

1. Chicago Blackhawks

Erik Gustafsson and Patrick Kane — Nothing to criticize here.

Bottom line: Their brilliant whites may be the best unis around, largely because of the iconic Indian crest that oozes pride and tradition. If I’m a season ticket-holder, I want them back at all home games.

While the white collars on the reds don’t do much, let’s not knit-pick here.

The Second City ranks first.