Blues, NHL release Adidas Reverse Retro jerseys

The NHL and Adidas released all 31 final Reverse Retro jersey designs today, giving hockey starved fans something to overanalyze, debate, fawn over, and in some cases complain about.

Hockey fans are a cantankerous bunch sometimes, and we can’t go very long without having something to “discuss” on social media. This off-season has been long and it’s coinciding with a pandemic. The league and their jersey designer know this. They know this will be the only NHL related news to talk about for a week or longer. Nice work on that extended window of opportunity, guys.

The NHL released all 31 team jerseys together in a montage video and images that can be found on NHL.com:

The Blues tweeted a team specific video to show off their new Red Clown Jerseys in all of their, uh, glory:

That color scheme is certainly a choice, a choice that I think most 4K TVs are terrified of right now.

Many of the Reverse Retro jerseys go back to the 1990s for inspiration. Anaheim’s is a reboot of the infamous Wild Wing crashing through the ice thirds. Arizona’s Peyote Coyote got a new background color scheme that makes the huge coyote head even tripper than usual. Calgary’s flaming horse head is back on black this time.

The reboots that look the sharpest are ones that took a classic look and kept it - Montreal’s flips the red and the blue on their jersey to create something that’s clean and very Habs. Ottawa’s are sleek and uncluttered with 90s graphics, while still bringing back that era in Sens hockey. The New Jersey Christmas jerseys are back, but now green is the dominant color.

Of course, Carolina and Colorado went way back with their Reverse Retros - Carolina is now sporting a light-grey Whalers jersey, and Colorado’s incorporates the Nordiques’ logo with Avalanche and ‘Diques colors into an absolute work of art, and the best of these jerseys by a mile.

Some teams feel like missed opportunities. Nashville managed to be ugly without bringing back the Predator Skull as their main - it dulls the yellow and has pointed stripes on the sleeves. The Islanders, well, they did not bring back the fisherman, much to the disappointment of everyone.

Detroit’s is very white. Chicago’s is very black. Winnipeg’s is very grey.

The only ones that I would classify as fashion faux pas are the Blues, the Canucks’ ombre blue to green, and the Blue Jackets’ based on the virtue of returning to their ugly, original CBJ logo.

Overall, most of them strike the right blend of recent and retro, and some of the teams might want to consider keeping theirs around past this season (the Flyers, especially).

What do you guys think? Is the Blues’ jersey worth buying, or are you jealous of other teams’ choices?