NHL Power Rankings: Each team’s most iconic jersey

Pacific Division

Anaheim Ducks

1993-2006 Original Eggplant jersey

The Anaheim Ducks began life as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, wearing the unique color combination of eggplant purple and jade green, and had the hem stripes travel up diagonally across the waist (a design used almost exclusively by the Ducks during that time). They also used their iconic duck-mask logo on the front. The only points against this jersey is probably it’s roots in the Disney movie the team was named after.

When the team rebranded as the Ducks, they rid themselves of all Mighty, duck-mask, eggplant, or jade. But slowly but surely, the team is gradually bringing back the Disney history that the team began history with. The Ducks will honor all of their previous jerseys in pregame warmups throught the year. That’s your hint that the team got it right in the first few years of it’s history.

Arizona Coyotes

1996-2003 Original Black jersey

After moving from Winnipeg to Phoenix, the team wore jerseys with black, brick red, and green colors, kachina-patterned striping, and a trippy-looking coyote with half a goalie mask on as a logo. The design was very consistent with the era of the 1990’s, where classic hockey design was often set aside for something a little more out of the box. The team scrapped these jerseys after the 2003 season for a much cleaner design.

Though, there’s a reason why these jerseys made a return recently, and have even been named the third jersey for the Coyotes this past summer. The team brought it back for throwback nights the last couple of seasons, and the fans loved it. The look is perfect for the team and fits right in with the locale and culture.

Calgary Flames

1980-1994 Original Red jersey

Starting in 1994 after these jerseys were set aside, the Flames starting using black as a trim color, and it’s made it’s way from just a trim to a primary color in 2000. Nowadays, the team’s main jersey is red (good), but the black lettering (bad) and trim use takes away from a classic color combination of red and yellow. The team is named the Flames, not the Ash, after all.

The jersey worn by the 1989 team led by Lanny McDonald’s mustache is a perfect example of a jersey where black isn’t used in an accent role, and the colors pop more. The actual design of the jersey was also more classic style, with the triple stripe around the sleeves and hem. The team revived these for 2009-13 in a heritage role, and also wore it in 2016-17. It looked great, and I hoped it’d be used in a full-time role.

Edmonton Oilers

1981-1994 Blue jersey

An easy way to establish an identity is to win a lot and win early. The Gretzky-era Oilers did just that, and looked good doing it. Royal blue and orange was in style in the 1980’s NHL color palette, with the Islanders also creating a dynasty in those colors, and the Oilers had a great design with those colors. The orange shoulder yoke was unique to the team in that era, and the triple stripe on the sleeves and hem were a great balance for the blue uniform.

The Oilers brought this jersey back as a third jersey in 2008, and was upgraded to full time after the 2011 season. They set them aside for their current orange jersey, but we may expect the team to bring the blue back as an alternate design.

Also, fun fact about the Oilers jerseys in the 80’s, Nike (the team’s jersey sponsor) put their logo on the left side of the bottom of the back of the jersey instead of the right side on Gretzky’s jersey, because Gretzky liked to tuck in the right side of his uniform. Neither of these ideas are relevant today, but it’s still fun.

Los Angeles Kings

1967-1980 Forum Blue jersey

The Kings have had several color combinations in their history, and all of them was unique to the team. They started with purple (called Forum Blue) and yellow, then changed to black and silver, then black and purple, then returned to black and silver. But over the past few years, the team has thrown back to the original purple and yellow duds worn by team greats such as Marcel Dionne in the 1970’s.

The design was clean and simple, the colors were completely unique to the NHL (and matched with their arena-mates, the NBA’s Lakers), and the crown logo was great as a standalone on the chest of the jersey. The Kings wore this jersey as a heritage jersey in the mid 2010’s, and it looked just as good then as it did in their original days.

San Jose Sharks

1991-1998 Original Teal jersey

The Sharks were the first team in the NHL to wear teal as a primary color, and deserve credit for immediately taking ownership of a color. Their original road jerseys were teal with white and silver stripes, the classic shark-biting-stick logo, and the dorsal fin logo on the shoulders was a great secondary logo. The main feature of the jersey, though, was the classic teal color that defined the jersey.

This jersey allowed the Sharks to settle into their unique identity. Over the course of their history, they’ve gone through a couple of changes to their uniform, but the one constant in all those changes is the teal. The team wore the original teal jersey as a throwback during the 2015-16 season, and they looked fantastic on the ice.

Vancouver Canucks

1970-1972 Original White jersey

The Canucks have had tons of different designs over the years. They started in classic green and blue, changed to red/black/yellow, moved to navy/blue/red, then back to green and blue. They’ve had spaceman V jerseys, flying skates, and orca whales on the front of their uniforms. The most consistent uniform they’ve ever had is actually the kit they wear now. But in my humble opinion, they got it right the first time.

The classic stick-in-rink logo is simple and aged well. The colors were perfect for the Pacific Northwest. My favorite part of the original white jersey was actually the sleeve, with green and blue stripes and a white V cutting through in negative space. It’s a little feature, but it’s unique and clever. This jersey may have been lost over time, and brought back once to celebrate the Canucks’ 40th year, but it’s interesting enough to be brought back again soon.

Vegas Golden Knights

2017-present Original White jersey

The Golden Knights have just gotten their existence underway, and therefore have just two uniforms to pick from as their best. There are unique aspects to their aesthetic identity, such as the gold-flaked stripes around the sleeves, and the design within those sleeves and on the logo. It’s hard to say which one is better, the home gray or the road white.

We’ll go with the road whites for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the Knights wear white colored gloves with the white jerseys, which is unique in the NHL. Secondly, black isn’t used as an accent color, which allows the gold and red on the sleeves to really stretch their legs and pop more.

It’s only been one year so far, so let’s let the Knights age into their look for a bit, then we can revisit this debate.