Reviewing the Boston Bruins new alternate jerseys

The Bruins just revealed their new third jerseys. Safe to say, they’re a lot better than last week’s Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings monstrosities.

Just like the Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings, the Boston Bruins were about to release their own new third jerseys. Unlike the Kings and Avalanche, the Bruins jersey wasn’t leaked and they had their own chance at a reveal.

Also unlike, their jerseys, people seemed to be more receptive to Boston’s new threads.

The new jersey isn’t that much of a departure from the Bruins current home jersey. Like Bruins third jerseys of the past, black had become the predominant color and the yellow influence on the shoulders and stripes seem all gone. Fans of the gold shouldn’t worry that much, as the yellow stripes remain on the arms and on the jersey itself.

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The Bruins logo has been simplified with just an oversized “B”. Although larger, the new “B” appears to be in the same typeface as the Bruins current logo, and in the same matching gold color. What’s missing from the center crest is the spoked wheel that usually accompanies the Bruins “B”.

It looks like the exact same “B” that was on last year’s Winter Classic jersey, but with a reversed color scheme (the Winter Classic jerseys had a black “B” with gold outlining since they were the away team). That’s nowhere to be found.

With the Bruins opting for a minimalist approach, the spoked wheel understandably got the boot. Even without the spoked wheel, the new jersey still has a distinctive Bruins identity.

In the aftermath of the abstract Avalanche jersey and cocaine roller skate Kings jerseys for the upcoming stadium series, it was refreshing to see a jersey that’s easy on the eyes that the fans seem to enjoy as well. The internet being the intent, of course, not everyone is in agreement. One of the lone dissenting opinions I saw came from Sam Minton at Chowder and Champions.

The Bruins need to bring back the pooh bear jerseys. These were the jerseys that a lot of us grew up on. I can remember seeing guys like Glen Murray and Sergei Samsonov wearing these beauties.

For those who don’t know exactly what the “pooh bear” jerseys were, they had a cartoonish looking bear as the center logo instead of the “B” and spoked wheel. Here’s a link to them if you want to take a look for yourselves. While I personally don’t like the aptly named “Pooh Bear” jerseys, Minton might be onto to something here.

Cartoonish as they may be, the “pooh bear” jerseys answered the question of what exactly is a “Bruin”? I didn’t know what a “Bruin” was supposed to be until the only Boston sports fan in my suburban, central New Jersey high school told me it was a bear. Sure, hardcore hockey and Boston fans know that, but to others not so much. The Bruins mascot is a bear, but for people like me ho as a young hockey fan only saw Bruins games through my television screen, that was completely lost on me.

The 2016 Winter Classic had a Bruins jersey with a less cartoonish bear front and center, but I’m more of a fan of the 2008 to 2016 third jersey. The “B’ and the spoked wheel moved to the shoulder patches, as a realistic-looking bear with moved front and center under the “Bruins name”. Those third jerseys even followed the black color scheme of the new third jerseys, just with more striping on the arms.

Thing is, the Bruins new third jersey look just fine the way they are. Adding a bear logo as a shoulder patch, kind of like how the Nashville Predators did with their Winter Classic jerseys, is an option, but that would have too much going on. The Bruins should reintroduce the bear, but not on this one.

For the first time in a while, the NHL got a third jersey reveal right. Safe to say, the internet is relieved. Congrats to the Bruins, who debut their new jersey in the NHL’s Thanksgiving Showdown versus the New York Rangers this Friday.