NHL Reverse Retro Jersey Ideas For 2022-23: Pacific Division

Before the start of last season, Adidas and the National Hockey League came up with a brilliant idea for alternate uniforms. The jersey program was simple: reverse retro uniforms.

The idea was to allow each of the NHL’s 31 teams to come up with creative designs that featured a mix of current and past uniforms that sums up a large portion of a franchise’s history.

Each team has had its own history with uniforms from logos to colors to striping and patterns. The potential was off the charts with all the possibilities. When the jerseys were revealed to the public, the league’s idea had come to fruition in a positive manner, as many team’s uniforms were very appealing to fans.

Here are Reverse Retro jersey ideas for the Pacific in the 2022-23 season.

While some of the uniforms were grand-slams, others were disappointing (I’m looking at you, Detroit Red Wings). The results were such a success overall that the NHL has announced that the Reverse Retro program will be reinstated for the league’s 2022-23 season.

With that information given out, let us dive deep into a unique idea for all eight teams in the Pacific Division. These ideas that I’m giving out may not be fully to your liking, as many have their own opinions, but I think this will be a fun topic to discuss.

Anaheim Ducks: Gold Version of Original “Mighty Ducks” Uniform

When it comes to Anaheim, ideas for a potential Reverse Retro jersey aren’t as easy as one might think, but it isn’t extremely difficult either.

Now, when it comes to the Ducks they’ve already used all their enticing options for alternate’s in the past. Last season saw the franchise revive the infamous “Wild Wing” uniform with white being the primary color instead of teal. They’ve already used the original “Mighty Ducks” logo on several incarnations.

They’ve reissued the original jersey in 2013, and for the 25th anniversary of the franchise, they wore a primarily black version of the original uniform. They’ve also worn an orange alternate with the original logo from 2015-17 and 2019-present.

However, if you examine the jersey history of the franchise, you’ll realize that Anaheim has never once donned a primarily gold jersey. I think this would be a great opportunity for the team to finally debut one.

What they could do here is use the same design as the original uniform (as seen in the above photo) and incorporate the current color scheme. Gold will be the main color of choice and the diagonal stripes on the bottom and sleeves could feature the orange, white, silver, and black in that order.

I think black would be perfect for the big bottom layer since I think too much orange would make this idea a bit of an eye-sore. The hint of orange on the first stipe is more than enough.

Calgary Flames: Black Edition of Home Uniform from 1995-2000

The Calgary Flames don’t have an extensive design history but there are a few they could go back to.

Last season saw the return of the infamous “Blasty” alternate jersey that gets way too much hate, in my opinion. They used an all-black version of the “Blasty” uniform with small hints of red and gold for the striping.

I think they should use that concept for this uniform as well for next years’ edition. This uniform gets referred to as the “Germany” jersey at times by some people due to the fact that the striping resembles the same pattern used on the German flag.

Color swapping would be a great idea for this. Like I said earlier, it would be wise to swap red with black as the primary color. I think keeping the white shade on the shoulders would be a nice idea. Then, the pattern I would use for the striping would be yellow, black, red, and white in that particular order.

Really not much change for the design, but it would still work. An honorable mention would be to also just use a black version of the original Atlanta Flames uniform, since Calgary has always mentioned that part of their history, with the assistant captains wearing the logo on their uniforms.

Edmonton Oilers: 2001-07 Oil Drop Comet Alternate Jersey with Current Color Scheme

The oil comet jersey is one of the most underrated uniforms in NHL history in my opinion. The legacy of this uniform is the legendary comic book creator Todd McFarlane created this design, and it’s awesome.

The original version of this debuted in 2001 and lasted until 2007. We have never seen this come back since, and I think this would be a phenomenal idea. The Oilers Reverse Retro last year was basically their current road jersey, but they flip-flopped the placement of the orange and royal blue.

This alternate is really the only time where the Oilers have worn a completely different design in their history and it’s time to bring this back. Now instead of the navy blue and silver color scheme, I would love to see the current color scheme of royal blue and orange here.

In this scenario, the royal blue would be perfect as the primary color and orange as the accents. The silver stripes would be replaced with the orange and the white middle stripe would remain the same. Also, I would slightly alter the logo by changing the oil drop to orange too.

Los Angeles Kings: 1998-2002 Jersey with Original Color Scheme

Last year, the Kings brought out arguably the best Reverse Retro jersey. They decided to take the Wayne Gretzky-era jersey from 1991-98 and replaced the black and silver color scheme and instead use the franchise’s original colors of purple and gold.

It was a great concept, and I think LA should consider using the original colors on another jersey design they’ve had which brings us to this gem of a jersey. The Kings had two incarnations of this uniform. They wore the shield logo in the above photo from 1998-2002 and then switched to the crown logo from 2002-2007.

The two different logos worn offer some flexibility here, but if it was me, I would love to see the shield logo make a comeback for the first time. I would like the see this jersey primarily purple.

On the bottom, I would change the big purple stripe to gold and obviously switch the Los Angeles lettering to purple so it’s easy to identify. Then the middle stripe on the sleeve would get changed to gold as well as the shoulder and I would still keep the silver accent stripes in between the sleeves and on the shoulder.

San Jose Sharks: 1991-98 Design, Primarily Gray

The Sharks’ original uniform is one of the best jersey designs in the history of the NHL. These were massive hits back in the 1990’s, and it is loved by not only Sharks fans but fans of many other teams as well.

San Jose has brought this exact same jersey twice for throwback occasions. One occasion was during the 2015-16 for the 25th anniversary and the other was last season for the 30th anniversary of the franchise. Now, for last year’s Reverse Retro program, San Jose brought out a gray version of the jersey the players wore from 1998-2007.

It was a simple color swapping idea, but it worked well. I think San Jose should consider redoing that with these uniforms. It would look just as clean as the first edition, and you really can’t mix eras with colors and uniforms like the Kings did for their Reverse Retro.

The Sharks have never really worn distinctively different uniform designs, and they’ve obviously never changed their color scheme. I can also see the Sharks bringing back this uniform but making it mostly black instead of gray as well, because if there is one thing the franchise loves, it’s black alternates.

Seattle Kraken- Current Uniforms with Thunderbirds or Metropolitans colors

Yes, the Reverse Retro program for next season requires all 32 teams to come up with a design, which includes the NHL’s newest franchise, the Seattle Kraken.

Now, since the Kraken are so new, they don’t have anything to fall back on as far as a jersey history. In this case, it would be wise to take ideas from other hockey teams throughout Seattle’s history.

Seattle has had an extensive history with the sport of hockey, so they have several choices to pick from. The ideas that I came up with were to either use the color palettes of the WHL’s Thunderbirds or the Metropolitans of the defunct Pacific Coast Hockey Association.

Now, it would be pretty cool to see the Kraken don the navy blue, silver and green that the Thunderbirds wear just because of the simple reason that  the Seahawks (NFL) and the Mariners (MLB) wear similar palettes if not the same. But I realize that these are supposed to call back to previous history, so it would be smart to go with the Metropolitans colors of green, red, and white.

For those who don’t know, the Seattle Metropolitans played in the PCHA from 1915 to 1924. Over the course of the team’s nine seasons, they became the most successful franchise in the history of the short-lived PCHA. The franchise has a lasting legacy for winning the 1917 Stanley Cup over the Montreal Canadiens in four games.

This was the first time the Cup was won by an American team. The team would make two more Finals appearances in 1919 and 1920 although the 1919 Final was called off after five games due to the Spanish flu pandemic.

I think the current design of the Kraken’s uniform is good enough for this occasion. I think it’s not necessary to create a new jersey design just for this Reverse Retro. This is one of the few times you’ll see me recommending a white jersey.

A green jersey would just be out of place for a team that doesn’t even hint at the color in their regular jersey. White would do with shades of green stripes replacing the shades of blue striping. The red can remain the same. The logo should get will get altered too with the shades of green replacing the blue as well and the red eye remaining the same.