NHL Reverse Retro Jersey Ideas 2022-23: Metropolitan Division

Columbus Blue Jackets- Color Swap of 2003-07 Alternate or Columbus Chill Designed Jersey

The Columbus Blue Jackets are one of the NHL’s newest franchises. Although it feels like they’ve been a staple of the league for a long time, the franchise has only been around since the beginning of the 21st century. Because of this, the Blue Jackets don’t have a huge collection of jersey designs to fall back on.

For 2021, the Jackets came out with a red version of their original uniform, a design that they wore up to the 2006-07 campaign. The opinions of their Reverse Retro for that year were extremely divided. Some people enjoyed the look while others disliked it. I quite enjoyed the jersey myself and I definitely would’ve bought it if I had a chance. I’ve always been a huge fan of the Blue Jackets’ original jersey and logo, including the Stinger logo. I also love the fact that it was red, marking the first time they wore a red jersey.

Now for this time around the Blue Jackets are pushed up against the wall here. As stated before they don’t have many options to dig up for this edition. They could do either one of two things. The first is to bring back their first-ever alternate jersey. It was introduced in 2003 and lasted until 2007. This jersey is notable since the front crest logo was what Columbus uses as their primary logo today. It also had black sleeves and a black bottom. This is one of the more forgotten alternate designs in NHL history.

They could simply bring back this design and do a simple color swap. If I had to choose on what color I’d primarily make this, it would definitely be black or white. I wouldn’t go primarily red with this design. I don’t think it would look too good. But overall, I think a simple color swap would be nice here.

Now for the second option, I decided to dig into the archives of pro hockey in Columbus. The Blue Jackets could revive one of the jersey designs of the Columbus Chill. Who you might ask? The Columbus Chill used to be an ECHL team in the 1990s. They were a part of the league from 1991-1999. While they never won a Kelly Cup, the short-live franchise was quite successful. In their eight seasons, the Chill made the playoffs five times and won two division titles. The Chill proved that hockey could work in Ohio, which led the NHL to add the Blue Jackets as an expansion team in 2000.

With the impending arrival of the Blue Jackets, the Chill packed their bags and moved to Reading, Pennsylvania to become the Reading Royals, who still exist today. I would really want the Blue Jackets to go the extra mile and bring back a design of a former minor league team. The Chill were extremely popular back in the day, so I’m sure the diehard fans that were around during that era would appreciate the NHL team showing some love to the roots of hockey in the city.

As far as a specific design, I would love to see them bring out the 1996-97 jersey. Personally, I think it’s a neat design to go with and it’s something different. The Blue Jackets have the opportunity to be one of the few teams that actually call back to another franchise in another hockey league that was around prior to the NHL’s franchise taking over.  They can simply discard the black and silver for the navy blue and red color scheme and replace the Chill logo with their own. Now they can use a wordmark logo and have it facing upward like in the original jersey, or they can use their primary logo and place it normally in that exact spot. I would like to see this jersey primarily red with navy accents but they can go either way.

Although the New Jersey Devils have been around since the early 1980s, the uniform history hasn’t been that extensive. They have worn almost the same jersey throughout their entire history. The only difference that has been seen was a slight change in the secondary color from green to black and striping. For 2021, the Devils once again went to their original color schemed uniforms and swapped the placements of the colors. As a result, the jersey was primarily green.

The Devils are going to have to go in a different approach when it comes to next year’s Reverse Retro jersey. Since they don’t have much else to work with when it comes to their history in the meadowlands, New Jersey is going to have to throw it back to their Kansas City or Colorado days. For those who don’t know, the New Jersey Devils used to be known as the Kansas City Scouts. They played in Kansas City for two seasons between 1974-76. They then moved to the rocky mountains to become the first ever team in NHL history to call Colorado home. The then Colorado Rockies stuck around from 1976-82. Then they eventually moved over to New Jersey.

The Devils have never mentioned these short-lived portions of their history very much. It’s even gotten to the point where the Scouts and Rockies’ records weren’t even listed in media guides and programs. I’ve never really understood the reasoning for this. I think it would be a great idea to go back to one of the eras for the first time ever in some way shape or form. I would personally like to see the franchise go back to specifically their Kansas City Scouts days.

They could go about this in a few ways. Now one way the Devils can pay homage to the Scouts era is to just once again sport their original uniform and swap out the red, green and white for the blue, gold and red color scheme. But I don’t that would be accepted all too well, especially by the Devils faithful. Instead, I think it would be wise to bring out the Scouts’ actual jersey and recolor it using the red, green and white. If possible a couple hints of black can also be thrown into the uniform as well. I think it would be a nice look and something new. As I stated before, the Devils have never gone back to their origins as a franchise. I would love for them to do so with the upcoming Reverse Retro line.