The heavily anticipated reverse retro jersey 2.0 collection has been released. As rumored and discussed at length, the New York Islanders‘ reverse retro features the “fisherman” logo.
The once-hated logo and jersey have been marketed more by the organization. With the announcement of reverse retro jerseys by Adidas, Islanders fans wondered if this day would come.
As is the case with many things in life, time will heal all wounds.
The “fisherman” jersey came at a very dark time for the Islanders organization. The team had not and would not play well for quite some time. It is difficult to not associate the jersey with the all-time villain of the franchise, Mike Milbury.
The Islanders confirmed that they are bringing back the fisherman logo.
Milbury’s reign of terror would begin with these jerseys and unfortunately, end well past the deserved time.
But a new generation of fans is around and is more accepting of radical looks to uniforms and logos. The reverse retro jersey is a chance to do something outside the box and get away with it for a few games.
Last season’s reverse retro was boring, to say the least for the Islanders. New York donned the almost identical jersey to the current home jersey, but with the dominant color being navy blue and not royal blue.
Lou Lamoriello is not much of an outside-the-box type of personality. This is the person who enforces that the players be clean-shaven and that the jersey numbers are kept below 30.
With many other teams around the NHL exploring their past jersey blunders, it was time for Lamoriello and the Islanders to finally return the old logo once more.
Though not the same as the old jersey and logo, this jersey has many similarities.
The teal color was a dominant color in the old logo and jersey, but that is not the case with the reverse retro. Much of the teal has been replaced with the current orange color. A faint line or two is in the actual logo, but the jersey is all navy blue, orange, and white.
The jersey has an orange and white “wave” around the shoulders and is missing the iconic lighthouse patch that was on the original jersey.
The orange and white line “wave” is on the bottom of the jersey and on the arms. The lettering and numbers appear to be in the same font as the original jersey but just in, you guessed it, white and orange.
The jersey looks clean and should be a nice change from the original colors for a small amount of the season.
It is understandable to be scared by this logo and jersey, but it is a different team and as the team put it, the next era of the Fisherman.