The 2026 Stadium Series is just a few weeks away. After weeks of teasing, the official jerseys for the Boston Bruins and home team Tampa Bay Lightning were released on Thursday. Tampa Bay’s design leaked a few days before and fans were less than impressed. This time we’re actually agreeing with the fans on X, at least about Tampa Bay’s jerseys.
These Lightning jerseys are a huge missed opportunity. Tampa Bay is known for its pirate themed lore from the NFL team that’s stadium is being used for the outdoor game, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, to the area’s famous Gasparilla Festival. That festival is basically a pirate themed Mardi Gras and happens to be taking place the same weekend.
Lightning fans expected more from the Stadium Series fit
Fanatics says they leaned into the pirate imagery with a skull and crossbones shoulder patch on the left shoulder. Mardi Gras esque bead indentations, similar to the ones given out during the Gasparilla Festival, are seen on certain parts of the jersey and inside the collar. The Stadium Series logo, which did a fantastic job of catching the pirate vibe and theme, is on the jersey's right shoulder.
They went with a light blue (which they refer to “sky blue”) and navy color scheme along with the “stair step” TBL across the front. The logo and color combination make these jerseys look like a mix between the Seattle Kraken’s alternate and Utah Hockey Club’s main home jersey before adopting the Utah Mammoth branding. The addition of “actual lightning bolts” to the jersey might be a cool footnote, but one that’s likely to go unnoticed on this otherwise uninspired jersey.
The Lightning have worn special warmup jerseys for the Gasparilla Festival in the past, and did a great job at honoring the Lightning legacy and the area’s pirate festivities. The pirate theme is just an after thought for these jerseys, which is odd considering they’ll be playing in a stadium with an actual pirate ship and cannons. The shoulder patch skull logo would have looked great as a main jersey crest. One user on X even did the honors of making it happen. Instead, what could have been a unique main logo is relegated to a much smaller design, just like the New York Rangers apple logo on their Winter Classic jerseys.
Also missed was an opportunity to incorporate the Buccaneers colors into the uniforms. The Buccaneers red uniform, as well as their vintage orange “creamsicle” color, are well known and popular in the area. Adding a bit of that would have tied the franchises together for an interesting and unique mix. The Buccaneers current dark red and black color scheme would have looked especially nice to tie the pirate theme together. Imagine the realistic pirate logo from the Buccaneers “creamsicle” era jerseys made an appearance as a shoulder patch?
These jerseys dropped right before Christmas so fans could give them as gifts. Judging on the immediate fan reaction, not everyone in Tampa Bay is going to be asking Santa for these. Maybe give them actual Lightning tickets instead.