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Reebok is giving way to Adidas in the world of NHL jersey manufacturing starting in the 2017-18 season, and that apparently means that alternate jerseys will disappear. But maybe not forever.
Both Yahoo! Sports and Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune are reporting some intriguing details about changes to NHL jerseys in the wake of the Adidas takeover.
The biggest scoop-full of news is from Russo, who cites sources saying the NHL will do away with every alternate jersey in the league next season. Whether that’s a permanent change remains to be seen.
Sources tell Minneapolis Star Tribune that NHL teams will only have home/road jerseys next season - no alternates. https://t.co/IOrb0GNYpM pic.twitter.com/iwMNxDC67I
— Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) January 9, 2017
But the Adidas change doesn’t necessarily mean NHL uniforms will look drastically different. Yahoo! Sports’ Greg Wyshynski cites sources of his own who say the biggest difference will be in the materials, not the aesthetics.
That’s good news for a sizable number of NHL teams who have overhauled their looks over the last five years. The Leafs, Penguins, Lightning, Sharks, Blues, Predators, Oilers, Ducks, Stars, Panthers, Hurricanes, and Coyotes are all just settling into design changes.
As for which teams are sacrificing alternates, here’s our personal ranking of the ones we’ll miss the most until they (maybe) return. (We included the Wild twice because they can’t seem to decide which is their home sweater.)