The NHL has teamed with Adidas for the 2017-18 season to produce the 31 jerseys our beloved and hated teams will be wearing. 9to5 continues its look at the new jerseys featuring the finest team of sports and fashion (and sports fashion) experts we could think of, in Keith, Topher and myself.

Topher: Guess the Calgary Flames are next?

Calgary-Adizero

Another nice deep red jersey color. Have always loved the C in flames logo, double purpose, the C for Calgary and the fact its in flames for well….the flames. Any time a logo can represent 2 features, its a win for me. I know I was negative on the Coyotes jersey for being bland, but here I find it works. Like the shoulder patches. Not sure if I am a fan of the mustard yellow stripes, don’t see that colour fitting in.

Scott: Calgary makes some strides here. They lose that weird armpit-to-bicep stripe and move the flags on the shoulders up a bit higher. The stripes on the side are gone too, making the whole package look much cleaner and more presentable.

The flames adherence to black continues to befuddle me. There is no black in flames.They had a chance to overhaul the palette here and missed out.

I agree with Topher that the logo is one of the best in pro-sports. It looks bold, it looks sharp and it instantly represents the city and the team.

Topher: Oh ya, good call there Scott. That armpit stripe was horrendous.

unnamed
Scott: Just look at this throwback. The white “C” is so much better than the black. Calgary has a history of starting with a good thing, and then just mucking it up with black, insane MSPaint striping, intensely cluttered text, and a stupid horse head.

We are lucky they “just” went for uncluttered and boring, when we’ve seen what they have done in the past. I dont know whos in charge of jersey design in Calgary, but they have some serious past crimes to answer for.

unnamed (3)unnamed (2)unnamed (1)

Keith: You know who didn’t need any black in his uniform? Lanny Mcdonald. He made up for no black by rocking a big sweet mustache and he was arguably the greatest Flame who ever lived (sorry Jerome). Totally off topic, but do you know what I thought would be cool? They’ve got the Canadian flag on one sleeve and the provincial flag on the other. I always thought it would be fun (and would probably boost overseas jersey sales) if they had the player’s home country flag on the other sleeve instead of one of the flags. Maybe the Canadian one even. Why you throwing the Canadian flag on your jerseys Calgary? Are you afraid people don’t know where Calgary is?

That being said, in addition to the aforementioned extra armpit black, I’m glad they also dropped the italicized numbers.

Scott: Next up is the Edmonton Oilers!

Edmonton-Adizero

Edmonton does it right, taking the orange 3rd jersey and making it their home uniform for next season, more or less. They lose the numbers on the epaulettes, dropping them to the sleeves, and the blue striping gets thinner. They also simplify the collar and make it solid blue and trimmed with white.

This jersey is a home-run.

cut

Keith: Nope.

Maybe it’s to solidify the fact that the current squad of the Oilers is the “all new all McDavid all awesome” Edmonton Oilers or something, but I have a hard time accepting them wearing any other jersey than the one Gretzky wore.

Do you think they maybe strong-armed Anaheim away from that orange jersey?

Edmonton: “Hey we want an orange jersey!”

Philly: “Back off you Canadian cowboys, get your own thing!”

Anaheim: “Canadian cowboys? That sounds scary, here Edmonton, take the orange jersey, it can be your thing now.”

Wayne-Gretzky-promoting-Pro-Stars-cerealsScott: Gretz likes it.

But let’s not turn to Gretzky too hard when it comes to fashion choices.

Keith: He didn’t win cups in that jersey man.

Nor in that suit.

I liked the orange as an alternate. Not sure about it as the main.

Topher: What’s this? An orange jersey? How nice! I like the shade of orange they have chosen. Also love the blue shade for the shoulders and the white stripe across. I like how the numbers are in blue with a white trim to go along. Their logo has also always been a fav of mine. The large drop along with oozing letters in the same blue font? Makes everything come together for me. What I don’t like is those god-awful stripes on the sleeves and waist. I like that they took their 3rd jersey and made it their main, we need more teams breaking the mould.

Scott is a writer and podcaster here at 9to5.cc. He was raised by a Bruins fan in Montreal but turned out okay. Take that, nurture vs nature!

Keith does a lot here at 9to5.cc. His favourite teams are the Hawks and the Habs, but he only really feels comfortable sporting one of those logos on the regular.

Topher is not part of the 9to5 crew, but he is taking the time to come down from the world of fantasy football to help lend a voice to the article. A lover of almost all things orange in jerseys.