Hockey jersey fanatics were thriving during the 2020 NHL season, as each NHL team got their own Reverse Retro jersey. Drawing inspiration from every team’s past, brand new jerseys were recoloured and repurposed for the modern day. By almost every account, the Reverse Retro program was a total hit. The NHL and Adidas struck gold and they’re looking to replicate the success, as it was announced a couple months ago that the Reverse Retro jersey program would be returning to the NHL for its second run in the upcoming 2022–23 NHL season.
Because the Reverse Retros are just reinvigorated retro designs. Many fans have spent the last few months trying to guess which old jerseys might be coming back to the ice next season. We at The Win Column thought we’d join in, and make our own predictions for what every team’s second Reverse Retro jersey might end up being.
Pacific Division Reverse Retro concepts
To kick things off, we’ll start with the Pacific Division. The concepts for this divisions take inspiration from the storied histories of each team, which also includes the two newest franchises in the league.
Anaheim Ducks
For the Anaheim Ducks, I took the the original Mighty Ducks jerseys from 1993 that the team once wore, and updated them to use the modern: orange, tan, and black colour scheme that the team has been using for the last few decades.
Calgary Flames
Like with Anaheim, the decision to go to the 90s for the Flames was an easy one, but I switched up the colours to pay ode to the “Black C” of the 00s and 10s. More design details on the Flames Reverse Retro concept here.
Edmonton Oilers
Bringing a more recent jersey back to the Edmonton Oilers, I went with the McFarlane jersey of the early 2000s. After all it’s been rumoured that the Oilers would be using this design. Adding minor design changes, I used the team’s orange to the design, and also added a chrome effect throughout the jersey like was seen in last season’s new Los Angeles Kings alternate jersey.
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings had easily one of the most popular Reverse Retro jerseys the first time around so I chose to keep it pretty simple and just do the white version of the previous jersey. I’m sure I’m also not alone in hoping that the team would move over to this design and their previous Reverse Retro as their full time home and away set.
San Jose Sharks
The Sharks have lately leaned into their original 90s branding, so I chose to take that cue and merge their original home and away jerseys with their modern day Stealth jerseys to apply a new take on a vintage look.
If their alternate Stealth jerseys were meant to combine the future with the past, then this should challenge that definition and take it even more old school.
Seattle Kraken
As one of the newest teams in the NHL, there isn’t really any history for the Kraken to pull from. Luckily for Seattle though, they can use the city’s hockey past like Vegas did previously and pay tribute to a former professional hockey team from Seattle. In this case it’s even the team who won the 1917 Stanley Cup: The Seattle Metropolitans.
It’s very likely the Kraken will honour the Metropolitans, and I hope they do so while also still simplifying the design to keep it from being too much on the eyes.
Vancouver Canucks
In stark contrast to the Kraken, the Vancouver Canucks have a lot of options they can choose from. Whether they go with the Flying V, The Flying Skate, or recolouring one of their orca designs, the Canucks have no shortage of choices. I however decided to use the 2014 Heritage Classic jerseys as my base.
A strong design, this Canucks jersey was arguably the best Heritage Classic jersey of all time. I also think if the Kraken are destined to go with the Metropolitans as their throwback, why not create some rivalry synergy between both teams in the Pacific Northwest. Think about how great the jersey matchup between the Canucks and Kraken would be on the ice!
Vegas Golden Knights
The Vegas Golden Knights are another team with very little history. So like with their original Reverse Retro, I pulled from the history of the city and paid tribute to the Las Vegas Wranglers. The Wranglers were an ECHL team from 2003–14.
I combined two of their jerseys and also kept in mind that it’s been heavily rumoured that Vegas will be using a primarily black look with a diagonal wordmark for their upcoming reverse retro. You can see both of the jerseys I took inspiration from below.
More Reverse Retros to come
Throughout the next few weeks I will be sharing the rest of The Win Column jersey designs for every other 2022 Reverse Retro. Stay tuned.
Let us know which designs you like the most, or if you think that the NHL and Adidas might go a different direction with any of the jerseys we’ve designed so far.
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