The Reverse Retro jersey program is returning to the NHL for its second run in the upcoming 2022–23 NHL season, and we here at The Win Column are currently in the process of predicting every team’s new Reverse Retro design.
In case you missed it, here are our predictions on what the Pacific Division jerseys may look like.
Atlantic Division Reverse Retro concepts
Today we will be taking a peek at what the Atlantic Division Reverse Retros could ideally be. This division is full of long-existing, and very traditional franchises, which is a bit of a double-edged sword as it gives us both lots of options in some cases, and very few options in others. So while last week in the Pacific, the designs stayed pretty risk free, that will not be the case here.
Boston Bruins
It’s rumoured that this years Bruins Reverse Retro will include a Bear, so I remastered their jerseys from the first time they won a Stanley Cup back in 1929.
This jersey originally used primarily white but I decided to fully commit to yellow. I also updated the Bear to give it some details by using the more modern bear design that was meant to replicate the original logo.
Buffalo Sabres
It’s been heavily rumoured that the famous “Goat head” logo is supposed to be returning to the Sabres jersey lineup next year, and while many of those rumours seem to imply it will be returning as a Black third jersey. I decided to take advantage of the Reverse Retro philosophy and see what the Goat Head would look like in blue and gold.
I chose to simplify the design a bit by getting rid of the horn like stripe on the arms. I also chose to go with navy instead of royal blue. While I do prefer the current colours Buffalo is now wearing, I felt the navy just works a lot better with this design.
Detroit Red Wings
I’m going to break format a bit here and explain my design for Detroit before you see it. The Red Wings are a very traditional organization, and they’ve worn almost the exact same jerseys for over 90 years. This gives me extremely few options, and given how little the Red Wings did with their original reverse retro jersey I felt it was only right to go as wild as humanly possible.
Which is exactly why I chose to honour Red Wings history by bringing back a truly wild Detroit Cougars jersey from the franchise’s past.
It’s been nearly a century since these beauties saw the ice so why not give them an update and let them see the spotlight once again!
I did try to modernize the Cougar logo by giving it some details but still wanted to make sure it captured the sense of terror that the original did. I took a lot of inspiration from Boston’s Meth Bear logo for this one.
Now while this jersey might be both terrifying and extremely risky, I truly do believe that this jersey would sell incredibly well among both the jersey collector community, as there’s never gonna be another jersey like this.
Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers really don’t have too many options to choose from so I chose one of their original jerseys to once again be the template for this design. The original Reverse Retro was a hit after all.
Instead of using the pre existing colours the team uses though. I chose to give the jersey some South Florida energy, and also decided to bring more of a Sunrise aesthetic to the design. Since despite a lot of people thinking the Panthers still play in Miami, they do in fact play in Sunrise, Florida.
Montreal Canadiens
It’s been rumoured that the Canadiens will be using their next reverse retro jersey to pay tribute to the Montreal Expos, which was an MLB team that relocated to Washington D.C. in 2005.
I chose to mostly do that by adding baby blue to the jersey, and using a dark blue and red striping like the Expos used to use.
I also chose to use the 2016 Winter Classic jersey as my base inspiration.
Ottawa Senators
Like with a number of the teams in the Atlantic Division there aren’t too many options to choose from with the Senators. It’s pretty much inevitable that they will go back to the 3D Senator logo for whatever jersey they pick, since they’ve done pretty much every colour combo with their heritage throwback jersey style.
I chose to use my favourite of the 3D logo era jerseys and swapped the black and red, while also bringing in some glitter like we see the Golden Knights use in their jerseys.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning did the obvious thing with their first reverse retro jersey. So now that leaves us with very few options. According to Youtuber Post2Post Productions the Storm Jersey from the late 90s might be seeing a comeback with some alterations.
I decided to merge the Storm jersey with the modern day black and grey third jersey the Lightning wear. I also chose to both simplify and modernize the design by changing up how the lightning bolts on the sleeves and the rain drops on the torso work in the design.
I feel like the original Storm jersey might just be a bit too out there for the modern day, but my fixes might make it a bit more practical.
Toronto Maple Leafs
For Toronto I decided to take the jersey they wore when they last won the Stanley Cup Championship in 1967.
I chose to switch up the colours of the jersey to a baby blue though as I feel like Leafs fans are always asking for something new, and it seems like sports fans in Toronto have really come to love the two-tone blue jerseys the Blue Jays brought back last year.
I also chose to switch up the text on the logo as many NHL fans didn’t seem to like the 70s style font that was used in Toronto’s previous reverse retro jersey .
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.
Previous Reverse Retro Predictions:
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