Ranking Every NHL Team's Home Jersey Today (2024)

It's one of the things that makes hockey, well...hockey.

Whether it's logos, third jerseys or retro looks,no sport puts as much work into its apparel racks.

And when the NHL declared that teams could return to wearing colored sweaters at home in the early 2000s, rather than the traditional white, up sprang yet another revenue stream.

True to their hockey-mad form, and with the regular season less than a week away, B/R's cadre of stick/skate/puck devotees took a look at each team's home jersey offering and ranked them worst to best.

Click through to see what you like and don't like and feel free to provide your own icy brand of fashion policing in the comments section.

Well, someone's got to be last, right?

It's not that we loathe the Florida offering all that much, but we don't love it either. The colors are nice enough, and the entire package isn't disastrous, but the logo leaves a bit to be desired.

Meh.

Few teams have the haphazard jersey history that the Canucks possess.

The multicolored offerings of the late 1970s and early '80s will forever be fodder for "worst jersey ever" articles, and it's not as if this year's version competes for that title. Nevertheless, as nice as the colors are, the logo these days is a drag on the entire package.

Go back to the ice rink with a stick, or the dynamic multicolored skate. Please.

The Avalanche franchise is rich with jersey history.

All the way back to the World Hockey Association, to the old-school Quebec Nordiques.

And while we know the fashion inclinations of the western U.S. are different from French-speaking Canada, there's too much quality for the Avs to ignore. Instead, the 2021-22 home jerseys are another retread of what's been offered since the team first relocated in the mid-1990s.

There's a lot to like about the Senators' fashion.The colors are cool, and the striping is nice enough.

But like the Panthers and Canucks before them, the logo offered in Ottawa falls flat.

It's the capital of Canada. What's with the Roman centurion on the chest?

If any team ought to seek relief from the white-jerseys-on-the-road rule, it's Nashville.

The Predators have a fearsome logo, but it's swallowed up in a sea of yellow from head to toe when the team is playing at the Bridgestone Arena.

When it comes time for the road jerseys ranking, watch the Predators climb the ladder.

You can't go wrong with a great logo.

The Sharks have that, and have had it for the majority of their 30-year NHL run.

But the idea that they're still largely surrounding it in teal and black fabric seems a trifle outdated. Might we suggest a little creativity with the color palette?

There haven't been many better jerseys in NHL history than the Maple Leafs.

The logo, even with the occasional tweak, is timeless.

But there's something missing here. Perhaps it's just some color. While the road whites seem bright and lively, the home offerings drift needlessly into a lifeless blob of blue.

This should be better.

The elements are all there, particularly a great blend of colors.

But there's too much other clutter, too. The white stripes on the sleeves can go (please!) and there's just something about the logo patch that looks too much like a sporting goods store rack, not an NHL jersey.

We're climbing up the ladder, but the reactions haven't changed much.

The Blue Jackets do it differently than a lot of the NHL, and they do it particularly well with the road jerseys, but the logo looks too much like something put together on a computer screen.

The style of the numbers also make it seem like someone was trying too hard to be unique.

Someone in the L.A. boardroom needs to take control here.

The franchise's early days were spent in purple and yellow. Then, in the Gretzky era, it was a nod to the silver and black that seemed to be everywhere by the mid-1990s.

These days it seems like there's no direction. Nothing harkens back to the vintage days, the logo isn't particularly memorable on any level and the color scheme has run its course.

Here's another where the road jersey rank would be different.

Read: higher.

New York's white-based away-from-home outfits are remarkably classic. And though the blue version that's worn at Madison Square Garden isn't awful, it suffers badly by comparison.

You want to go back to the Mighty Ducks logo and scheme? We're in.

You even want to toss out the Wild Wing collection once in a while, too? Sign us up.

Outside those, though, things drop off a bit. The webbed-foot logo was cool for a while, but it's losing steam these days. And there's something about the color scheme that seems a little overdone, too.

Sometimes the alternate jerseys turn out to be the best ones.

That's the case with the Golden Knights and their golden outfits, but the levels come down a touch with the routine charcoal-tinted jerseys that are trotted out at home.

If the Vegas brass gives us a call for input, expect gold to be the permanent standard.

The whites are better. The whites are better. The whites are better.

There, we said it.

The good news? The logo is forever classic and the color scheme, even heavy blue, is far better than a team that's gone 0-of-51 years while pursuing a championship might warrant. And anything trotted out these days is better than the awful mistakes that have been made in the past.

Kudos to the Coyotes historians.

The black Kachina sweater was brought back in 2018-19 as an alternate jersey and will be the team's primary home jersey for 2021-22 outside the eight games Arizona will wear its red sweaters.

ESPN's Greg Wyshynski wrote in September: "The Kachina logo was introduced when the team relocated from Winnipeg in 1996. It was based on the ancestral spirits of the Pueblo people and depicted a hockey-stick-wielding coyote with a patchwork of colors associated with the Southwest, including green, brick red, sand and purple. The crescent moon on its chest creates a "C" for Coyotes; the position of the Kachina is meant to evoke an "A" for Arizona."

In terms of the hockey offering, they're the best in the business.

Twice running.

However, the jerseys the players are wearing are less impressive. Pretty much a one-color offering at home and a largely nondescript logo that screams dull. You might think one of the league's more modern franchises would have gone with more creativity, but, again, the hockey side is terrific.

The Hurricanes are a franchise looking for jersey identity.

There are lots of different logos, but perhaps the best one in NHL history—the Whale—has been relegated to footnotes since the transition was made from Hartford to Raleigh.

The red design worn at home is perhaps the least offensive of the lot, and there are days when the logo is more appealing visually than others. But we still miss the Whalers.

It's not easy being green.

But, kudos to the Wild and their design team, the second-generation franchise in Minnesota makes it work.

The logo is outstanding. The accent colors are strong, too. In fact, the home selection might only be hurt because it's probably not quite as good as the team's road designs.

If you like the classics, here's another favorite.

The Red Wings may be prisoners of their own pedigree because it would be next to impossible to even suggest a minor tweak to the winged wheel and the red and white color scheme.

Still, if you've got to be stuck with something, this isn't the worst. The moment you see it, it still screams Howe, Lindsay, Fedorov, Yzerman tradition and you instantly know you're in Hockeytown.

Go ahead, say something bad about the Canadiens' jersey.

We dare you.

Though a lot of teams across the sports spectrum blend red and blue, few (if any) do it as well as the boys from Montreal have done it since seemingly the beginning of time. Trying to find a better logo than the one plastered onto the chest? Go ahead, we'll wait.

OK, we'll say it. The original Jets had the better jerseys.

So while it's nice that we see them once in a while on retro nights, we'd rather it was permanent.

But we know it won't be, so we'll focus on the positives. We like the "new" logo that's a tribute to the Royal Canadian Air Force and the color scheme that surrounds it. And the double stripes on the sleeves and socks aren't bad either.

It's not the best in the league. It's not the worst in the league.

And thank goodness it's not the Gorton's fisherman.

What it is, though, is a traditional logo that resonates with veteran fans, a color scheme that complements well and an overall feel that's a suitable tribute to a franchise that has a lot of history in spite of the fact that it's not won a title for the better part of 40 years.

Welcome to the top 10, folks.

And what better way to arrive than with the Bruins, who are rightfully at or near the top of every jersey related ranking you come across, whether it's home, road or retro.

The logo is iconic, the color blend is timeless and the striping on the sleeves, torso and socks are in perfect harmony.

Call it a very good first effort for the folks in Seattle.

The attention to detail is noticeable, particularly with the shoulder patch logo that includes the signature Space Needle and an S that pays tribute to the 1917 Stanley Cup champion Seattle Metropolitans.

Ditto with the colors that tie in blue for water and include the intimidation of red. Put them up against the San Jose Sharks and you've got yourself an instant open-water rivalry.

There's probably a bit of contrasting opinion on this one.

The green base color is striking and strong, and the logo successfully merges the D for Dallas and the star for the state of Texas.

The black stripes and black pants create a nice contrast color-wise, too, which tops off the ensemble.

It's funny how people tend to sleep on the Blues.

Royal blue and navy blue are a natural mix for a team with a colorful name, and the blue note logo looks good no matter what colors it's made of or surrounded by.

The road whites look great, too, comprising the first excellent home/road package so far.

Sometimes, a logo is all you need.

From the moment the team relocated from its previous incarnation as the Colorado Rockies and headed to the swamps of Jersey, the horned NJ has been a signature piece amid many colors and designs.

The red home jerseys with black stripes and pants is a legit star across the league, but it all goes back to the logo that holds it together.

The baby blues were nice. The black, white and golds are great, too.

But again, as with the Devils before, it all comes down to the logo.

Three words: cartoon skating penguin. Put it all together with a superb color offering, and the Penguins are unquestionably a top-five commodity.

Six million hockey fans can't be wrong.

The jersey the Blackhawks wore from 1956 through 2018 was voted theGreatest NHL Uniform by fans taking part in a ballot on NHL.com in 2018, to the delight of bookend superstars Bobby Hull and Jonathan Toews.

These days, the red base color remains with the iconic logo.

The team's nickname and the symbol that accompanies it remain controversial. In 2020, the name and logo weredescribedas symbolizing a "legacy of imperialism and genocide" by Chicago-based Indigenous youth organization The Chi-Nations Youth Council.

However, judging purely on artistic merits, it's magical to look at.

We admit, this one makes us feel sentimental.

Looking at a Matthew Tkachuk or a Johnny Gaudreau in the red flaming C jersey brings memories of Lanny McDonald and Joe Nieuwendyk taking on the Edmonton Oilers in a 1980s-era Battle of Alberta.

Some like the flaming horse logo, too, but give us the old-school C and crank up the highlights.

And here's the flip side. Sort of.

Though the Flames are surely channeling their 1980s past, the Oilers have kept ownership of their oil drop logo and surrounded it with a more recent orange base that provides a jolt of visual energy.

Watching Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl making this collection their own in the same way that Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier owned the jerseys 40 years ago almost provides hope that the title run will return, too.

Looking for a blend of innovation and tradition?

Look no further than Broad Street in south Philadelphia.

The Flyers continue to make orange and black look cool in a hockey setting, and they also continue to ride with a logo—while more than 50 years old—that still looks punchy and fresh on the chest.

And for a unique touch, the contrasting nameplates create a franchise signature that's unequaled.