It’s been a little while since I’ve posted anything related to the NHL (other than the brief “NHL is back” post on Dec. 20th) as my focus has been solely on the 2021 World Juniors. Today, I’m going to unveil my Reverse Retro tier list. I was originally going to post this at the end of November, but it ended up getting pushed aside. Anyways, here is my Reverse Retro tier list. I think overall, the NHL and Adidas did a solid job on these jerseys, with the exception of a handful of teams.
| Level | Teams |
| The Best: | Arizona, Colorado, Carolina. |
| A: | Anaheim, NY Rangers, Tampa Bay, Los Angeles, Montreal, Florida. |
| B: | San Jose, Minnesota, Vancouver, Calgary, Washington, Boston, Ottawa, New Jersey. |
| C: | St. Louis, Winnipeg, Buffalo, Chicago, Nashville, Columbus, Vegas. |
| D: | Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Edmonton. |
| Awful: | Detroit, Dallas, Toronto, NY Islanders. |
Instead of just making a list, and leaving it at that, I’ve decided to breakdown what I did, or didn’t like about each teams Reverse Retro jersey.
Awful
Detroit: Way too plain. It’s essentially a normal Red Wings road jersey, only with adding a couple silver stripes. They could have done something with the Detroit Cougars or Falcons logos/jerseys.
Dallas: Too much white. The star design at the bottom doesn’t work well, given the fact it’s not even connected to the bottom of the jersey. The logo is also a bit hard to read.
Toronto: The 1970s jersey design is something I though was going to look nice, until it was revealed showing the 1967 logo. The grey on the shoulders/sleeves also looks odd.
NY Islanders: All the Islanders did was reverse the striping from their current home/road jerseys, and made the primary colour navy blue. Not much of a Reverse Retro as they wore something similar to this from 1998 to 2010. I was hoping they would have gone with the Fisherman logo.
D
Pittsburgh: Nothing really wrong with this jersey, just not great either. I was wanting to see a gold/yellow version of their 1990s “Robo-penguin” uniforms.
Philadelphia: I’m not a fan of the striping/sleeves. Black as a primary colour would have been nice to see, possibly with orange shoulders.
Edmonton: Too plain in my opinion. They should have gone with inverted colours in the logo.
C
St. Louis: I’m a big fan of the design of this jersey, but red as the primary colour is a bit too much.
Winnipeg: A unique colour scheme. Again, nothing really wrong with this jersey, but I was hoping to see a jersey with the 1990s logo, maybe in their current colours.
Buffalo: A good jersey design, I was a big fan of the original red jerseys. But I was wanting to see the “Goat Head” logo as the primary logo, with their current royal blue/gold colour scheme.
Chicago: The logo is alright, but I’m not a fan of the striping at all. Also, would have been nice to see Chicago go with something other than black as the primary colour. The majority of their alternate and outdoor game jerseys have been black.
Nashville: Design/colours are alright, overall not a bad jersey.
Columbus: I love that the original logo has returned, but I don’t like the striping at all on this jersey. Red as the primary colour is interesting.
Vegas: There’s not much for Vegas to go off of, so they chose the design of an old minor league team. I like the design, and that red is the primary colour, I’m but not a fan of the secondary logo as the primary logo on this jersey.
B
San Jose: I love that gray is the primary colour, and that the old logo is back. Although, I’m not a fan of the design at all.
Minnesota: I’m glad they went with the North Stars colours, but the Wild’s primary logo in NS colours doesn’t work in my opinion.
Vancouver: I was a big fan of their original gradient fade jersey. The blue/green looks good, but I was hoping for a solid green jersey.
Calgary: I’m really excited to see the “Blasty” logo return, but the jersey is essentially the same as the original one, other than a couple changes to the collar and striping. Doesn’t necessarily fit the “Reverse Retro” category I guess you can say, but a solid jersey nevertheless.
Washington: The “Screaming Eagle” logo looks great, as it did when it was originally released. But it doesn’t work with red as the primary colour.
Boston: Gold/Yellow with a retro logo, no issues with this one at all, looks solid.
Ottawa: A red version of their old/new uniforms. Looks great, and in my opinion, will likely stay on as an alternate jersey past the 2020-21 season.
New Jersey: A green version of their very first uniforms, and it looks really good. I’ve been wanting a green version for a while now.
A
Anaheim: A white version of their original “Wild Wing” jersey. Such an amazing look.
NY Rangers: A navy “Lady Liberty” with a different collar, and striping. Much like Calgary’s, doesn’t fit the “Reverse Retro” criteria, but it looks great.
Tampa Bay: A blue version of their original uniforms. It looks good, been wanting something like this ever since I started watching hockey. (First ever Stanley Cup Final I remember watching was 2004, Tampa Bay vs Calgary).
Los Angeles: 80s colours, 90s logo, a match made in heaven. Would love to see a gold version of this as well.
Montreal: A blue version of their classic uniforms is something I’ve been wanting for years, and years now. Glad I bought one!
Florida: Their retro logo on a navy blue jersey looks great, and the striping is nearly perfect. They have worn something similar to this in the past, but this one looks one hundred times better.
The Best
Arizona: My favourite jersey in NHL history (other than Montreal’s) is the green Arizona “Peyote Coyote” alternate they wore in the late 90s/early 2000s. Putting purple as the primary colour works perfectly.
Colorado: A white Nordiques jersey, in Avalanche colours, need I say more? It looks amazing.
Carolina: A gray Hartford Whalers jersey looks phenomenal, the striping also looks great.
Thanks to everyone who has been reading, let’s hope 2021 is a great year. We’re less than two weeks until the start of the 2021 NHL season!
Have a great weekend.
-Cooper.