With the NHL regular season nearing its close, the trade deadline come and gone, and the playoffs on the horizon it’s likely we won’t see any new jerseys introduced until the beginning of next season. This means there’s no better time to look back on the top five new jerseys introduced over the course of the past season. For the sake of this list, I won’t be including warmup jerseys for specialty nights like pride or Black history month simply because there are so many and they’re all amazing in their own right. With that out of the way let’s count down the best of the best Adidas had to offer this season.
Top 5 New Jerseys For The 2022-23 NHL Season
5. Edmonton Oilers Home
While not necessarily new per se, this season marked the first time since Adidas took over as the jersey partner of the NHL that the Edmonton Oilers donned their classic blue home jerseys. When Adidas began its partnership with the NHL, the Oilers were one of the teams to receive a new look along with it. This change saw them ditching their iconic blue home sweaters for a duller orange one with dark blue shoulders. While these weren’t bad by any means, Oilers faithful had been awaiting the return of the blues for years.
Their wish was finally granted at the start of the 22-23 season when it was announced that the blue and brighter orange would be making their return as the full-time home sweaters. Not only do the colors pop much more on these threads than the previous ones but they also call to mind the Oilers dynasty of the 80s that saw one of the best teams in history win five cups in 10 years sporting nearly identical jerseys. The only reason these couldn’t be any higher on the list among the top five new jerseys is it isn’t the most unique introduced this season even if it is a classic.
4. 2023 NHL All-Star Game East/West
When in Rome, or in this case when in Sunrise do as the Floridians do. These All-Star sweaters certainly scream Florida while also paying tribute to the 1994 All-Star game which took place during the Panthers’ inaugural season. However, rather than sticking with the purple east and teal west from that game, Adidas opted to add a Miami vice flair to fit with the host city. The All-Stars from the east donned a predominantly black jersey with pink and blue striping separating a white star pattern on the bottom of the torso and sleeves while the west sported white with black and pink stripes separating a blue star pattern.
Both jerseys kept the classic eastern/western conference logo from the original ’94 jerseys only with slight modifications to the border surrounding the logo changing it to blue for the east and pink for the west. These jerseys perfectly represent not only the host city but the fun energy surrounding the All-Star Game and look pretty stylish in the process, making it fourth among the top five new jerseys this season.
3. Florida Panthers Reverse Retro
The 22-23 season may not be going exactly as planned for the Florida Panthers but at least they look great doing it. This absolutely incredible jersey comes from Adidas’s line of reverse retro jerseys which takes classic aspects of teams’ jerseys and remixes them into new styles. Floridas’ 2020 effort was nothing to scoff at featuring the classic leaping panther logo on a navy blue sweater but they outdid themselves this time around. This jersey sees the Panthers throwing back to the (not so) distant past of 2009.
However, rather than limiting themselves to a former primary logo, the Panthers opted to use the logo found on the shoulder of their jerseys up until they re-branded during the 2016-17 season. The striping and colors on the jersey are loosely based on their 2009 alternate jersey with powder blue being used as a primary rather than navy blue and red and dark yellow being brought in as accent colors and a brand new FLA shoulder patch being added to the shoulders. All this combines for a jersey that just screams Florida at the top of its lungs while being one of the Panthers’ nicest jerseys ever in the process.
2. Tampa Bay Lightning Reverse Retro
Just hear me out on this one, okay? The Tampa Bay Lightning have lacked interesting jerseys since their rebrand in 2011. Seriously, they went from one of the best logos and most recognizable logos to a minimalist logo and plain, boring jerseys, and while I understand these jerseys now have some winning history to them, that doesn’t make them good. What the Lightning needed was a jersey with some personality, some excitement, a spark if you will. Enter Reverse Retro. This absolutely chaotic jersey is so tacky it’s incredible. The front and back feature sublimated printing showing a storm with crashing waves and pouring rain as well as the classic (and best) 90s Tampa Bay logo.
The sides’ arms feature stitched bolts of white-hot lightning further adding to the storm scene on the front. To tie the whole thing together the numbers are in a jagged lightning bolt-esque font that just adds to the chaos. While these are remixes of Tampas’ original storm jersey from 1996-1999, the mix of Adidas quality and white background really allows this jersey to reach its full potential. Love it or hate it there’s nothing quite like it and I think that’s worth the high placement among the top five new jerseys around the NHL this season.
1. Buffalo Sabres Alternate
Number one on this list of the top five new jerseys is the Buffalo Sabres alternates. The goat head is back and better than ever. Prior to the start of the 22-23 season, the Sabres announced that the classic black and red alternate jersey would be making its return to Keybank Arena for the first time since 2006. The jersey features a gorgeous black, red, white, and silver color palette with the goat head (which is a buffalo but is affectionately known as such) front and center on the chest. This jersey looked great when they first wore it and it looks even better now with the enhancements in jersey technology brought about by Adidas and their prime-green jerseys.
The front logo uses raised stitching to give the Buffalo depth, making it look even better than the last time it was seen. To top off the great look of this jersey it also seems to have some sort of magic powers. So far this season in the 10 games the Sabres have worn them, they’ve had an 8-2 record. Buffalo has scored an astounding six+ goals in seven of those wins with the only outlier being a 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. All those reasons combine to make the Sabres alternate the definitive best new jersey of the 2022-23 NHL season.
Main Image: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
