Next up on the Last Word on Hockey Adidas reverse retro jersey rankings is the Atlantic division. As shown by the grades below, many of these jerseys were quite successful by their respective teams. They arguably might have the best reverse retro division collection of jerseys in the league. Here is the Atlantic division reverse retro jersey grades.
A closer look at all 31 new #ReverseRetro jerseys 👀 (📷 – @nhl) pic.twitter.com/gX0rNmodEt
— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) November 16, 2020
Grading Reverse Retro Jerseys: Atlantic Division
Florida Panthers – (A)
This was a great move by the Florida Panthers to bring back their past logo of the leaping panther for the reverse retro jerseys. The main colour blue really does a great job complementing the primary panther logo overall. This was a jersey that got many Florida Panthers fans excited about as this jersey did not have many flaws with it. Many fans are excited to see the past Florida Panthers logo on a jersey again, and the jersey as a whole is very well executed.
Montreal Canadiens – (A-)
As odd as it is to see a blue Montreal Canadiens jersey, the 1977 reverse retro jersey makes the blue look extremely good. Adidas took the red and blue from the 1977 jersey, swapped them, and as simple as it was, it was executed quite nicely. These jerseys will certainly look well not only in the fan section but also on the ice. The colour swap definitely makes the red logo pop out more, and really meshed well with the blue jersey. They took a timeless jersey, flipped the red and blue, and pulled it off quite nicely.
Ottawa Senators – (A-)
When the Ottawa Senators were rebranding the logo, many were anticipating another red jersey. However, the team went with a back to black home jerseys and basically did a revamp of the old jersey and logo design. With the Adidas reverse retro jerseys, they were able to keep a red jersey and keep their new logo and combined them well to form their retro jersey. Although many Sens fans were ready to move on from the red jerseys, this retro jersey will serve as a nice potential third jersey in the foreseeable future for the team.
Tampa Bay Lightning – (B+)
The defending Stanley Cup champions just like the rest of the league got a new reverse retro jersey. Like many in their division, this reverse retro 2004 jersey looks incredibly nice. Back in 2004, the primarily black jerseys were a very cool jersey. However, a blue jersey with the same logo is stunningly nice. The 2004 reverse retro Tampa Bay Lightning jerseys had made people ponder why the jerseys weren’t blue to start with as these jerseys are even slicker than their original 2004 jerseys. These jerseys are much nicer than their recently released grey and black jerseys, that look more like practice jerseys than a jersey that would be worn in an actual game.
Boston Bruins – (B)
These Boston Bruins jerseys are a throwback to 1990, and the reverse throwback jersey looks rather nice. Adidas brought back the bruin head on the shoulder sleeve in the 1970s and had its own center crest jersey up until the 1994-1995 season. As odd as the bear looks, the jersey as a whole is quite nice and simple. Boston pulled off the yellow jersey nicely with the reverse retro jerseys and kept things very to the point. Sometimes the simplest of things turn out better, and Boston’s retro jersey really shows that.
Buffalo Sabres – (C)
They had the right idea but had they put the buffalo head on the shoulder patch instead of using it as the primary logo. That would have been nicer. The 2000’s throwbacks had the buffalo head as the primary logo for their jerseys. It looked much cooler on the ice than these reverse retro jerseys will. It would’ve been interesting to see them bring back the red, white, black, and silver with their regular logo. Somewhat like what the Minnesota Wild did. The Buffalo Sabres certainly had the potential to be a solid retro jersey, but it fell flat rather than being a top jersey.
Detroit Red Wings – (D)
These were extremely underwhelming and looked as if little to no effort was put into the making of this jersey. It’s understandable that the Detroit Red Wings logo has been so timeless. However, with their past winter classic jerseys looking pretty sweet, it’s disappointing, to say the least. If they went back to the 1920s jersey with the “D” primary logo like their winter classic jerseys from 2009, they would’ve gained more popularity during the retro jersey release. However, they stuck with the current Red Wings logo. Other than putting a grey stripe under the numbers on the sleeves, the jersey is too simple and quite bland.
Toronto Maple Leafs – (F)
Going back to the 1967-1970s Toronto Maple Leafs logo was a great move by Toronto and Adidas. However, the way the jersey looks is very sub-par. The new reverse retro logo looks more stretched out and not like the original 1967 jersey. The jersey looks more like a sweatshirt or a fake jersey from China than an actual NHL jersey. Nothing looks nice with this jersey, and this is a more disappointing jersey released in this reverse retro event.
Here are the Reverse Retro jersey grades for the Atlantic division. Let us know your comments below.
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