Sweaters and hockey have been synonymous with each other since the infancy of the sport. Teams have been identified by their iconic colours and patterns. Some of them are classic while others are classically awful. This summer our annual series focuses on the best and the worst sweaters in each team’s history. Today we have the best and the worst Philadelphia Flyers sweaters in team history.
Philadelphia Flyers Sweaters: The Best and Worst
How We Did It?
We at Last Word on Hockey used a variety of methods to compile this list. Polling came from social media, our writers, and fans. We wanted to get a variety of opinions when we put out our list. This compilation will likely spur debate. However, we wanted to see who had the most memorable sweaters in each team’s history. Let’s put our best foot forward with the best sweaters.
The Best of the Philadelphia Flyers
Original Orange
Philadelphia came into the league in 1967 and their sweaters were an immediate hit. A naming contest was held and over 25,000 entries were received. According to NHL Uniform Database, the name was Fliers, but changed to Flyers because “it went well phonetically with Philadelphia.”
July 11: Happy birthday, Bill Barber (1952) pic.twitter.com/dVG4TEy6Xx
— Flyers Alumni (@FlyersAlumni) July 11, 2023
The Flyers were the first team to make orange a primary colour and the logo was a black-winged “P” turned on its side. An orange dot was placed in the middle and the logo has stayed relatively the same since the team’s inception.
This initial sweater would stay the same mostly from 1967 until 1982. The white shoulder yokes would be fattened up in that season and the experimentation with pants would only last a couple of seasons. However, this is a clean look and a timeless sweater from the Broad Street Bullies.
The 90s Black Alternates
We’ve bemoaned the black alternate sweater a few times a few times in this Summer Series. However, the Flyers are one of the few teams to get away with an awesome black sweater. This black uniform debuted in the days of the Legion of Doom in the 1997-98 season. We all recall the heroic line of Eric Lindros, John LeClair, and Mikael Renberg. Philadelphia basically did a palette swap of the orange sweater, but it was a well-received look.
The black sweaters proved popular enough that it displaced the orange as the primary road sweater in 2000-01. That look didn’t last, but has been a more accepted colour most of the time since the jersey’s inception.
The 2017 Stadium Series
Philadelphia once again dipped its toe into dark waters in the 2017 Stadium Series game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. This sweater doesn’t look like a traditional Flyers uniform, but it was a well-liked one. There is no shoulder piping on this one with a black base and orange stripes on the arms and bottom of the sweater. The team also had an orange nameplate base with black lettering on it. This was another raved about sweater and it has been an alternate sweater since the 2018-19 campaign. Flyers fans have gotten used to this sweater being part of the rotation.
The Worst of the Philadelphia Flyers Starting with the 50th Anniversary Sweater
There’s nothing wrong with celebrating a milestone on your sweaters. Most teams do a ceremonial patch or throwback sweaters, but the Flyers did something odd.
Flyers going gold for their 50th anniversary celebration https://t.co/YFW8mYYfwL pic.twitter.com/u5nlo4gcUk
— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) September 2, 2016
Philadelphia marked the franchise’s 50th anniversary in 2016-17 with gold numbering on the sweater. There was also gold trim on the winged “P”, which wasn’t the first time that happened. Seeing the gold is a bit jarring and this look was only worn a few times. Let’s hope the next major milestone is marked with black, white, or orange numbers instead of that look.
The Chrome Flyers
Gold wasn’t the first metallic colour to be on a Flyers crest or numbers. In 2002, the Flyers brought orange back into the rotation as a base colour for their sweaters. This was after the club went with black and white for a few seasons. However, this orange jersey wasn’t the traditional design from the 1970s or the 1990s. The shoulders and sleeves had a different look about them and it seemed kind of off. These uniforms would stay until 2007 in a period where the club made some interesting fashion choices. Order would slowly be restored in the 2010s.
Losing Your Edge – Flyers Edition
We’ve complained a few times about some of the calls that Reebok made when they had the NHL jersey contract. The Flyers were another victim of one of their bad redesigns. Philadelphia did its first major overhaul of its sweaters since the 1980s and these ones fell flat. The shoulder yokes and sleeve striping were odd to say the least. One good thing was the numbers stayed the same during this era.
The Flyers would put things right in 2010-11 when a take on the classic design returned. At least things have settled down mostly on the sweater front for the franchise.
Other Considerations
The 2012 Winter Classic sweaters that became the 2014 alternates were nice. We also like the orange home sweater that was worn from 2010 to 2023. Philly’s first Reverse Retro was a tad questionable and their latest Stadium Series drew a bit of criticism. However, that one didn’t deserve some of the stick it got.
Main photo by: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
