Wild Unveil New Road Jerseys

Today at the Minnesota State Fair (I really dislike the phrase "The Great Minnesota Get Together") and on the team's website, the Minnesota Wild finally unveiled their new road jerseys for the 2013-14 season. The jerseys came after a week of teaser photos from the website and Twitter account.

The jersey was leaked for a brief period of time on the team's website last night, but it did not get past icethetics, who managed to get a post in about it.

Here is Zach Parise and Josh Harding modeling the new uniforms:

Overall, this is another great jersey from the Wild. I love the green on the shoulder, the bold red numbers, and the bars on the bottom give it an old school feel. The only complaint here is why go with the shoulder patches? The team's other two jerseys do not have shoulder patches, so one would of assumed that they would of been done away with with this jersey.

Expect this to be another hot selling jersey from the Wild. Whenever they release a new jersey, it has always been met with overwhelming demand.

Thoughts on the new jersey, Team of 18,001?

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An Accurate NHL Uniform Power Ranking

Today, Paul Lukas of uni-watch did his annual power rankings of NHL jerseys for ESPN.com.

While typically I see eye to eye with him on most things related to jerseys/uniforms in sports, this list he published today is more awful than good.

The ranking has the Columbus Blue Jackets and their cannon crested third jersey checking in one spot ahead of the Minnesota Wild. The Wild came in at number 10 behind the more traditional jerseys in the league (Montreal, Detroit, Toronto, etc.), and keep in mind they have a new road jersey on the way.

Other atrocities on this list include the Dallas Stars and their god awful new jerseys checking in at number 12. Florida and their very plain jerseys getting a spot at 13. San Jose gave their jerseys a face lift and deserved a much better ranking than the 19 they got (their black armor jersey is one of my favorites jerseys in the league). And the Los Angeles Kings came in dead last, despite going back to the black and silver that they previously wore during the Gretzky era.

Since I have several disagreements with the list, I will go out of my way to give you a more accurate list here:

1. Montreal Canadiens-24 Cups with this jersey. Never change this look.
2. Detroit Red Wings-Their crest is so big, that the 'C' and 'A' have to be on the left side of the uniform.
3. New York Rangers-Their third jersey gets better and better as the years go by.
4. Toronto Maple Leafs-The old school socks are a perfect accent to these jerseys.
5. Chicago Blackhawks-Lukas was awfully harsh on the Hawks home unis. It is still a great set.
6. Boston Bruins-The third jersey lowers their ranking. I'm not big on the bear going on the front.
7. Pittsburgh Penguins-Bring back the baby blues from the first Winter Classic.
8. Minnesota Wild-I gave my two cents on their jersey history on Tuesday.
9. San Jose Sharks-Modified uniforms = modified playoff results?
10. Los Angeles Kings-Never get rid of the black and silver look. 
11. Philadelphia Flyers-I like the retro look, but I cringe at the name on the back of the jerseys.
12. Edmonton Oilers-At least they went back to the jerseys from the 80s. 
13. New Jersey Devils-Devils have kept their look the same since 92. But who will score their goals?
14. Buffalo Sabres-The waiting for their new gold alternate jersey has gone on too long.
15. New York Islanders-If that alternate jersey did not exist, they would be a top 10 team.
16. Columbus Blue Jackets-I still dont get the cannon logo.
17. Carolina Hurricanes-They simplified their look. A nice change from what they previously wore.
18. Calgary Flames-Remember when they had the flaming horse crest?
19. Ottawa Senators-Throwback alternate is a nice touch.
20. Florida Panthers-These jerseys just dont do much. Seems a bit too plain.
21. Winnipeg Jets-Jets can do better. Take a page from the Selanne days.
22. Anaheim Ducks-The logo stinks. Main jerseys stink. The alternate has too much orange.
23. Vancouver Canucks-At least its not the worst jerseys in their history.
24. Phoenix Coyotes-Bring back the robot coyote!
25. Tampa Bay Lightning-I like what they tried to do here, but lots of unnecessary stuff going on.
26. Washington Capitals-Switch to something similar to the alternates please!
27. St. Louis Blues-Alternate is great, mains have too much RBK in them.
28. Nashville Predators-Ryan Suter's reason for leaving Nashville was he secretly hated the yellow.
29. Colorado Avalanche-RBK makeover took a nice jersey and made it bad. Alternate is a woof.
30. Dallas Stars-Mike Modano should of never put this awful thing on.


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A Timeline of Minnesota Wild Jerseys

Yesterday, the Wild announced that on September 1st at the Minnesota State Fair, they are unveiling their new road jersey for the 2013-14 season. This is not the first time the Wild have unveiled a jersey at the State Fair, as they unveiled their current Forest Green Alternate jersey (see photo below) back in 2009.

The late Derek Boogaard unveils the Wild's alternate jersey in 2009

So as we get ready to see the new road jersey, lets take a look back at the jerseys in Wild history.

Home Jersey: 2000-2003, Away Jersey: 2003-2013

This was the first jersey in the history of the franchise. It was unveiled in the summer of 2000 and served as both the team's home and road jersey. It was the only remaining jersey to have the "razor blade" numbers on the back after the team dumped the matching green jersey following the 06-07 season. 

Away Jersey: 2000-2003, Home Jersey: 2003-2007

This simply is an exact replica of the white jersey, the only difference being that it is all green (with the exception of the red and gold stripes). The color of the numbers on the back of the sweater was not the greatest, but still looked fine. The jersey was a casualty of the NHL switching to the RBK Edge Jerseys after the 2006-07 season, as all NHL teams went down to just a home and an away jersey (Alternates were slowly introduced over the next few years). The Wild stuck with the red uniforms, cutting all ties with a primary green uniform.

Alternate Home Jersey: 2003-2007

Entering the team's fourth season, the Wild unveiled their new red alternate jersey to be worn at home games, as the NHL switched up how home and away teams dress (colors for the home team and white for the road team). The red jersey was met with overwhelming support and the demand for the it was at the top of the NHL jersey charts. The best feature was the laces below the neck, giving the jersey a old school touch. The jersey remained as the team's alternate through the 2006-07 season, but was modified before the 2007-08 season where it would take over as the team's main and only home jersey.

Home Jersey: 2007-Present

When the RBK Edge jerseys took over the NHL, the Wild decided to modify the red jerseys to accommodate the new brand. As you can see between the first and second red jersey, there is now a stripe around the shoulder area and the absence of the green at the bottom. Other than that, everything remained the same.

Alternate Home Jersey: 2009-Present

Again, the Wild unveiled a new third jersey and it was a smashing success. The cursive crest was a very nice touch along with the laces under the neck. The jersey has become more popular than the red jerseys, and was the home uniform of the Wild during their Stanley Cup Playoff appearance last year. This jersey should serve as the main home uniform, with reds switching to alternates but we are not likely to see that switch take place (When this jersey is the only one you wear at home during the postseason, what does that say about what the team thinks of it?).

Personally, I am a big fan of the current green alternates. It should be recorded as the best jersey in the brief history of the franchise (But I'm sure there are others out there who disagree). I would hope that the new road jersey would be modeled after the green alternate much like the Iowa Wild have done, but it does not sound like that will be the case.

But its up to you. State your case for the best Wild jersey in the team's history...

(All jersey photos in this post are courtesy of sportslogos.net)

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Russo's Chat of Gold

Today, Mike Russo used a Wild off day, to take part in one of his few Wild chats throughout the year. I took to reading the chat replay this evening, with very low expectations. I love Russo and think he is simply one of the best in the business, but his chats in the past have been rather, well, not informative enough (Some of the questions that get asked are ridiculous. I can only imagine the ones he doesn't answer).

But this chat was definitely not lacking useful information this time.

If you want to read the full chat, click here. Meanwhile, for those staying (Thanks!), I am going to go over those great nuggets of info Russo left for us today. Here we go...

• White jerseys will be revamped next year, while red and green ones will remain. Its probably already been mentioned by Russo at some point this year, but its worth mentioning again. Get ready to part ways with the road jerseys circa 2000. Maybe look for something similar to either Houston Aeros white jersey (Main, alternate)?
• The Aeros will most likely be leaving Houston and relocating to Des Moines, Iowa. It will be nice from a fan's perspective, making road trips to the farm team much easier and less costly. But I have read the Wild did not want their AHL team to leave Houston, and have been trying tirelessly to keep the team there.
• The Wild will definitely be looking into re-signing Jason Pominville. Well given the kings ransom we just gave up for him (Just saying!), and the fact he has looked sharp in two games despite little practice, I would dear god hope so.
• The Wild have inquired about Thomas Vanek from Buffalo. I think we can wait out another year until he hits free agency. Trading for him next year, with the cap going down to $64.3M, is dicey. 
• The salary cap will continue to go up following the 2013-14 season. Lets hope for this, so we actually have a chance at getting Vanek.
• If the Wild need a defenseman, for whatever reason, Marco Scandella will be that defenseman. When the Aeros season ends, the Wild can recall any player from Houston, without that player's salary counting towards the cap. Scandella has not had the best season, but maybe another shot at playing on the big club will get his game to take off.
• Clayton Stoner will not be a healthy scratch this year. In Russo's blog last night, he mentioned how Yeo was impressed with Stoner's game against Columbus. Yeo believes that Stoner can only get better from here, so playing him is better than sitting him. I hope Yeo is right.
• The Wild can beat Vancouver, Detroit, and Anaheim in a playoff series. Given the domination of all three teams lately, this team very well can. The Wild may not have a win against Anaheim, but they dominated play in the last two games. If the two teams meet in the playoffs, it should be a much different outcome for the Wild.
• The Wild can not beat St. Louis, Los Angeles, and Chicago in a playoff series. It took shootouts for the Wild to beat Los Angeles and Chicago at home. Road games against the Hawks and Kings have been horrendous. St. Louis plays very big, (which does not matchup well for the Wild) and has dominated the Wild as well this year. Meanwhile, the Kings and Blackhawks, are quite fast, and the Wild are a bit lacking in the speed department.
• My favorite point: Russo does not whine about traveling, he just critiques persistent maintenance delays. If you follow Russo on Twitter, you frequently finding him having some sort of delay that is preventing him from traveling. I find it very entertaining when this happens, as he loves to point out the flaws. Others call this whining.

So as you can see, lots and lots of info from the great Russo in this chat. Probably won't see another until the end of the season, whenever that is.

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