Ranking the Atlantic Division Reverse Retro jerseys: The good, the bad, and the Red Wings

Some hits, some misses.

By Cup of Chowder Staff Nov 16, 2020, 11:23am EST

All 31 NHL teams unveiled their new Adidas Reverse Retro jerseys this morning.

We covered the Bruins’ new gold threads in another post, but now it’s time to see how the Bruins’ jerseys compare to those of their Atlantic Division neighbors.

The Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers, and Tampa Bay Lightning all released their own Reverse Retros this morning, with some harkening back to glory days gone by, and others heading back to the 90’s.

Let’s begin!

8. Detroit Red Wings

Yikes. For a team with as much history as the Red Wings, they sure did make a weird choice here.

The Wings are a team that are essentially known for the color red, and there’s really not much of that here. This kind of looks like an All-Star Game jersey, or a jersey that would be worn for practice.

Not great.

7. Tampa Bay Lightning

Eh. Not terrible, and the shoulder patch with the state outline and the bolt is great. However, Tampa could have gone a little bolder and made that patch the main crest.

Or, they could have gone wild and brought back that jersey with the rain and lightning everywhere. Overall, these are fine, but they don’t really stand out in any way.

6. Toronto Maple Leafs

Like Tampa’s, these are fine. They’re not super interesting, but I like the white vertical stripes on the sleeves. Those help it stand out a little more.

5. Florida Panthers

I actually like these, and think they’ll look a lot better on the ice than they do in these promo photos. The deep navy blue is an underused color, and the gold, red, and white accents are nice touches.

Still, for a team like the Panthers who are looking for a way to stand out, they could have gone a little wilder.

4. Montreal Canadiens

These are pretty cool. Montreal kind of remixes things here without going too wild. You know the tradition-focused Canadiens were never going to go too far out of the box, but their use of the royal blue as a main color was a good idea.

It’s essentially their current jerseys with the colors swapped, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

3. Buffalo Sabres

I’m torn on these. I actually think they look great, but I can’t help but wish they had gone really bold and brought back the buffalo-head logo. These basically use the same colors as their home/away set, so it’t not a huge departure.

Still, the gold/royal blue/white color scheme works, and this is a nice jersey overall.

2. Boston Bruins

It’s growing on me. I’m glad the Bruins went back to a gold jersey and stayed away from black as a base color.

The return of Meth Bear is a welcome sight, and the general color scheme is pleasing to the eye.

My guess is that these will pop a lot more as a complete set (i.e. once we see the pants, socks, gloves, and helmet).

1. Ottawa Senators

Love it. There’s so much red, but just enough black thrown in to break things up. The black stripes on the sleeves help the black-and-white numbers stand out a bit more.

The return of the old-school Senator head is a welcome sight as well. These will look great with black pants, red socks, and black/red/gold gloves.

Polls can’t have 8 options, so have your say in the comments! Which Atlantic Division team has the best new alternate threads?