It’s no secret that the Los Angeles Kings are a black and silver team when it comes to their color scheme. They switched to purple and yellow in 1988 with the arrival of a certain Gretzky, and they’ve been playing with those colors ever since. There have been variations on the shades and uses, but since then every non-special sweater has included a combination of black and silver. And that continued tonight as the Los Angeles Kings shocked the hockey world with the unveiling of an alternate jersey just before their season-opening game against the Colorado Avalanche.
I often wonder why teams make alternate jerseys that are the same color as one of their primary jerseys, but that didn’t seem to be a factor in the Kings’ thinking based on what the Kings wore tonight.
I’m not sure, but I’ll turn them Legends Nights Jerseys 2010-14 black and silver isn’t that special, and it seems like this might be one of the laziest alternate “designs” any team has shown. The Kings have all kinds of abilities they can use, but have they changed the colors? Come on, kings. Give an ounce of effort!
As you can see on the right, there isn’t much to be excited about about these alternatives. They already have a black sweater that they will wear at home, so adding a new one doesn’t make any sense. The design is clean without a lot of extra gear that isn’t necessary, so that’s a plus, but as mentioned above, they literally just recolored a jersey they had already used throughout their history. You don’t get points for copying work already done, so all other design elements are contested. You may consider the lace collar as new, but it has been ruined and does not affect how the jersey looks. I think Fanatics’ work is simply “if you can’t come up with something new, just copy a past design and change the colors”, which means this is an automatic fail.
I want to give the Kings some credit for not leaking the new alternate jerseys to anyone prior to the player introductions on opening night. There were no images on social media and I didn’t see much talk on social media about a new alternate jersey. That kind of tight-lipped planning and effort deserves a tip of the cap in today’s breaking news world, and the Kings handled the jersey change well after coming out for warmups in their regular home jerseys. Kudos to the Kings for that aspect.
I will say that the matte silver helmet is an upgrade from the shiny, metal helmet they wore last season, and I appreciate the use of the silver helmet to add some contrast and color to the all-black monochrome look. I know there have been complaints on social media tonight about the helmet, but hockey is a sport that relies on colors, so using the “other primary color” to break up a monochrome design and color scheme helps immensely.
Overall, this alternate jersey isn’t bad, but it’s not new and we should not treat it as if it were a revolutionary design for kings. Yes, the helmet choice is new for the Kings, but if that’s all we’re doing for the “new” part of the “new alternate jersey,” we’re falling into Washington Capitals territory, using the same design over and over again. Fanatics and the Kings don’t get any credit for changing colors on a jersey design that has been used by the Kings in the past, so these two get a thumbs up for showing the hockey world how well they can use MS Paint.
UPDATE: And the Kings lost 4-1 in this jersey, so the hockey gods may share my disappointment in the Kings’ choice of their alternates.
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
#Living #black #silver