Nashville Predators: Top Five All-Star Jerseys of All Time

5. 1993 Black and Whites Relaunch

Here is a classicly simple take on the jersey. Think of all of the jerseys out there with all of the different color combinations. Most of the time, the best ones have black or white as the primary color. Black looks sleek. We wear black in our daily lives to look slimmer and more attractive. Our eyes are just naturally drawn to black apparel. All of those things hold true with these jerseys. The black really makes the orange accents pop. These get the nod over the very similar 1989 jerseys, because of the change from orange to white numbers. It is cleaner that way.

4. 1984-86 Orange and Whites

My favorite color is orange, so naturally, I was drawn to these uniforms. Not to mention, a good majority of the All-Star game jerseys have had orange featured. However, these jerseys have an appealing simplicity to them. Even though they have a bunch of stars on them (another staple in All-Star jersey history), they are in simple, straight lines. The exact opposite from two years before. More on those later. Another great aspect is the shadowed, 3D effect of the lettering and numbers. It really makes them pop, without having to fill them with a crazy pattern or absurd color. These are definitely worthy of any top 5 list out there.

3. 2000-01 North America vs. World All-Stars

By 2000, there had only been a few “radical” changes to NHL All-Star jerseys. These jerseys were drastically different than any year before. The All-Star game itself was drastically different than most years before. From 1998-2002, the NHL All-Star game was the battle between North America and the World, not inter-divisional or conference. The players wore the color tops, but the goalies wore the corresponding white tops. The overall design is unique, but not gimmicky. I like the retro vibe of the lines and curves. The best part about these jersey sets is the lack of stars present on them. Save a few years, every other All-Star uniform is either littered with stars or has them in awkward places.

2. 2004 Minnesota Wild Alternates

The newly franchised Minnesota Wild (2000) were picked to host the game in 2004. With that opportunity, they infused their team spirit into their All-Star jerseys. What is not to love about these jerseys? They are clean, simple, and vintage. They undoubtedly inspired the future NHL Winter Classic jerseys, especially using beige/cream in place of white. The green jersey also inspired the Wild’s future alternate and, current, home jerseys. Minnesota was definitely on the cutting edge of jersey design when they crafted these beauties.

1. 2016 Nasvhille Game-Changers

I know, choosing the Nashville Predators take on All-Star game jerseys as best of all time, makes me sort of a homer. However, these really are fantastic unis. As I referenced earlier, black is a very fashionable choice. Pair that with the gold and gray accents, and you have yourself a very sharp jersey set. On top of that, they did something uncommon to any other All-Star game previously. No, I am not referring to Nashville changing the rules of the game to a 3-on-3 tournament. Although, that was quite the game-changer…literally. They managed to produce a jersey set that in no way incorporated a shade of orange, blue, or red.

Blue and red are the most commonly used colors in the NHL. Twenty-two of the 31 teams have a shade of red or blue as their primary color. It’s one of the many reasons the Nashville Predators have sold out on the Gold. Additionally, orange has been part of at least 3/4 of all previous All-Star game jerseys.  Therefore, the 2016 black and gold jerseys earn the top spot in my 5 best All-Star sweaters.

Honorable Mentions

Even though I really like this year’s jerseys, they couldn’t quite cut it in the top 5. They are just too new-age. When you have an event that has been around, officially, for over 70 years, it would be nice to have some part of the past incorporated into the concept. You don’t find that with this year’s set.

My other honorable mention has to go to these sweaters worn in 1939.

These didn’t make my top 5 because the game they were for wasn’t technically an official All-Star game. Before the All-Star game became official in 1947, the NHL had a few memorial games in honor of some NHLers who tragically passed away. Those memorial games usually featured an All-Star team versus the reigning Stanley Cup Champions. This set was from the 1939 Babe Siebert Memorial game.  Babe Siebert passed away in a drowning accident.  The All-Stars played the Montreal Canadiens, because Siebert was going to be their head coach.

Worst of the Worst

There have been a few, really bad All-Star jerseys over the last 70ish years. None have been worse than what 1982 produced.

For what it’s worth, these weren’t that far off from the other All-Star jerseys of the time. But, from a design standpoint, these are hideous.  The numbers are flat. They were one year away from putting the conference names on the chest in place of the NHL shield. The NHL decided to take the term “all-star” literally.  That is just way too many stars. The NHL didn’t even have a team in Vegas yet, so there is just no excuse.