Nashville Predators: A Look Back at the Preds Alternate Jerseys and Will We See One Again?
The Nashville Predators’ history of alternate jerseys is a mix of love and hate. We decided to take a look back at the Predators’ previous alternate uniforms.
The history of the Nashville Predators is only 20-years in the making, yet it is already filled with interesting facts. We witnessed a few great moments last year. Part of the history of a team is the uniforms they wear. It always seems to be a bit polarizing. Just look at the new Adidas sweaters last year.
This upcoming season will be the first time we get a glimpse at alternate jerseys for teams since Adidas took over as the league’s uniform provider. Before last season, Adidas announced there would be no alternates for the 17-18 season as they needed to focus on primary uniforms for all 31 teams. We’re now a season into the Adidas-uniform generation for the NHL, and that means alternate jerseys are back.
More from History
- Captain Candidates if Nashville Predators Didn’t Have Roman Josi
- The All-Time 25 Games or Less Nashville Predators Lineup
- How the Nashville Predators Have Trended over Past Five Years
- These Nashville Predators Single Season Records Might Fall This Year
- Looking at the Five Best Individual Seasons in Nashville Predators History
So far this offseason, we’ve seen three teams unveil their alternate jerseys for the upcoming season. Carolina and Arizona both announced their designs during this year’s NHL Draft. Then on Saturday, we saw the Anaheim Ducks join in on the fun as they announced their alternate design; a mix of their current color scheme mixed with the vintage Mighty Ducks jersey. I love alternate jerseys, and in my opinion, all three so far have been home runs.
These three alternate jerseys really got me thinking about the Predators alternate jerseys. I wanted to look back on the team’s previous alternates, and also think about what a potential future Adidas-generation alternate jersey might look like.
The Infamous Mustard Alternate
The Nashville Predators’ first debuted an alternate jersey on November 21, 2001. At a home game against the Chicago Blackhawks, the Predators donned the infamous “mustard yellow” jerseys for the first time.
This was the Predators first foray into using “gold” as the primary color. The jerseys were a mustard yellow with navy and silver stripes on the cuff. The team also opted for alternate logos on this jersey, going with an animated saber-tooth head as the crest and the famous fossil logo on the shoulders.
Even to this day, the mustard alternates draw mixed reviews. Some people absolutely love them, and others straight up hate them. Personally, I tend to be in the latter group. I think if you take this exact jersey but swap in today’s shade of gold or navy as the primary color, it’s a home run. To me, the mustard yellow just derails the whole thing from being a great alternate sweater.
Whether you love or hate the mustard jerseys, you can’t argue that the team was successful while wearing them. Throughout the five seasons of existence, the Predators had a record of 38-19-12 while wearing the mustard alternates. The Predators went on to retire the jerseys at the end of the 2006-2007 season.
The Preds Get it Right With the “Black and Blue” Alternates
Two seasons after the mustard jerseys were retired, the Nashville Predators returned with a new alternate jersey. The Black and Blue alternate made its debut against the St. Louis Blues on November 27, 2009.
The Black and Blue jersey was a simple and clean jersey paired with a few subtleties that really made it a great alternate jersey. Hidden in the black and blue was a checkerboard pattern along the bottom that added a slight design element to a classic look. Another subtlety added was the red eye in the monochrome version of the crest. My favorite element of the Black and Blue, and what really makes it a classic sweater in my opinion, is the vintage lace-up at the top.
Putting my Predators bias aside, the Black and Blue alternate is one of my favorite alternate jerseys throughout the entire NHL. It’s clean, classic, and has those few added elements that really push it over the top. The Predators haven’t worn the Black and Blues since 2011, when the team transitioned to gold as their primary color scheme.
Will We See Another Alternate in the Future?
The Black and Blue alternates are the last alternate jerseys that the Predators have had. Ever since their retirement, Predators fans have been wanting a new alternate. There’s even an entire Reddit thread about what fans would like the hypothetical alternate jersey to look like. So if the desire is there, why haven’t we seen a new alternate?
I think that the absence of a new alternate jersey can be attributed to the team’s rebrand that started in 2011. Before the 2011-2012 season, the Predators started a rebrand that focused around gold. First were the gold home jerseys. Then the gold helmets on Saturday home games. Eventually, the team moved to wear the gold helmets full-time.
I mention the rebrand because I believe it’s the main reason why we haven’t seen a new alternate jersey for the Predators. The new brand for the team was still a work in progress, and introducing a third jersey might detract from the brand you’re trying to build. I get that.
But now the time is right to introduce an alternate jersey. The Predators have a strong brand identity now. The gold has been in place for seven years, and the Stanley Cup Final run only helped to strengthen that brand on a league-wide scale. Also, the three alternate jerseys that were announced this offseason (Anaheim, Arizona, and Carolina) have all been hits. Imagine how awesome an Adidas/Predators alternate would look?
When Adidas was announced as the new uniform provider for the NHL, I took a stab at creating what I wanted in an alternate Predators jersey. I wanted something similar to the Black and Blues; navy, simple, and classic. Below is the design that I came up with. I even decided to replace the famous piano-key neckline with a silhouette of Nashville’s skyline.
Let’s hear from you all. Do you want a new alternate jersey? If so, what would you want it to look like?