The Winnipeg Jets ended months of speculation of Tuesday morning, and officially unveiled their new home and away jerseys to be worn this season. At a Canadian Air Force base in Winnipeg, the team used military personnel, actual jets, and a few Jets players to debut their new sweaters to the world. Just like the logo, the new Winnipeg Jets will look a lot different than the original Jets did back in the day. To see what the new jerseys look like, continue after the jump.
Bryan Vickroy
At 11:00 am Tuesday morning, True North Sports, the owners of the Winnipeg Jets, held their press conference at the 17 Wing base in Winnipeg to reveal the new Jets jerseys. The press conference included members of the organization, military staff and veterans, fans, not to mention actual Jets players to show off the new threads. Players Andrew Ladd, Nik Antropov, Mark Stuart, and Eric Fehr debuted the jerseys by stepping out of the back of a military Hercules plane in unison, with two players sporting the white and blue jerseys each.
The new Jets logo is prominent on the chest, and the new alternate logos are placed on each shoulder. The home jerseys are primarily dark blue with light blue and white accents. The away jerseys are white with both blue colors used as accents. The most distinguishing feature on the jerseys are the arm bands. They were incorporated to give the jerseys a vintage military feel. Here is a part of the official statement about the jerseys from the Jets website:
The jerseys consist largely of two shades of blue. The primary navy blue base of the home dark jerseys is referred to as “Polar Night Blue” which is found on many of today’s Royal Canadian Air Force planes, including the Dash 8. The lighter, secondary blue is called “Aviator Blue” which is similar to the historical colours by used the RCAF, including traditional RCAF flags and the jerseys of the 1948 RCAF Flyers. The jersey also features the previously unveiled primary logo on the front, with the secondary logo placed on the shoulders of each jersey.
According to True North Sports, two separate patches will be worn by Winnipeg. An opening night patch will be on the jerseys when they make their regular season debut against the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday, October 9. That patch will only be worn for one game. The other patch will be commemorating the inaugural season of the rebooted Jets. Both jerseys will make their on ice debut September 20, when the Jets and Columbus Blue Jackets play a home and away set of split squad preseason games.
Reaction to the designs so far has been both positive and negative. Many fans like the classic look the jerseys have, and have already begun ordering their own in earnest. The pre order for jerseys started this afternoon, with authentic jerseys being delivered in early October, presumably before the first game, and the cheaper versions being rolled out a couple weeks later. However, some fans aren’t too thrilled with the look, it seems specifically with the arm sleeves. I like the arm sleeves, but I’ve soured on the recent trend of teams going with the blue on blue color scheme (Florida, Pittsburgh, Columbus to name a few), but the mixing of white into the blues makes things a little more palatable.
While these won’t be the NHL’s most memorable jerseys, they are another strong step made by True North Sports to make sure the Jets stay relevant throughout North America. Now that the logistics of getting a team back to Winnipeg done, it’s time to focus solely on the on ice product. With the logo, roster, and finally, uniforms straightened out, it’s finally time for the Jets to do what everyone in Winnipeg and Manitoba wants: play some hockey!
Bryan Vickroy has an addiction to hockey, and is willing to partake in all its forms. He is skating extra shifts for The Sports Bank, covering the Minnesota Wild, the NHL, and NCAA hockey all year long. Look for new articles throughout the week. He can be followed on Twitter at @bryanvickroy. If you’d prefer to speak in more than 140 characters at a time to him, he can be reached at bryan.vickroy@gmail.com .