NHL And Fanatics Reveal New Jerseys For 2024-25 Season After MLB Controversy; Here's What They Look Like

With the Florida Panthers winning the 2023-2024 season, this year is wrapped up and the NHL has already started preparing new things for the coming season 2024-25.

By Blesson Daniel

Published on Jun 27, 2024 | 04:37 PM IST | 25.3K

NHL Jersey [Credit-X@@CHGO_Blackhawks]

In this Article

What do the Fanatics have to say?
Fanatics have tried solving the old issues

On Wednesday, Fanatics and the NHL introduced new on-ice player jerseys for the 2024-25 season, which officials claimed had been thoroughly tested and altered before their debut in games this fall.

This is the first time the corporation has developed and manufactured in-game jerseys with its branding for a major North American professional sporting league. Fanatics were chastised for Major League Baseball uniform defects that MLB and the MLB Players Association later claimed Nike was liable for and would fix for the next season.

Here take a look at some of the team jerseys:

Vancouver Canucks

Los Angeles Kings

Chicago Blackhawks

Calgary Flames

Columbus Blue Jackets

Boston Bruins

Buffalo Sabres

What do the Fanatics have to say?

"This is a huge moment for our company, our 22,000 employees, really to demonstrate what we can do when we have full control over the end-to-end process," Fanatics Commerce CEO Andrew Low Ah Kee told The Associated Press. He tried to ensure the quality of the products.

He also expressed, "We all take a lot of pride in the work that we do. Ultimately, it's not about the words that come out. It's about the actual product and we're excited to have that on players and equally with fans because the proof is going to be in the actual product."

The league stated that playoff MVP Connor McDavid, Florida Panthers Stanley Cup-winning captain Aleksander Barkov and teammate Matthew Tkachuk, brother Brady Tkachuk, and two-time champions Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov were among the players from all 32 teams who got to see, feel, and try on the new jerseys.

Fanatics have tried solving the old issues

Keith Leach, Fanatics' NHL VP and general manager stated that one of the original prototypes made in 2023 had "board burn" wear and tear that dissolved sleeves, prompting the business to incorporate an additional layer of reinforcement to address the issue. He stated that equipment management reacted positively to the alteration, which was tried over various summer skates and tweaked before going forward in the process.

Leach told AP, “The players got to see it -- not every player but [more than 100] players got to see it -- before the playoffs. That way there's no surprise of, 'It just showed up in my locker room in training camp and there's my jersey.'”

Many baseball players reacted negatively to Nike's modifications to MLB jerseys during spring training. Fanatics Founder and CEO Michael Rubin stated in March that his firm manufactured everything to Nike's specs, and an MLBPA email sent to players in late April labeled it an "entirely Nike issue" for "innovating something that didn't need to be innovated."

Fanatics and the NHL, who struck a 10-year pact in March 2023, hoped to keep the modifications to a minimum. Teams were issued a ban on rebranding, with the noteworthy exception of the Arizona Coyotes, who relocated to Salt Lake City in April and are now known as the Utah Hockey Club.

Also Read: NHL Rule Changes: All You Need to Know Ahead of 2024-25 Season