The rumor mill is hot these days, and it even extends to uniforms, one of my favorite overall topics. Well, it just so happens that, with a new collective bargaining agreement about to turn the corner sooner than we all may think, there’s speculation that the once-familiar white-at-home approach will return. And for Red Wings fans, this one is a godsend.
If you were born before the year 2000, you probably vividly remember that, once upon a time, between 1971-72 and 2003-04, home teams across the league wore white at their home arena while opponents wore dark.
Now, I’m a massive proponent of this because I crave variety. I’d rather see teams predominantly stick to white at home since fans watching the game will see more colors as opposed to red for the Wings and white for their opponents.
While this may affect things in the way of the often dark third jerseys, exceptions can be made there and, perhaps fans can see their team’s regular dark sweaters at select games too, this should be great news for Wings fans for one reason: Detroit’s had a lot of success during the white at home era.
The Red Wings were the class of the NHL at times during white at home
During the Red Wings dynasty between 1994-95 and 2008-09 (at least those are the years that I use), most of it was going on through the latter days of when NHL teams wore white at home. Detroit won six conference championships, with four occurring before the NHL switched to dark at home, six Presidents’ Trophies, and again, four of them came before the switch.
They also won four Stanley Cups throughout the era, and three of them came while NHL teams wore white in their home arenas. And don’t even get me started on division championships. But you see the point: The Wings enjoyed their best days as a franchise in decades when they donned white in Hockeytown.
And if you ask me, the Wings white sweaters are their best, especially since they’re paired with red shorts and white socks with red striping. It gives the uniform a great color contrast, and it’s tough to beat the basic red-and-white scheme.
Might the NHL have something else up its sleeve?
In recent seasons across pro sports, color vs. color has also become a thing, for both good and bad results. In the MLB, we regularly see this when teams opt for their alternate dark tops, but we’ve also seen some clubs bring back an all-color combo, and I’m not talking about those (mostly) migraine-inducers that are the City Connects.
In the NBA, color vs. color has become more normal, and it’s enhanced the game’s aesthetics. In the NFL, we’ve seen color vs. color on occasion, sometimes for better but at other times, for worse - remember the Color Rush?
So, what about the NHL, which does color vs. color to a lesser extent? While this part of the show is purely speculation, there could be some instances in which it would work. What if the Red Wings went with their all-red uniforms against, say, the St. Louis Blues? That could make for some decent aesthetics.
Now, there would be times when this would be a very, very bad idea - Red Wings vs. Canadiens, for example, wouldn’t work. Nor would Red Wings vs. Blackhawks. There’s also the issue of color blindness, which could affect coaches, players, fans, the broadcast, etc.
Still, it would add more variety when used properly, so it’s a development I look forward to keeping an eye on. But for the time being, I’d be more than glad to see the NHL revert to white at home and roll with it, especially since the Wings have an outstanding recent track record in recent memory.