The Toronto Maple Leafs released their #ReverseRetro jersey this week and it is awful.
Whenever the Toronto Maple Leafs release a new jersey, it’s an exciting day for fans, but not this time around. Am I the only one who thinks this jersey stinks? If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look below:
When I originally saw that the Toronto Maple Leafs and NHL were releasing these #ReverseRetro jerseys, I got very excited. With a history that’s over 100 years old, there were many different designs that I was hoping to see.
And then when I saw that the team decided to go with a 1970s look, I got even more excited. The 1969-70 and 1970-71 teams weren’t too successful, but the jerseys were sweet. The blue and white with the small Toronto Maple Leafs logo in the middle is a good look, but unfortunately the team missed the mark.
Don’t get me wrong, the color scheme for the new jersey is great. The old-school blue and white are perfect and the shoulder patch Leafs logo is super cool. However, the jersey goes south as soon as they show the logo.
Toronto Maple Leafs Release New Jersey
The team decided to take their loveable 1970s jersey but put on a bigger, weirder logo that they used from 1967-70.
Woven from the fabric of legends.
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 16, 2020
Introducing the #LeafsForever adidas #ReverseRetro jersey. Hitting the ice in 2021. pic.twitter.com/FFcAw8DTGt
They were so close to making this jersey amazing. If they would have kept the original Leafs logo from the 1970s jersey, instead of going with the random made-up logo, it could have been glorious. It’s really unfortunate that they went that way because it’s probably one of the worst jerseys in the NHL, as you can see for yourself below.
If you look around the NHL, every other team at least replicated a real jersey with a real logo that they’ve had in the past. The jersey the Toronto Maple Leafs picked is literally a jersey they’ve never worn before.
Everything about the jersey is from their 1970 season, but the logo doesn’t match. It makes absolute no sense to change the logo of the retro jersey and put a new spin on it.
In fact, that doesn’t make it retro at all. If you change the logo and alter history, then is it really retro? You can’t call it retro, if it’s a brand new design, can you?
I wouldn’t typically get so upset about a new jersey design, but since this one was supposed to be an homage to a past, it’s upsetting that the team just made up a logo instead of bringing back the full jersey.
As a kid born in the 1990s, I would have loved to see the early 2000s jersey that paid tribute to Mats Sundin, Curtis Joseph and my boy Sergei Berezin. That sweater was so nice and if you don’t remember, it had the TML on the shoulder and meshing in the arm-pits. However, instead we got a logo that’s meaningless to the history of the team.
Maybe in 20 years when they do this marketing campaign again, we’ll get a spin on the current Leafs jersey reminiscing on the dynasty that won five Stanley Cups. And if the team got to fabricate history with this #ReverseRetro jersey, I can fabricate history with the made-up Stanley Cups, can’t I?