Toronto Maple Leafs Disappoint with Jersey Unveiling…Yet Again

The Toronto Maple Leafs unveiled their new threads for the upcoming Heritage Classic on Thursday night in the first intermission of their matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Given that this game will be the same week as St. Patrick’s Day, many assumed the current St. Pats jerseys would be a shoe-in for this event. It turns out the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking to pay homage to their roots with this jersey by using the Arenas design, similar to the 2017 100th anniversary jersey.

Let’s just say that, according to social media reaction, the 2022 edition is a swing and a miss.

Much like their release of last season’s Reverse Retro jersey.

Inspiration of Jersey

With a team as old as the Toronto Maple Leafs, there is many jerseys that they could have been inspired by, but the club opted to go back to its founding roots with these jerseys.

The Leafs were known as the ‘Arenas’ from 1917 to 1919 and the franchise played it’s games under that moniker.

The jerseys released on Thursday night are updated replicas of what the Arenas wore during their inaugural season.

As it’s nice to honor the past and remember the roots of the team, it would have been nice to see the Leafs go in another direction.

What’s Wrong with them?

There’s nothing inherently wrong with these threads. They’re fine. They just leave a lot to be desired. The darker shade of blue is a nice touch and something new but that’s unfortunately all this sweater has going for itself.

The striking thing about this design is it’s lack of creativity.  Not a stripe or anything in site. One thing that people loved about the 2017 rendition of the ‘Arenas’ jersey is it was able to pay homage to the past while also looking sharp. The stripes on the sleeves and the white text really pops and made that jersey a fan favorite.

Speaking of text, what on earth were they thinking with that light blue text? Why bother with it? These are going to be worn for an outdoor game meaning fans, and cameras will be further away from the action. The text on the jersey will be so unnoticeable in that setting. It really is pointless.

Now, jerseys sometimes can look much better when seeing them in action.

I really hope that these end up having that effect and the modeling of it on a mannequin is not doing it justice.  Hopefully the next jersey the Leafs release is one that the fans can be proud of.