Phew! New Habs Jersey's Retain Their Cool!

Phew!

The Canadiens new Reebok's are in, and the reactions are unanimously positive!

A giant sigh of relief was heard eminating from the heavens of hockey this morning. With a team so richly steeped in tradition as the Canadiens, not messing with it was a no brainer. There will be no rumblings from 1260 Gauchetière St. W this winter with the Habs retaining the classic look.














If these newer jersey are to keep players from being weighted down by dampness and heat, then the Habs have retained their cool in more ways than one!



















This is the perfect makeover, as the Habs have chosen to alter almost nothing - only the collar now sports a sleeker V - look. I won't even venture to qualify to new shapes with an adjective!

Here are some closeups of the finer details of the jersey.




































One poster I read this morning remarked that he hoped the numbers style and name plate lettering also remained in tact. I can't see it being otherwise.

Another interesting note is that at the Canadiens online shop, they are taking pre-orders on 14 player jerseys, and one of them is Carey Price - lo and behold. His # 31 is available with the likes of Koivu, Higgins, Latendresse and others. Very interesting.

Oh, and Cristobal Huet has fine tined his mask to go with the newer duds! Rumour has it that the other side was influenced by Jaroslav Halak's mask design, and features a painting of Carey Price raising the Cup!



















The good news all around is that the Canadiens jersey remains the class of the league, as always. Leafs fans look good in them still, as they always have. This Buds fan feels so snazzy is his disguise, he's doing his best Gene Simmons and is a hit with the ladies!




















So far it seems, that only the Original Six teams are totally content with their new jersey unveilings. On the whole of the NHL, the sharpening up of logo's is actually gaining a more positive response than the streamlined jersey's are. Some jersey's I've seen are pretty brutal, but the majority of the changes, being that they are from non-hockey hotbeds, aren't likely to start bonfires in mid town anytime soon.


















I liked the new Senators logo, but the absense of a stripe scheme is horrid. Word is that the these new Reebok's are hard to fit into, and even harder to get out of.















Still, their look is miles ahead of these new Leafs uni's!















A great site to keep up to date on all the changes, news and views is called Tournament of Logo's. There is a running vote playdown on the best crest's in the NHL. The Habs have passed the first round and the Leafs were dumped.

Here are some of the alterations of Canadiens jersey's in the early years of the team. As you can see, the changes made today are hardly anything compared to days gone by. The globe logo of 1924 was to celebrate the Canadiens as World Champions, as Cup winners were prone to call themselves then.

For a look back on the Habs jersey's and logo's of old, check out the various links at this fan site.