Washington Capitals: 3 reasons why new retro jersey is amazing
3 reasons why we love the new Washington Capitals reverse retro jerseys.
The Washington Capitals and the rest of the NHL unveiled the Reverse Retro jersey collection earlier this week. We reviewed the jersey here and broke it down overall here but our work isn’t done talking about the awesomeness of this jersey.
For months, there has been speculation about the Caps getting a new jersey for the season and those rumors became teasers from adidas. When those teasers came out, we knew what the color scheme would look like and low and behold, the return of the screaming eagle happened. Here are three reasons why we love the jersey.
3. A nod to the past
The screaming eagle on the jersey represents a nod to the past. From 1995-2007, that was the look on their jerseys. They will wear these beauties for a slect number of games. The jersey features the familiar bald eagle that long time Caps fans will recognize. The eagle swoops down with an outstretched open claw with the word CAPITALS embedded on the bottom.
Specifically, this jersey is a tribute to the 1997-98 Caps team that went all the way to their first ever Stanley Cup Final before falling.
#2 A modern twist
Fans have been clamoring for a modernized version of a retro jersey for a long time. Even Alex Ovechkin himself wrote on Instagram that he wanted that jersey from his rookie and sophomore year back in some way, shape or form.
What’s unique about hockey jerseys is that changes are initiated by every team usually. What adidas did was approach every team, study their history, and come up with a concept that was never seen before. The company started the process two years ago.
Their idea was to honor an important moment or season in each team’s history with throwback designs in updated or inverted colors. Every team participated including new clubs like the Vegas Golden Knights who don’t quite have a lot of history yet.
In a phone interview with Scott Allen of The Washington Post (subscription required), Hunter Lochmann, Monumental Sports and Entertainment’s senior vice president of marketing and brand strategy said:
“They looked at our history of logos and uniforms and they gave us a couple of options in terms of color scheme. Our internal group looked at it, and we all knew it was time to bring the screaming eagle back. We thought the combination of the screaming eagle plus the red was the way to go, pretty universally.”
#1 The screaming eagle is back
The number one reason is the most obvious reason we love the reverse retro jersey. The screaming eagle is back. It was a part of me when I first started watching the Caps and I know I’m not the only one. The Caps retired the screaming eagle in 2007 which was originally on white and blue jerseys. The red one looks even better than their home ones or their third jerseys from the last two years (which were bad luck when you think about it).
The original screaming eagle debuted with a blue, white and bronze color scheme in the 1995-96 season and was the primary uniform they wore when they reached the Stanley Cup Final in 1998 before falling to the Detroit Red Wings in the middle of their dynasty.
Olie Kolzig talked about the Reverse Retro jersey with Scott Allen:
“I think it’s a great combination. It combines the history of the franchise. I think it’s pretty sharp.”
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The Reverse Retro jerseys will be available in time for Christmas on Dec. 1. If you decide to shell out a lot of money to buy a Reverse Retro jersey, which player would you get? Let us know in the comments.