ESPN's Uni Watch takes a comprehensive look at the Reebok Edge Jersey roll out

Uni-watch of ESPN has an interesting read today regarding the new Reebok Edge jerseys the NHL has rolled out. Of course, like any new change, there are complaints and criticisms sprinkled throughout the article.

There was an interesting nugget thrown in here regarding the referee's uniforms. It was said last year that the head referees would replace the orange stripes (example pictured left) around their arms with silver stripes which builds of the NHL's logo change to its shield which saw the orange outlines and lettering replaced with silver. Of course the silver color represents the ultimate prize in organized hockey which is the Stanley Cup.

Now we learn that the sliver armbands have been scrapped for now and the entire referee uniform system will receive an overhaul or next season:

• Back in January, at last season's All-Star Game, the refs wore silver armbands, instead of their usual orange. At the time, a league spokesperson told Uni Watch that this change would be made permanent this season. That plan has now been scrapped, and refs' arms have been orange-banded as usual during preseason games. But a league exec now tells Uni Watch that a broader overhaul of the officials' uniforms is in the works for next season. No details on that yet, but Uni Watch's hunch is that the league will trade in its standard zebra stripes for a proprietary stripe pattern, like the NFL did last year.

The good news in this article is that unlike the terrible predictions and criticism the actual Jackets team has received this year in the pre-season review articles throughout the print and electronic meda - the Jackets new uniforms have managed to avoid just about any negative comments which tells me, for the most part, people like em.

In fact this particular writer has glowing things to say about the Jackets new digs:

"OK," you're saying, "but those are all pretty old-school looks. Don't you like anything new?" Actually, yes. One team has come up with a new design that feels at once classic and contemporary: the Blue Jackets. Check it out: sleeve piping instead of Bettman stripes, hemline piping instead of waistline stripes -- looks good, right? Even from the back. This, friends, is the future of hockey uniforms. Or at least it should be.

He's right. They did a helluva job on em.

Read more here.

-LTL