Red Wings Winter Classic Jersey Concept #3

Now that things have quieted down following Nicklas Lidstrom’s retirement, I’m going to take a look at another possible sweater design for the Red Wings in the 2013 Winter Classic.

I’ll continue with the “vintage” theme I visited in February and May by going with another sweater design the team has worn in the past, only recolored to fit modern standards. As suggested by George Malik, this one is another familiar look, based on the sweaters of the 1927-28 Detroit Cougars, which the Wings wore during the 1991-92 season.

Why I started with the ’27-’28 sweater as a basis:
This one has been a fan favorite since the team wore it for the NHL’s 75th anniversary in 1991-92. It was re-released by CCM in 2004 as part of their vintage series. Wayne Gretzky himself liked the design enough that it was used for his touring all-star team during the 1994 NHL lockout.

Why I made the changes I made:
As with my last design, a color swap was necessary to make up for the fact that home teams now wear dark jerseys at home in the NHL. To be perfectly honest, I don’t like the red lettering on a white background, but it doesn’t look as bad as I thought it would.

I added the Winged Wheel to the shoulders because the Wings did that for their 2009 Winter Classic jerseys. I think for branding, they’ll want that logo on there somewhere.

Other design decisions:
I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a lace-up collar (not shown due to limitations of my template) but the Wings didn’t wear one with this design in 1991-92 so they might not this time either.

Additional reasons I think this could be worn:
Like the last design, by carrying forward a look they’ve used before, the Wings keep some brand consistency.

Bonus Design:
As I mentioned, I don’t like the red text on a white background. I tried to get around that by keeping a red stripe and changing the striping pattern overall but ended up liking that even less. Here was that attempt:

Disclaimer:
I have no advance knowledge of what the Red Wings or the Maple Leafs will wear on New Year’s Day, this is just a concept of something Detroit could wear. I know my template isn’t perfect. I’m admittedly too lazy to fix it. I know the Reebok vector would be replaced by their wordmark, for example.