Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Washington Capitals unveil their retro-inspired Winter Classic uniforms

Image (1) capitalswinterclassic-thumb-250x141-21845.jpg for post 15610
As you can see from the image to the right (click it to enlarge), the Washington Capitals displayed the uniforms they’ll be wearing during the Winter Classic on New Year’s day. Here’s the scoop from the team’s press release.

The Washington Capitals unveiled their uniform for the 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic today, a tribute to the franchise’s past that was modeled by team captain Alex Ovechkin and former captains Rod Langway and Yvon Labre. The unveiling took place at the 2010 Capitals Convention, a second annual event that drew a sellout crowd of 7,000 to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in downtown D.C.

“There is a great sense of history in playing hockey outdoors, and we wanted to pay tribute to our team’s history with this uniform,” vice president and general manager George McPhee said. “They turned out very well, got a terrific reaction from our fans and will look fantastic on New Year’s Day.”

The primary color for the uniform is white and very closely resembles the team’s original jersey, worn from 1974-75 through 1994-95. The original Capitals wordmark is featured on the front of the jersey with six stars above it and five stars beneath the numbers on each sleeve. The 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic logo is featured on the right shoulder of the jersey.

Unlike the original uniforms, which featured blue pants, the Capitals will wear red pants and red helmets for the 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic.

I’m on board with those jerseys, red pants or blue pants. There’s something simple and awesome about older jersey concepts and logos that just seems that much more appealing than modern designs that try so hard to go the “extreme” or “edgy” route.

The Washington Capitals’ current jerseys are a bit of a “throwback” to the team’s old jerseys in the first place, as they went back to that color scheme and use a similar logo. They’re a big improvement over the ridiculous “eagle” design they wore in the Petr Bondra days all the way through Alex Ovechkin’s first year in the league.

Anyway, I give their goalie scheme a big “thumbs up” but what do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments.