What do you do when everyone is releasing third jerseys to increase revenue, but you own a traditional brand that has withstood the test of time. You release a throwback jersey, of course! Toronto released the third sweaters at a press conference on Friday. The new alternate sweaters were the Leafs wore between 1967-1970.
Nothing like rolling out former Leafs captains Wendel Clark and Darryl Sittler to help model the new jerseys. Those two could wear Senators jerseys on Carlton St. in downtown Toronto and still get cheered as they walked down the street. Still, the former captains joined current Leafs Dion Phaneuf and Colby Armstrong to show off the new look for fans and media. The Maple Leafs’ official site describes the new threads in painstaking detail (for the link for pictures of the jersey):
The Leafs will wear their new/old jersey fourteen times this season beginning with their first game of the season on October 6 against the rival Montreal Canadiens. Interestingly, Toronto will wear the dark alternates five times on the road—meaning fans of home teams wearing their white jersey will get their wish a few times this season. They’ll wear them twice against the Rangers, Senators, Sabres, and Bruins. In fact, they’ll wear their old-time jerseys against each of the other five teams that make up the Original Six at some point this season. Here’s the full schedule of games the Maple Leafs will wear the new jerseys this season:
October 6 vs. Montreal
October 29 vs. Pittsburgh
November 5 vs. Boston
November 12 vs. Ottawa
November 19 vs. Washington
December 3 at Boston
December 5 at New York Rangers
December 17 vs. Vancouver
January 7 vs. Detroit
January 13 at Buffalo
February 4 at Ottawa
February 29 at Chicago
March 24 vs. New York Rangers
March 31 vs. Buffalo
What say you? Do you like the new/old alternates? Do you think the Leafs could have done better? Or could you not care less? Let us know what you think in the comments.