Thanks to the Utah Hockey Club, we got ourselves a look at the new NHL practice jersey design.
With the switch from Adidas to Fanatics for 2024-25, we knew there’d be some changes to the on-ice NHL uniform. We’ve already seen that each team’s jersey will now include the Fanatics logo on the back, and the shoulder dimples will be replaced with, y’know, regular jersey material.
LINK: NHL, Fanatics release release new 2024-25 jersey style and details
What we hadn’t seen or really thought about was the practice jersey. During the announcement showing off the new on-ice NHL jersey. Fanatics had included that the practice jerseys would once again be available at retail, something that wasn’t an option during the Adidas era. No design was shown or described at the time.
This week, with NHL development camps kicking off, every NHL team took to the ice wearing the old Adidas practice jerseys (with the Anaheim Ducks even wearing their old logo still)… every team except for the one team that never wore an Adidas jersey, the brand new Utah Hockey Club.
The new design removes the three Adidas stripes from the side, adds the Fanatics logo to the top corner, and introduces a new swatch near each shoulder (which I imagine will be re-coloured based on each team’s design). The team logo is, of course, in the centre of the chest, and placed on a new circle design reading “PROPERTY OF” over top and “HOCKEY CLUB” below. Since this is the design for the Utah Hockey Club we’re looking at here, I’m not sure if “HOCKEY CLUB” is universal or if it’ll instead be the nickname of each team. In other words, we’re not sure if the Florida Panthers would wear “PROPERTY OF *Panthers Logo* HOCKEY CLUB” or “PROPERTY OF *Panthers Logo* FLORIDA PANTHERS”
NHL Practice Jersey History
Up until the 1980s, it was common for NHL teams to wear their usual in-game uniforms or a blank, coloured top during practices. If a team had a practice jersey design at all, it would usually simply consist of the team logo on an otherwise blank jersey.
Clubs slowly adopted practice jerseys with manufacturer logos on the front, with the Boston Bruins adding a large CCM logo below their own circa 1990. Many other teams quickly followed with a similar design throughout the early and mid 1990s.
Sometime around 1996, CCM’s “Center Ice” line rolled out the first league-wide practice jersey template; it featured the team logo on the chest, a large circle reading “CENTER ICE,” and a centre ice line running behind it to simulate a team’s centre ice faceoff circle design. In case you were wondering why the most recent NHL practice jerseys these last few years have had a seemingly random circle behind each team’s logo, you’re looking at the design that launched that style.
Sadly, CCM’s first “Center Ice” style didn’t last long, but the series continued with an adjusted design. The centre ice circle and line were shrunk down and relocated to the top right corner. The team’s logo was then placed on its own in the centre of the jersey’s chest. This was used right up until Reebok took over the NHL’s on-ice uniform contract, both regular season and practice, for the 2006-07 season.
Reebok did their Reebok thing with practice jerseys; the team logo remained on its own on the chest, but that piping of theirs was added down the sleeves along with loops of colour on either side.
The switch to Adidas in 2017-18 returned a circle behind the team’s logo, giving a bit of a similar feel to the original CCM Center Ice design from 1997, naturally the three Adidas stripes were added down each side of the jersey. This design was used right up through to the end of the 2023-24 season, where we find ourselves today with the shift to Fanatics.
