When I saw that the Lions are wearing all grey and the Bills are wearing their normal away uniforms for their Thanksgiving Day matchup, I said aloud to myself “Now that’s something I can’t say I’m thankful for”. Once the boos from everyone within a five-mile radius subdued (didn’t know they were all listening), I figured that I would turn that statement into a jersey check post for the site because I could sit here and write a bunch of words of thankfulness for numerous high performing Sabres here in the early season, but you all would much rather talk about jerseys.

We will be using the Likert Scale for the #Mathmatical angle. The question will be simple: Am I thankful for [team’s] current uniform set? Also shoutout to nhluniforms.com for the full history.

• Strongly Disagree: Bad uniforms AND leaving something on the table
• Disagree: Either bad uniforms or leaving something on the table
• Neither Agree nor Disagree: None of the sets are objectively bad
• Agree: Not perfect, but a great set
• Strongly Agree: All of the team’s uniforms are optimized

And before I start, I will say: The NHL is in a pretty good place across the league with their uniforms compared to the other North American leagues.

Anaheim Ducks: Neither Agree nor Disagree – Simply put, unless the ducks go back to green and purple, there will always be that thought hanging over your head of that set and thinking about what could be. With that being said, they are continuing to utilize orange more, and if they can turn their reverse retro and current alternate into a future home/away set, I could live with it because of the logo and the act of moving away from the thoughts of a cup that could’ve gone to a different city

Arizona Coyotes: Agree – Thank goodness they returned to the Kachina set. The other set was good, especially with a unique color scheme (also shout out to the Arizona Sting), but knowing the Kachina set existed meant that they could never be appreciated in a vacuum. And this is what I mean by the scale of leaving something on the table. But why don’t I strongly agree? Well, I think the numbers could be a little lighter on the away jersey, but that’s nitpicking. They need to be utilizing both reverse retros. They’re exceptional and having them only be around for a single year is such a bummer.

Boston Bruins: Strongly Agree – Outside of preferring something gold as their third to the throwback they currently use, or maybe even a full time pooh bear, they have the original 6 lore and a great design. Moving on.

Buffalo Sabres: Strongly Agree – They’re just…so good. Maybe put that faux retro logo on the shoulders of the home jersey, but otherwise flawless. And with the black and red being an alternate for at least the next handful of seasons, it’s enough to ignore that the reverse retros should have blue pants and keep the rating at strongly agree.

Calgary Flames: Strongly Agree – Like the Sabres, Calgary finally returned to their optimized base uniforms while bringing blasty back as a third. This is the perfect situation that most teams should be utilizing: Their best home/away combo with their third being something nostalgic; maybe a fourth when the new designer takes over for Adidas to get creative from time to time. A team called the flames shouldn’t have black, the absence of light, in their main uniform set, but as an alternate with throwback elements, totally fine.

Carolina Hurricanes: Agree – They tinker with their uniforms enough that you can’t narrow down their look, but generally they are good and haven’t ever had a stinker. Plus we get Whalers unis here too. It works. My only suggestion would be to use the flag pattern on the bottom striping of the black jersey again like they used to.

Chicago Blackhawks: Agree – Outside of the need to probably rebrand to a bird (side note, the Portland Winterhawks did theirs perfectly), they have a very good uniform set.

Colorado Avalanche: Agree – I don’t think I’m the only person who is still adjusting to seeing the blue instead of black pants on a look that has been largely unchanged during the team’s tenure, but the unique color scheme and a stellar state-inspired alternate give them great options. Might I suggest one possibility for a fourth?

Columbus Blue Jackets: Strongly Disagree – Columbus has had their cannons alternate jersey for 12 years now. It is far better than any combination of home and away uniform set they have put out, which themselves have been largely unchanged since the lockout. They also don’t use stinger anymore for another unique color opportunity. Not to mention this year’s reverse retro might be the worst and least creative of the bunch. Go cannon branding full time and we can talk.

Dallas Stars: Agree – The primary uniforms should have the classic stars logo that the reverse retro shows off. Otherwise, sports need more kelly green, and these are the best utilizers of said color. I’m also a night jersey apologist. They’re awesome.

Detroit Red Wings: Strongly Agree – Of all the Original 6 teams, the Red Wings have the set that best encapsulates “Find what works and don’t stray too far from it”. They should also be granted an exception to wear white at home and red on the road full-time. I like that their reverse retro was kind of bold in introducing black in a way that didn’t overpower the jersey.

Edmonton Oilers: Agree – Before this season, huge strongly disagree with getting rid of their traditional home/away set. Generally, the navy should be used way less across sports, something that has taken a generation to recover from. The only thing keeping the Oilers from strongly agreeing is that they chose the wrong jersey to keep this season, as they should’ve kept the orange with navy jerseys as their thirds instead of the navy/neon look. The current reverse retro is the frontrunner for a hypothetical fourth jersey in a four-jersey rotation.

Florida Panthers: Disagree – The current home/away is good, but as I mentioned about the navy above, I think this is an instance where they don’t need the navy. Either that or they need to utilize the Rat Era for a third jersey with the color scheme of this year’s reverse retro.

Los Angeles Kings: Strongly Disagree – I think the Kings are victims of winning championships in bad jerseys because now it’s almost like they’re stuck with what they have, which is a mediocre uniform set with a late-2000s design that should’ve been phased out years ago. Not only is the set itself mediocre, but they aren’t close to wearing their best uniform set (any Forum Blue and Gold is their best look), and the chrome helmet has destroyed their iconic throwback look. The reasons those throwbacks are still popular are the combination of the Gretzky Era and having popularity within the 90s West Coast hip-hop community. Save chrome for something else! End of Soapbox. If they went back to their pre-reebok look, I think that would be a good compromise.

Minnesota Wild: Neither Agree nor Disagree – Independent of their city history, the Wild are currently wearing their best uniforms, but with both reverse retros looking as nice as they do with the connection to the North Stars era, I can’t help but think they need to incorporate that look full time whether as a third or as a full-time look with a red version of their current home uniform as an alternate.

Montreal Canadiens: Agree but… – The Habs’ home look is iconic. The white jersey is also great. But do they match Detroit in their “Never touch it” legacy? Well after seeing each of their reverse retros, I don’t see how each of them can’t be a third/fourth jersey full-time, and I can’t tell if this would be a hot take or not, but I think that their 06-07 white alternate is as good if not better than their current road uniforms.

Nashville Predators: Agree – The current look was made exceptional when they made the reebok to Adidas transition. I will say, though, that even with gold being their identity at this point, I feel like they need a navy jersey in the rotation (and it should be a navy mustard cat)

New Jersey Devils: Strongly Agree – If there was a survivor-style competition and only one team could use black, white, and red, it should be the Devils. Their green is phenomenal, and its use in the rotation is what happens to move it from Agree to Strongly Agree, but since the team is called the Devils, the current usage is great. And leave the Jersey Jersey alone, everyone!

New York Islanders: Agree – Not much to say here since they ditched the Navy long enough ago that it’s not a recent gripe. Replace the current alt with Fisherman Gorton full-time, please, with the teal.

New York Rangers: Agree – The Rangers have traditionally done a good job with their alternative jerseys that it doesn’t leave too much on the table for their home/away set, not bringing the third jersey along with the Adidas takeover was a miss that a return of Lady Liberty full time would redeem.

Ottawa Senators: Agree – Very picky, but while the return to the traditional look did the organization favors, can I get one (1) white stripe somewhere on the black unis? Maybe a red version of their early-2000s black jersey could work as an alternative. Otherwise, it works.

Philadelphia Flyers: Strongly Agree – Their traditional look is among the best in hockey with both their jerseys and logo. Their alternate isn’t their best black look in franchise history, but on its own, it’s a good look. Props as well to the Lindros Era set which is probably my favorite of their looks.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Strongly Agree – Overcoming the 2000s era gold was a big accomplishment for sports that the Penguins were not immune from, going back to their best traditional look in the process. Might I suggest a gold robot-penguin someday?

St. Louis Blues: Agree – The Blues have never had a bad look. They’re a team that probably doesn’t need a navy, which their current alternate is a good reminder of, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that their current uniforms are al all bad. Plus they will stick around as their cup-winning look. They’re another team that utilizes vintage uniforms very well. I miss the arch jersey.

San Jose Sharks: Strongly Agree – Based on my age and upbringing in hockey, my favorite Sharks look will always be their early-2000s uniform set. But that doesn’t take away from their new look that they debuted this season, which is an optimized set of jerseys that really show how dirty Reebok did them. Also SEALS REVERSE RETRO!

Seattle Kraken: Strongly Agree – Remember when I said that some teams belong in the navy? That’s the Seattle Kraken. If one team was allowed to keep the navy, it would be the team that is named after the mythical creature at the bottom of the ocean. Plus, they are utilizing their other blue shades well and have an exceptional debut reverse retro.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Agree – Another team that reebok did dirty, I think the current Tampa look is really strong and deserving of the long haul that their dynasty has provided this look. The reverse retro or its inspiration should their third jersey instead of the all black.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Strongly Agree – I will start by giving a lot of credit to the Maple Leafs for traditionally being good and changing up their striping over the years to keep modernizing their base look, which is elite. That’s all I have to say on the Leafs to wrap up the Original Six.

Vancouver Canucks: Strongly Agree – The Canucks usage of blue and green is perfect and so underutilized in sports, providing redemption for the league after losing the Whalers back in the day. Using the skate as an alternate is once again the proper utilization of throwbacks.

Vegas Golden Knights: Strongly Agree – Vegas has yet to have a bad jersey, and either of their reverse retros would be perfect to include in the team’s rotation. I give them a lot of credit for starting with the dark grey as their dark jersey instead of black to switch things up.

Washington Capitals: Neither Agree Nor Disagree – Once Ovi retires, I think they can retire the current set with him. There’s nothing wrong with it, but considering (a) their current set is inspired by their original look, which looks better, (b) their current reverse retro is a great reminder of how good that era of uniforms was for the Caps, and (c) the previous reverse retro combined the red, white, and blue of Washington D.C. with the aforementioned stellar 90s era uniforms, a lot is being left on the table.

Winnipeg Jets: Agree – Returning to the city with the same name as the previous franchise, the Jets didn’t have an easy task of deciding what direction to go for their new uniforms, especially considering how loved the original uniforms were, but the current Jets set looks like a modern take on the traditional look while sprinkling in nods to their past when they pull in specialty jerseys. I also think their usage of the lighter blue is done well.